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The trend of states legalizing both medical and recreational marijuana use continues to gain momentum. Unfortunately for employers, this also means having to wade through an ever-growing patchwork of marijuana laws across the country. The latest development addresses one discrete but important distinction for recreationally legalized marijuana. Employers would be wise to consider their reasons for having zero-tolerance policies and whether those policies can be tailored to avoid confusion on the ‘lawful product’ interpretation.

Ransomware has become prevalent and can cause significant downtime and leaving businesses with no choice but to pay the ransom. The bad actors aren’t just trying to steal personal, identifiable information but are frequently monitoring email correspondence to manipulate invoices and redirect payroll to accounts they control. Employee training and multi-factor authentication are vital to your cyber defense.

Employers of all sizes inadvertently put themselves at risk by not having a policy establishing how long to continue benefits during a leave of absence (LOA). So, before the important questions arise, employers should establish an LOA Policy that considers employee needs, carrier contractual provisions, federal and state benefit regulations, and the employer’s company culture. Having a policy in place and regularly updated will minimize costly risks, as well as create an easier path to communication when employees will need it most.

With the implementation of California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) set to go into effect January 1, 2020, anyone doing businesses with California residents should not only be preparing their digital strategies to comply with the new law, they should also be assessing their risk and reviewing their cyber insurance and adequacy of limits. Why? Now, at $100 minimum per individual incident, a small data breach of 5,000 people equates to $500,000 in damages. Given the minimum statutory damage provision, expect a significant uptick in class action lawsuits following data breaches.

While far-reaching cyberattacks targeting the Internet of Things (IoT) devices hasn’t happened yet, it will in the not-too-distant future. Given the rapid pace of change and possibility, cyber risk insurance policies written a few years ago may not have adequate language to cover potential losses and damages that today’s IoT vulnerabilities expose. Now is the time to start reassessing cyber risk profiles in an IoT world.

The Fine Art insurance market is beginning to harden. Personal insurance companies are offering less coverage in catastrophic areas and Lloyd is closing some of their business units, including some who write insurance for Fine Art.

Posting fabulous vacation moments on Facebook—from a boat in Belize, to the top of a mountain in Chamonix—might be a fun way to share experiences with your friends, but it’s also a great way to let bad actors know your home is empty and ripe for a break-in. Similarly, broadcasting details of a college semester abroad on Instagram increases the risk of a kidnapping for ransom. With some commonsense ways, families can strengthen their digital security and help their children get smart about their social media usage.

When a company is acquired, the buyer takes on new risks and exposure. In today’s M&A marketplace, EBITDA multiples are at peak levels. With valuations so high, it’s more important than ever to manage risks—known and unknown—that could affect ultimate returns. With that in mind, there are three key risk management questions you should ask your broker before acquiring a company.

After seeing too many festivities ruined by the late arrival of tort lawyers, it’s time to pause the celebration preparation and review how to minimize the risks. Whether the planning is for a wedding, graduation party, fundraiser, or summer soiree, it’s important to prepare for what can (and often does) go wrong at celebrations and know how to mitigate the likelihood of that happening.

For most goals driven wealth management clients, meeting annual lifestyle needs is the top priority. This core lifestyle goal is funded by a dynamic asset allocation of risk-control assets within the Portfolio Reserve and risk assets, designed to protect annual lifestyle spending during times of market distress. This paper discusses its design, benefits, and the decision on when to activate it.