Workforce Bulletin

In recent years, advocates and lawmakers have been pushing to expand the reach of “ban-the-box” measures designed to remove job barriers for individuals with criminal convictions. “Ban-the-box” laws, also called “fair chance laws,” are designed to prevent employers from excluding applicants based on their criminal history alone, by prohibiting employers from immediately inquiring into an applicant’s criminal history before evaluating their qualifications.

Ban-the-box laws have been adopted federally (for federal agencies and federal contractors acting on their behalf) and in numerous states and local jurisdictions. These laws generally contain broad carve-outs for employers or positions where background checks are required, including within the financial services industry. Some changes are coming to narrow those exemptions. On December 23, 2022, President Biden signed into law the Fair Hiring in Banking Act (FHBA), which substantially revised Section 19 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (FDIA) to reduce hiring barriers within the financial services sector.

Recently, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC”) Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (“OCIE”) issued a Risk Alert to provide broker-dealers with guidance on examinations regarding regulation Best Interest (“Reg BI”).  Reg BI requires that when broker-dealers make a recommendation regarding securities to a retail customer it must act in the best interest of the customer, without placing its own financial or other interest ahead of the retail customer’s interest.  The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) also ...

Broker-dealers (“BDs”) should be aware that, on June 5, 2019, the SEC adopted “Regulation Best Interest” (“Reg BI”), which requires BDs and their registered representatives (“RRs”) to “act in the best interest of the retail customer,” when “making a recommendation” regarding “a securities transaction or investment strategy.”  In addition, the SEC’s new rules require BDs to deliver Form CRS relationship summaries (“Form CRS”) to retail customers.  BDs will need to be in compliance with Reg BI and Form CRS, which were accompanied by more than ...

On April 5, 2019, FINRA published Regulatory Notice 19-10 (the “Notice”) addressing the responsibilities of member firms when communicating with customers about departing registered representatives.  As the Notice indicates, in the event a registered representative leaves a member firm, FINRA aims to avoid any disruption in the service of customer accounts and to ensure that customers can make a “timely and informed choice” about where to maintain their assets. The Notice contains two key points about what is expected of member firms in terms of customer communications ...

In May, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis that employers may lawfully require employees to sign arbitration agreements that include a waiver of the right to participate in an employee class action lawsuit or arbitration. Below, we discuss the significance of this decision and highlight issues that employers may wish to consider in the wake of it.

Epic Systems—a Pivotal Win for Employers

The NLRB planted the seed for Epic Systems in 2012, when it first took the position that Section 7 of the National Labor relations Act (“NLRA”)—which affords employees ...

We published an article with Thomson Reuters Practical Law summarizing key employment issues for financial services employers, highlighting those rules applicable to registered representatives regulated by Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). With Thomson Reuters Practical Law’s permission, we have attached it here.

Businesses of all sizes and in virtually every industry face the daily threat of a data breach or other cybersecurity event, as well as the challenge of managing the potentially catastrophic economic and reputational harm that can flow from such an incident. Further complicating matters is that these threats can come from any number of sources: hackers, phishers, spammers, bot-network operators, spyware and malware authors, insiders, other nations, organized criminal groups, and terrorists. SEC regulations require registered financial institutions—including ...

By Aime Dempsey and John F. Fullerton III

For financial services industry employers that participate in arbitrations administered by FINRA, the composition of the arbitration panel may have as much, or more, of an impact on the outcome of the dispute than the facts or the law. This is because FINRA arbitrators are not bound to follow case precedent or strictly apply principals of law and can render awards based on their own notions of “fairness” or “justice.” The important process of selecting an acceptable arbitration panel, however, can be opaque, as the information that ...

By Kenneth DiGia and Lauri F. Rasnick

FINRA just issued a reminder regarding its views on confidentiality provisions and confidentiality stipulations.

Settlement Agreements

In Regulatory Notice 14-40, FINRA follows up on its prior Notice to Members 04-44, in which it had cautioned firms about the use of certain provisions in settlement agreements that impede, or have the potential to impede, FINRA investigations and the enforcement of FINRA actions.  Specifically, FINRA had addressed settlement agreement provisions which limited, prohibited or discouraged employees from ...

At the Firm’s 33rd Annual Labor and Employment Client Briefing, Lauri Rasnick and John Fullerton spoke on the financial services industry panel about the impact of increased compliance obligations on the employment relationship and developments in the areas of applicant screening, whistleblower complaints, internal investigations, and diversity and inclusion.

Here are a few takeaways from that session:

• Eleven states have enacted legislation prohibiting the use of consumer credit reports in making employment decisions.  There has been a dramatic increase in state and ...

by Lauri F. Rasnick

FINRA is contemplating a new rule that would require brokers transferring firms to inform clients about their signing bonuses or other compensation they are receiving in connection with their moves.  The potential rule, which is now out for public comment, is being considered to protect customers.   By mandating disclosure of the money offered in connection with a move, the client can consider the true motivation behind the move and whether it is in the client’s best interest to transfer all of his or her business.  Indeed, many firms luring over brokers offer ...

Before the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd Frank”) was enacted, whistleblower claims by registered representatives, including those arising pursuant to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (“SOX”) were subject to mandatory arbitration at FINRA.  See FINRA Notice 12-21 (PDF).  Dodd Frank changed that.  Dodd Frank specifically amended SOX to provide that “[n]o dispute arbitration agreement shall be valid or enforceable, if the agreement requires arbitration of a dispute arising under this section.”  In addition, SOX was also amended to ...

By:  Dena L. Narbaitz

 This is the fourth in our series of posts on practice and procedure in employment-related arbitrations before FINRA.  Check back often for future posts, subscribe by e-mail (see the sidebar), or follow @FSemployer on Twitter so you don’t miss any updates!

The FINRA Code of Arbitration Procedure provides for a simplified arbitration process in both employment and customer disputes if the dollar amount in controversy is below a certain threshold. The SEC recently approved FINRA’s proposal to raise the dollar limit eligible for simplified arbitration ...

By:  John F. Fullerton III

This is the third in our series of posts on practice and procedure in employment-related arbitrations before FINRA.  Check back often for future posts, subscribe by e-mail (see the sidebar), or follow @FSemployer on Twitter so you don’t miss any updates!

Once upon a time, it was mandatory under Form U4 that registered representatives file any statutory claims of discrimination (such as age, gender, or race discrimination) in arbitration rather than in court.  A well known Supreme Court case decided in 1991, Gilmer v.  Interstate/Johnson Lane Corp.

By:  John F. Fullerton III

This is the second in our series of posts on practice and procedure in employment-related arbitrations before FINRA.  Check back often for future posts, subscribe by e-mail (see the sidebar), or follow @FSemployer on Twitter so you don’t miss any updates!

As a general rule, it is more common to read about employers who have been sued in court by a former employee attempting to compel the claims into arbitration than an employer trying to compel arbitration claims to be filed in court.  Yet, under the occasionally overlooked FINRA Rule 13803, employers who ...

By: John F. Fullerton III

This is the first of a series of posts on practice and procedure in employment-related arbitrations before FINRA.  Check back often for future posts, subscribe by e-mail (see the sidebar), or follow @FSemployer on Twitter so you don’t miss any updates!

More than one lawyer has been burned by a FINRA arbitration panel that seemed ideal on paper, but then, at the hearing, just did not “get it.”  Conversely, a panel that initially looks troubling sometimes does a great job at the hearing and gets the decision right (i.e., in your favor, of course). And there ...

By: Lauri F. Rasnick

FINRA recently announced that it fined Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith (“Merrill”) one million dollars for failing to arbitrate claims with employees. See January 25, 2012 News Release.    The disputes at issue arose out of promissory notes executed by Merrill employees in connection with the Bank of America Corporation (“BOA”) acquisition.  After the BOA acquisition, Merrill created a program called the Advisor Transition Program (“ATP”).  Pursuant to this program, Merrill was to pay particular registered representatives lump sum ...

By: John F. Fullerton III

A recent New York state court decision granted a fairly unique petition to disqualify the attorney for a group of former employees from representing them in an intra-industry arbitration at FINRA. Why?  Because the lawyer had turned himself into a fact witness by negotiating the termination explanation in the U5 notice of two of the employees. The decision raises an interesting question about whether the same logic could be applied in a U5 expungement hearing at FINRA when there have been discussions between counsel about the U5 language, regardless of whether ...

By:  Dena L. Narbaitz

Here is the scenario:  your company, a FINRA Member Firm, terminates a broker for “violation of company policies” and reports this as the reason for termination on the broker’s Form U-5 (Uniform Termination Notice for Securities Industry Registration).  The broker then sues your company in state court asserting several claims, including defamation for the language contained on his Form U-5.  Your company thinks there is a good legal basis to have the broker’s claims dismissed as a matter of law before the case is tried.  Should your company litigate the case ...