Chicago’s New Plan to Partially Re-Open Schools for Special Needs Kids Amid Concerns Over Halting the Spread of COVID-19

Special Needs Kids Need A New Plan on Re-Open Schools
Oct19

Written by Taher Kameli & Chathan Vemuri The protective measures taken against potentially crowded facilities in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic has left many special needs parents in the Chicago Public School system anxious as to when to partake of these interpersonal activities again.[1] While many parents recognize the importance of social distance learning at this time, parents of very young children or special needs children are particularly concerned that remote learning is not meeting the distinctive needs of their children and could fundamentally disrupt their education in the long term.

October 19, 2020
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Trump’s New Final Rule for the H-1B Visa and How It Helps Stifle Work-Based Immigration

Immigration Work-Based visa H-1b Changes Employment
Oct16

Written by Taher Kameli & Chathan Vemuri A recurring talking point from the Trump Administration has been that “illegal immigration” allegedly steal jobs from American workers.[1] He has consistently tried to link illegal immigration (however tenuously) to detrimental changes in the U.S. by pointing to the performance of the U.S. economy and the job market.[2] In the early days of his campaign, he was very clear that, in his view as well as that of his supporters, immigrants were “taking our jobs…our manufacturing jobs…[and] our money.”[3]   Since taking office in 2017,

October 16, 2020
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SEC Codifies New Disclosure Requirements for Banking Registrants

SEC Codifies Disclosure Requirements for Banking Registrants
Oct14

Written by Taher Kameli & Chathan Vemuri For the past 30 years, the rules and requirements for banks and savings & loan registrants for making disclosures to investors have been a mess as they simply duplicated other rules and requirements of the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) and the U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) or the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).[1] This failed to take into account major changes in financial reporting since 1986 when the last substantive update to Industry Guide 3, Statistical Disclosure by Bank Holding Companies, the guide published by the SEC’s Division of

October 14, 2020
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Physical Violence Towards Special Needs Children

Special Needs Children and Physical Violence
Oct12

Written by Taher Kameli & Chathan Vemuri Educating children with special needs requires a heightened degree of specialized training, experience, individualized attention, patience and above all empathy beyond that required for children in general. Missteps and errors by those who do not know what they’re doing can potentially cause serious damage to both that child’s educational as well as their emotional well-being. As such, the relationship between adult supervisors/teachers/principals and children with special needs is an unequal one where the child is potentially vulnerable to errors or wrongful actions by the adult.   This is painfully apparent with the phenomena of physical abuse

October 12, 2020
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Challenge to Employer-Friendly Joint-Employer Final Rule

Challenge to Employer-Friendly Joint-Employer Final Rule
Sep22

Written by Taher Kameli & Chathan Vemuri The Department of Labor (“DOL”) under the Trump Administration granted what was seen as an administrative boon to employers when it issued its Final Rule on joint-employer status under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) in January of this year.[1] And yet since its passage, it has caused nothing but controversy as to the hurdles it causes for workers in terms of holding employers accountable for violation of their rights under existing labor laws.[2]   As part of the FLSA, employees can hold two or more employers jointly and severally

September 22, 2020
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Supreme Court Defines Standard of Education to Be Provided in Special Education IEP’s Under the IDEA of 1990

Special Education IEP’s Under the IDEA of 1990
Sep09

Written by Taher Kameli & Chathan Vemuri On March 22, 2017, the United States Supreme Court reached a decision on what advocate\s have described as “the most significant special-education issue to reach the high court in three decades.”[1] The Supreme Court finally set out the standard by which a free appropriate public education (FAPE) could be defined under the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act of 1990. In a landmark ruling, Endrew F. v. Douglas Cnty. Sch. Dist. RE-1, the Supreme Court ruled that in order “[t]o meet its substantial obligation under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act

September 9, 2020
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Supreme Court Rules Unanimous for Child’s Right to Use Service Dog as Part of Special Education Accommodations under IDEA and Section 504

Supreme Court Rules for Child’s Right to Use Service Dog
Sep04

Written by Taher Kameli & Chathan Vemuri On February 22, 2017, the Supreme Court in Fry v. Napoleon Community Schools ruled that a claim involving the right of a disabled child to rely on a service animal in her elementary school did not involve education specifically and therefore did not require exhaustion of administrative remedies under the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act of 1990 (IDEA) before filing a private lawsuit.[1]   This ruling was of special significance to those combatting discrimination in educational spaces outside of the confines of IDEA. Specifically, the Court made an important distinction between claims involving

September 4, 2020
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The Supreme Court’s Confirmation of SEC’s Disgorgements in Liu v. SEC

Confirmation of SEC’s Disgorgement in Liu v. SEC
Aug31

Written by Taher Kameli & Julie Seong A recent the United States Supreme Court decision confirmed that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) can seek disgorgement of ill-gotten gains as an equitable remedy in SEC enforcement actions in federal court. Liu v. SEC was a case involving the SEC and married couple Charles Liu and Xing Wang, who was ordered to pay the $26.7 million they had collected from immigrants and misappropriated. On June 22, 2020, the Supreme Court’s Liu v. SEC ruling upheld the Securities and Exchange Commission’s ability to recover ill-gotten gains from those who commit financial

August 31, 2020
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The Economic Effects of COVID-19 on Businesses

The Economic Effects of COVID-19 on Businesses
Aug27

Written by Taher Kameli According to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report, there are 5,176,018 reported cases of  COVID-19 in the United States alone as of August 13, 2020. As a result, the lives of caretakers, family, and employers of the affected individuals have also been changed. The unemployment rate in the United States is estimated to be at 13 percent and counting, and Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation ended on July 25, 2020. This is the highest unemployment rate Americans face since the Great Depression. People and businesses have taken drastic measures to keep afloat. Several new laws

August 27, 2020
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EPA Approves 1-Bromopropane For Use in the Workplace

EPA Approves 1-Bromopropane For Use in the Workplace
Aug24

Written by Taher Kameli & Chathan Vemuri The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) conducted a final risk evaluation on the substance 1-Bromopropane (1-BP), as per the Toxic Substances Control Act.[1] It sought to inquire about the safety of 1-BP for general use and the environment.[2]  On August 11, 2020, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released this report.[3] Although it found that 16 out of 25 conditions of use presented an unreasonable risk to workers, occupational non-users, consumers and bystanders, the EPA still found that none of these conditions made 1-BP pose any unreasonable environmental

August 24, 2020
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