The protection of a company’s investments abroad could soon be linked to that company’s compliance with its CSR obligations. This is what the new Dutch draft model bilateral investment treaty (BIT) heralds. If other countries adopt the Netherlands’ approach, then international arbitration tribunals hearing claims that investors bring against foreign governments may also scrutinize the investors’ CSR track record.

CSR obligations are most relevant to the compensation a tribunal can award the investor.… More

Why You and Your Board Need to Adapt to New Forms of Consumer Advocacy

Public companies are facing heightened expectations with respect to the social and environmental impacts of their business operations. Recent developments such as the emergence of the #MeToo movement and increasing public concern regarding issues ranging from climate change to gun control have highlighted the risks that exist in today’s social media-driven environment. When allegations of corporate missteps can instantly capture public attention,… More

On April 24, the U.S. Supreme Court held that plaintiffs may not bring claims against corporations domiciled outside the United States in Alien Tort Statute (“ATS”) cases.

In the years following the Supreme Court’s 2013 decision in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum, courts have made clear that filing suit against a U.S.-domiciled company is not sufficient for plaintiffs to be able to overcome the presumption against extraterritoriality that is applicable to ATS litigation.… More

It’s Friday and time for another overview of developments in the field of business and human rights that we’ve been monitoring.

This week’s post includes: new reports on product liability law and the Internet of Things, Bangladesh’s garment sector, and corporate lobbying on climate change, diversity and inclusion, and tax reform; and a new lawsuit seeing to hold oil companies accountable for the costs of climate change.… More

In his testimony before Congress last week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg observed that, on issues ranging from fake news to hate speech, the company “didn’t take a broad enough view of our responsibility, and that was a big mistake.”

Looking ahead, it remains to be seen what a “broad enough view” means for companies that both host online content. When the content that you and I see on various websites is determined by a complex ecosystem of content writers,… More

It’s Friday and time for another overview of developments in the field of business and human rights that we’ve been monitoring.

This week’s post includes: two new reports looking at corporate compliance with the U.K. Modern Slavery Act and best practices with respect to efforts to address the risks of forced labor; and the release of a “Frequently Asked Questions” document by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security regarding the presumption that goods made by North Korean workers are made with forced labor.… More

The Corporate Human Rights Benchmark (“CHRB”) has released its 2018 research methodology, reflecting revisions to the 2016 methodology used to produce CHRB’s 2017 inaugural benchmarking report.

The 2017 benchmarking report ranked 98 of the world’s largest publicly traded companies on their human rights performance using 100 specific performance indicators. The CHRB has focused on companies in the following three industry sectors: agriculture;… More

For Alien Tort-watchers, all eyes are focused on the Supreme Court and the pending decision in Jesner v. Arab Bank, which may determine that corporations are not appropriate defendants in cases brought pursuant to the Alien Tort Statute (“ATS”).

In the interim, in a decision released on February 21, the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia has allowed plaintiffs to proceed with their ATS case against U.S.… More

This post, written by Jonathan Keselenko and Erin Olesen, was originally published as a client alert by the firm’s Labor & Employment practice. We have previously posted about the NLRB’s Browning-Ferris decision here. 

On February 26, 2018, the National Labor Relations Board vacated its recent ruling in the Hy-Brand Industrial Contractors,… More

It’s Friday and time for another overview of developments in the field of business and human rights that we’ve been monitoring.

This week’s post includes: a new venture fund intended to support companies trying to increase transparency with regard to labor conditions in corporate supply chains; the launch of new principles on responsible corporate tax policy; and litigation alleging that a company’s failure to disclose human rights-related risks in its supply chain in its packaging is deceptive to consumers.… More