Although most employers have heard of the I-9 form to be used for employee verification/work authorization when a new employee is hired, many are unaware of the potential complexities involved with this form and record retention requirements. The form has recently been revised and the government’s enforcement efforts are on the rise. As a result, it is more important than ever for employers to be aware of their obligations with regard to these documents. [Contact Authors]

The process has been a little like “doing the ‘hokey-pokey’”. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the federal agency that regulates the Medicare and Medicaid programs and their providers of care, has gone back and forth (putting its “right foot in” and then its “right foot out”) on when, how and if to require disclosure by hospitals in a methodical way of financial relationships with physicians and their family members. After proposing mandatory disclosure in May 2007, CMS made it “final” in September 2007, withdrew it in April 2008 and re-proposed it later that month. The “right foot” appears to be “in” again. [Contact Author]

Offering a patentable invention for sale has the potential to keep an inventor from obtaining a patent on that invention. There are steps that can be taken to preserve these rights. [Contact Author]

The new Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act ("GINA") has received a great deal of publicity since President Bush signed it into law on May 21, 2008. GINA prohibits discrimination against individuals, in employment and in health care, on the basis of their genetic make up. [Contact Author]

On April 15, 2004, on a bone-chilling night that no one who was there will soon forget, a sellout crowd of excited fans and international media watched the return of professional baseball to Manchester as the New Hampshire Fisher Cats (formerly the New Hampshire Primaries) defeated the Trenton Thunder 3-1. [Contact Author]

Companies that ignore the global marketplace do so at their peril. Businesses must be able to react to forces around the globe almost instantaneously as information regarding events in the Far East, Europe, Africa, South America arrives in real time. Even businesses which do not have a physical presence outside their jurisdictions must think on a global scale in order to remain competitive. [Contact Author]