Money
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Takes Action Against Student-Loan Debt-Relief Business and Its Owners For Taking Illegal Advance Fees
The Bureau’s complaint, which was filed in federal district court for the Southern District of Florida, alleged that from 2016 through October 2019, the defendants used telemarketing campaigns to convince more than 7,300 consumers to pay up to $699 in fees to file paperwork to reduce or eliminate their monthly payments for their federal student loans, through loan consolidation, forgiveness, or income-driven repayment plans. The US Department of Education, however, offers these options to student loan borrowers for free. more »
New York Historical Society: Did “I Approve This Message” Live Up to its Promise? An Exhibition About the Emotional Impact of Political Advertising
I Approve This Message, an exhibition about the emotional impact of political advertising in a landscape altered by the internet, was set to open at the New-York Historical Society this September. The COVID-19 lockdown halted those plans, but [the NY Historical Society] wanted to share a few of the exhibition’s themes, particularly as we barrel towards our new date with destiny on election day, Nov. 3.In this second of three posts, [the Society] is going to look back at what was hoped to be a crucial turning point in political advertising — a new legal provision called Stand by Your Ad that was supposed to deliver more accountability and less deception and negativity. more »
Supreme Court Surprises The Public in LGBTQ Ruling: What is Sex Discrimination?
Three leading precedents confirm what the statute’s plain terms suggest. In Phillips v. Martin Marietta Corp., 400 U. S. 542, a company was held to have violated Title VII by refusing to hire women with young children, despite the fact that the discrimination also depended on being a parent of young children and the fact that the company favored hiring women over men. In Los Angeles Dept. of Water and Power v. Manhart, 435 U. S. 702, an employer’s policy of requiring women to make larger pension fund contributions than men because women tend to live longer was held to violate Title VII, notwithstanding the policy’s evenhandedness between men and women as groups. more »
Pew Trust's Stateline: Staffing Nursing Homes Was Hard Before the Pandemic. Now It’s Even Tougher.
There’s no standard federal ratio of staff to residents. A 1987 law requires nursing homes to have a registered nurse on duty eight hours a day, seven days a week; a licensed nurse on duty in the evenings and overnight; and staff “sufficient to meet nursing needs of its residents.” There’s no national data on nursing home staffing during the pandemic, because the federal government has suspended staff reporting requirements to give businesses a break from paperwork. Before the pandemic, the average nursing home could provide 3.9 hours a day of nursing care per patient, according to the most recent federal data. more »