| Employees' Duty of Loyalty |
| Generally, an employee owes the duty of undivided loyalty to his or her employer. Courts take varying approaches to the issue of an employee's duty of loyalty. Some jurisdictions do not acknowledge a separate cause of action for an employee's breach of loyalty unless there is a fiduciary relationship between the employer and the employee. The claim is usually pleaded as a breach of a fiduciary duty. Some jurisdictions recognize a separate claim for an employee's breach of the duty of loyalty but also acknowledge its relationship to a fiduciary breach. A common thread in all jurisdictions is that employees who occupy a position of trust and confidence owe their employers a higher duty of loyalty than lower-level employees. The scope of the duty of loyalty depends on the particular fact circumstances and the nature of the employment relationship. More... |
| Federal Trade Commission Competition and Consumer Protection Authority |
| The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is given broad authority in the areas of competition and consumer protection law by Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C.S. § 45. Section 5 declares unlawful any "[u]nfair methods of competition in or affecting commerce, and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce," and Section 5 gives the Commission authority to prevent use of unfair methods of competition and deceptive acts or practices.More... |
| Document Retention Programs and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 |
| The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, enacted in response to accounting and corporate scandals, contained provisions that impact document retention practices of corporations. Destruction of records became subject to greater criminal penalties, changes to the federal sentencing guidelines regarding obstruction of justice through document destruction were mandated, and auditors of public companies were given greater record retention obligations. More... |
| Contractual Liability |
| CONTRACTUAL LIABILITY More... |
| Rulemaking by the Securities and Exchange Commission |
| Federal agencies adopt rules to implement laws. Following the stock market crash in 1929, laws were passed to reform securities markets and to broaden the amount and accuracy of information to be made available to investors by issuers of securities. Those laws included the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and the Investment Company Act of 1940. The more recently enacted Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 provided additional requirements for corporate governance and disclosure of information.More... |
The Hamel LawFirm, P.A.
