Legal and Regulatory Frameworks Flashcards

Under OSHA's General Duty Clause, an employer can be cited for a workplace hazard even without a specific OSHA standard covering it if which condition is met?

Answer: The hazard was recognized and likely to cause serious harm, and a feasible abatement method existed

The General Duty Clause requires that the hazard be recognized (by industry or the employer), likely to cause death or serious harm, and correctable by feasible means.

Which type of consent decree is used by the DOJ and FTC to resolve antitrust violations without a full trial, binding the defendant to specific conduct remedies?

Answer: Consent order / consent decree

Consent decrees (or consent orders) are court-approved settlements that bind defendants to behavioral or structural remedies negotiated with the DOJ or FTC.

A healthcare company pays a physician to refer patients to its facility. Under which federal law is this arrangement most directly prohibited?

Answer: The Stark Law (physician self-referral law)

The Stark Law (42 U.S.C. § 1395nn) prohibits physicians from referring Medicare/Medicaid patients to entities with which they have a financial relationship, absent an exception.

Under the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which legal basis for processing personal data is most commonly relied upon in commercial contexts involving a contract with the data subject?

Answer: Performance of a contract

Article 6(1)(b) GDPR allows processing necessary for the performance of a contract to which the data subject is party.

Which provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires the CEO and CFO of public companies to personally certify the accuracy of financial reports filed with the SEC?

Answer: Section 302

SOX Section 302 requires principal executive and financial officers to certify that quarterly and annual reports do not contain material misstatements.

Under the Equal Employment Opportunity framework, which doctrine allows a plaintiff to prove employment discrimination using statistical evidence that a facially neutral policy disproportionately affects a protected class?

Answer: Disparate impact

Disparate impact (established in Griggs v. Duke Power Co.) allows claims based on neutral policies that have a statistically significant adverse effect on a protected group.

When a company subject to multiple overlapping regulatory regimes (e.g., FDA, FTC, and state consumer protection laws) faces a compliance conflict, what is the first analytical step a compliance officer should take?

Answer: Identify whether federal law preempts conflicting state requirements

The threshold question in multi-regulator conflicts is whether federal preemption (express, field, or conflict) eliminates or limits state requirements.