President Donald Trump’s administration on Wednesday moved to make it more difficult to hold companies liable when their contractors or franchisees violate federal wage laws. The U.S. Department of Labor unveiled a proposed rule that would narrow the circumstances in which a business can be considered the “joint employer” of another company’s workers under the federal law requiring a minimum wage and overtime pay. The rule is similar to one adopted by the department during Trump’s first term that business groups backed but Democratic former President Joe Biden rescinded. Easier to Comply: Secretary Acting Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling said the…
Author: Awais
France’s forecasting office flagged suspected tampering with weather sensors at the country’s largest airport and referred the case to police, after detecting unusual readings alongside heavy betting on a popular prediction market. Automated temperature readings taken at Meteo France’s weather station at Charles de Gaulle International Airport spiked 4C and 5C unexpectedly in the evenings of April 6 and April 15, respectively, reaching the highest temperature recorded at the site on those days, data from the installation show. Readings from the site are important for the safe operation of the airport. They are also used to settle contracts for daily…
AM Best has removed from under review with positive implications and upgraded the Financial Strength Rating to A (Excellent) from B++ (Good) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating to “a” (Excellent) from “bbb” (Good) of Louisiana Farm Bureau Insurance Company based in Baton Rouge. The outlook assigned to these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable. The ratings reflect Louisiana’s inclusion as a member of Southern Farm Bureau Casualty Group (Southern), which on a consolidated basis has a balance sheet strength that AM Best assesses as very strong, as well as its adequate operating performance, neutral business profile and appropriate enterprise risk…
It’s never been so expensive for Americans to buy a steak or hamburger, but cutting those costs requires ranchers like Stephanie Hatzenbuhler to raise more cattle — and that’s not an easy ask. For a host of reasons, Hatzenbuhler and other ranchers across the country are reluctant to grow the national herd — now its smallest in more than 75 years — and until they do so, demand will outweigh supply, and beef prices will likely remain high. Adding cattle makes sense for some ranchers, but others are struggling to stay afloat with the cattle they have, Hatzenbuhler said. “They’re…
A joint legislative panel took more than four hours of testimony on a proposal to rescind and amend controversial flood rules approved on Gov. Phil Murphy’s last day in office. The discussion was spurred by a resolution sponsored by Senate President Nicholas Scutari that would declare the regulations out of step with legislative intent and give the Department of Environmental Protection 30 days to amend them and allow the legislature to invalidate them by passing a second resolution. “The PACT rules and the REAL rules have tremendous implications for New Jersey citizens, businesses, and New Jersey’s environment,” said Senate Environment…
American Coastal Insurance Company (AmCoastal Insurance) has now successfully priced its latest catastrophe bond, securing the targeted $200 million multi-peril reinsurance from the capital markets from its Armor Re II Ltd. (Series 2026-1) issuance, this publication has learned.As we’ve previously explained, this Armor Re II Series 2026-1 catastrophe bond marks the first Florida-focused multi-peril cat bond where American Coastal Insurance Company is the sole sponsor. American Coastal Insurance Company returned to the catastrophe bond market in late March, targeting a $200 million source of multi-peril reinsurance protection from the capital markets. In our first update on this deal, we reported that AmCoastal Insurance’s $200…
Two workers were killed and 20 others, including first responders, were injured when a chemical reaction went awry at a silver recovery facility in West Virginia. The reaction and leak happened Wednesday at the Catalyst Refiners plant near Institute, about 12 miles northwest of Charleston, prompting a shelter-in-place order from local authorities, the Kanawha County Commission Emergency Management announced on social media. The Associated Press and other news sites reported that crews were cleaning equipment in the plant when the chemical reaction produced toxic hydrogen sulfide and nitric acid, a county official said. Seven ambulance workers arriving at the scene…
AI-powered firm’s first full quarter on the NYSE delivered records across the board
Leadership transition Goosehead named John Martin as chief financial officer, effective April 20. Per filing summary, Martin joined from RugsUSA, a private equity-backed e-commerce platform, where he served as CFO from November 2021, with earlier stints at Highbridge Capital Management, Providence Equity Partners and Morgan Stanley.
FedEx Express will pay $280,000 and furnish other relief to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced. In the lawsuit, the EEOC charged that in February 2023, FedEx failed to accommodate several dispatchers’ requests to continue working from home and demanded the dispatchers’ return to its downtown Manhattan office, effectively forcing at least one into retirement. The employee, and other disabled dispatchers, previously performed dispatcher duties remotely and successfully for nearly three years. According to the suit, FedEx denied continued telework based on an alleged operational need to have all…
Sullivan & Cromwell, a premier Wall Street law firm, apologized to a federal judge for submitting a court filing with inaccurate citations and other errors generated by artificial intelligence. In a letter dated April 18, Andrew Dietderich, co-head of the firm’s global restructuring group, said the errors included AI “hallucinations” – instances in which AI makes up case citations, misquotes the law or generates non-existent legal sources. The mistakes were caught by law firm Boies Schiller Flexner, Dietderich said in the letter to Martin Glenn, chief judge of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan. “I apologize on behalf of our…
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP agreed to pay HK$1.3 billion ($166 million) in fines and compensation to settle investigations into its auditing work for the collapsed property giant China Evergrande Group. Hong Kong’s Accounting and Financial Reporting Council also imposed a six-month suspension on the firm, barring it from accepting or performing audit work for new listed clients. The watchdog also levied a HK$300 million fine. In a parallel agreement with the Securities and Futures Commission, PwC HK committed to paying HK$1 billion into a fund dedicated to compensating eligible independent minority shareholders of Evergrande. The SFC said that the agreement resolves the…
A team of former Credit Suisse bankers is preparing to launch a fund they say will offer double-digit returns in exchange for taking on some of the insurance risk tied to data centers. Euler ILS Partners, an alternative investor formed through a 2024 management buyout of Credit Suisse Insurance Linked Strategies Ltd., is in the process of teaming up with an insurance company to underwrite specialist policies, Chief Investment Officer Niklaus Hilti told Bloomberg. Euler, which has already received initial signs of interest from investors, is targeting about $1 billion in capital for the co-investment, institutional fund, he said. It…
London-listed specialty insurer Beazley said on Wednesday shareholders approved Swiss group Zurich Insurance’s 8.1 billion pound ($10.94 billion) all-cash takeover, with 99.9% votes in favor at a meeting held earlier in the day. The acquisition, which follows a series of cyber-focused investments by Zurich, will help the Swiss insurer significantly expand its foothold in specialty insurance, encompassing areas such as cyber, marine, aviation, space and fine art. Days after Zurich struck the deal with Beazley, it also agreed to buy Generali’s Irish P&C operations for 337 million euros ($394.69 million). Last year, it acquired Canadian cyber insurtech Boxx Insurance, after…