Volume 9, Spring 2012, Issue 4

COMMENTARY ON THE OECD GOOD PRACTICE GUIDANCE ON INTERNAL CONTROLS, ETHICS AND COMPLIANCE

Joe Murphy and Donna Boehme

With the February 2010 publication of its Good Practice Guidance on Internal Controls, Ethics and Compliance (“Good Practice Guidance” or “the Guidance”) as Annex II to the November 26, 2009 Further Recommendations for Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions (“the 2009 Recommendations”), the OECD, through its anti-bribery Working Group (“the OECD Working Group”) has created an important blueprint for anti-bribery compliance programs. The Good Practice Guidance sets out in helpful detail the elements of a good anti-bribery compliance approach. From the standpoint of ethics and compliance practitioners, the Good Practice Guidance provides additional support to existing best practice in the field and validates a proactive, practical, risk-oriented strategy for detecting and preventing misconduct in organizations. Although, on its face, the Good Practice Guidance speaks primarily to foreign bribery, most of the provisions could be readily applied to ethics and compliance programs on a much broader basis as well. View More 

NO ENTIENDO: STATE V. MARQUEZ, LANGUAGE BARRIERS, AND DRUNK DRIVING

Andrew Dodemaide

In State v. Marquez, the New Jersey Supreme Court had to decide the question of what police officers must do when trying to communicate with a drunk driving suspect who does not speak English or any other common language. Although suspected drunk drivers are obliged by law to submit to a breath test, police officers cannot issue a citation for refusal unless they “inform” the suspect of the associated penalties. Thus, when suspects do not speak English, police officers are faced with a difficult problem: what does it mean to “inform” the suspect? View More 

THE CIRCUIT SPLIT CREATED BY POLLARD V. GEO GROUP, INC.: THE DANGERS OF ALLOWING A BIVENS ACTION WHERE ADEQUATE ALTERNATIVE STATE REMEDIES EXIST

Kelly Dougherty

“[T]he States . . . expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government, will best ensure the beneficent ends of its institution.” The above quotation is from the preamble to the Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution The Bill of Rights was amended to the Constitution to further ensure the protection of citizens’ rights against governmental infringement. A large influence on the drafters of the Bill of Rights was Sir William Blackstone, who deemed personal security, personal liberty and personal property as absolute rights. These ideas are also present in James Madison’s writings on property. View More 

WITHOUT RESTORING INSOLVENT UNEMPLOYMENT TRUST FUNDS AND INCREASING FEDERAL RESERVES, THE 2007- 2009 RECESSIONS MAY CAUSE THE DEPLETION OF THE UNEMPLOYMENT TRUST FUND

Julie Tersigni

In light of the recent economic situation in the United States, more individuals have become unemployed, meaning that more individuals have filed for and have obtained unemployment benefits. The purpose of the Federal-State Unemployment Insurance Program is to provide unemployment benefits to workers who are unemployed “through no fault of their own” by giving temporary financial assistance to eligible recipients who meet state law qualifications. To provide temporary assistance, states usually fund unemployment compensation for individuals for twenty-six weeks. However, as a result of the decline in the American economy, Congress extended unemployment benefits up to ninety-nine weeks to help individuals who are currently out of work. View More