Today’s Buzz: Online Censorship #Fail, African Growth and Opportunity Act, Unpaid Internships, NLRB Confidentiality Rule, More

Here’s what’s hot in law news right now:

In an interview with Bloomberg Law’s Lee Pacchia, Trevor Timm of the Electronic Frontier Foundation makes an excellent point that has implications for anyone conducting business on the internet today: online censorship does not work.

[Link: #NBCfail: Twitter, the Olympics, Guy Adams & Justin Bieber] 

Everybody wins with the African Growth and Opportunity Act Fabric Extension bill: “Approximately 300,000 jobs have been created in the eligible sub-Saharan countries manufacturing apparel with third-country fabrics. Similarly, more than 100,000 jobs in the U.S. have been supported by the $21.3 billion worth of exports to the region last year. Retailers can remain competitive in the U.S. and abroad by taking advantage of the lower-cost sourcing options while diversifying their supply chain.” (African Growth and Opportunity Act Fabric Extension Bill is a Win-Win Proposition by Venable LLP) 

Illinois becomes the second state to block employer access to social media passwords: “The Act now prohibits employers from requesting or requiring any current employees or applicants to: 1) provide their passwords, or related account information, to any social networking site for the purpose of accessing the site, or 2) provide access to their social networking site in any manner. Such social networking sites would include Facebook, Twitter, Google+, MySpace, LinkedIn, and other similar sites.” (Illinois Now Restricts Employers’ Access To Employees’ Social Networking Sites by Fisher & Phillips LLP) 

It’s time to revise workplace policies on confidentiality of employee complaints: “This week … the National Labor Relations Board found unlawful the common human resources practice of asking an employee who makes a workplace complaint not to discuss the matter with his co-workers during the employer’s investigation.” (NLRB Ruling on Confidentiality Directives Impacts All Employers by Lowenstein Sandler PC)

Six tips for keeping unpaid internships legal: “Unpaid interns can gain valuable, real world experience (tremendously helpful in a sluggish and increasingly competitive job market), and employers often receive something valuable in return: free labor. The only problem with this arrangement is that employers who offer unpaid internships are probably violating federal wage and hour laws, something Charlie Rose is learning the hard way.” (Keeping Unpaid Internships Legal: Six Requirements You Can’t Ignore by Dinsmore & Shohl LLP) 

The gender pay gap continues in spite of federal efforts to reduce it: “By most reports, fewer women than men occupy the C-suite and those that do are paid less than their male counterparts… Equilar Inc., reported that only 12 of the 500 chief executive officers in this year’s study were women … [and they] were paid an average of almost $500,000 per year less than their male counterparts.” (Scrutiny of Gender Disparities in Compensation: At the Executive Level and Below by Mintz Levin) 

Companies that sponsor fully insured group health plans should watch the mail for a rebate check: “Under the 85/15 Rule [of the Affordable Care Act] a health care insurer that uses less than 85 percent (80 percent for certain smaller employers) of the health care premium dollars it receives to provide medical care must either rebate the percentage difference between what it did spend and 85 percent (80 percent for certain smaller employers) to the covered employers by August 1, 2012, or apply the rebate amount to the employers’ health insurance premiums due on or after August 1.” (Affordable Care Act Health Insurance Premium Rebates by Loeb & Loeb LLP)

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