Facial Recognition Banned in Third U.S. City
Oakland, Calif. Officially Votes Down Use of the Technology
Oakland, California, has become third city to ban the municipal use of facial recognition technology. Late Tuesday night, the Oakland City Council approved the ordinance, which requires a second and final vote that's scheduled for Sept. 17.

Oakland neighbor San Francisco in May became the first city to ban its police officers from using facial recognition technology, citing a breach of citizens' civil liberties. The Somerville City Council in Massachusetts followed suit last month.

Oakland City Council President Rebecca Kaplan, who prepared a report on the proposed ban, cited limitations of the technology, the lack of standards around its implementation, and its potential use in the persecution of minorities, according to KPIX. cnet.com

What the CFO's are reading
CFOs Remain Cautious With Corporate Cash
U.S. companies have not relinquished their liquidity buffers or their habit of keeping cash in ultra-safe investment vehicles.

Credit may be bountiful and cheap, but finance chiefs refuse to play fast and loose with the cash on their balance sheets or spend big on capital investments that will deplete liquidity.

Restraint characterized the strategies for cash deployments and short-term investments for the bulk of 2018 and the beginning of 2019, according to the latest Association For Financial Professionals annual liquidity survey.

In the 12 months to March 2019, about half of the 496 finance and treasury professionals surveyed by the AFP said the size of their cash hoards had not changed much, either domestically or outside the United States. Of those whose overall cash balances had changed, 20% said their cash levels were smaller and 30% said they were larger.

Increased operating cash flows, higher debt levels, and a pullback in capital expenditures were most often cited as the reason for more cash on hand.

In the months ahead, 61% of treasury and finance professionals reported that their organizations will follow the same script — retain the size of their cash balances. About one in five respondents anticipated their company’s cash balance would rise (20%), but about the same number said their balance would fall (19%). cfo.com

Editor's Note: Keeping it tight - CFO's are stretching AP's longer than ever before. This is what we all knew, but this survey confirms exactly how the CFO's are operating and explains all of the stress and slow AR's throughout the retail sector worldwide for the most part.

ASIS International Announces Keynote Lineup For
Global Security Exchange (GSX) 2019 - Sept. 8- 12 in Chicago
The schedule includes presentations from leading authorities with experience and expertise in international security, politics, homeland security, cyber security and corporate security.

GSX is designed to address the comprehensive nature of security, creating an integrated experience focused on understanding the changing landscape, and the tools and tactics to proactively anticipate and mitigate threats. Every year, attendees hear from global leaders who offer insider insights into some of the most important issues facing security management professionals worldwide and the latest technologies changing our industry and our lives.

For information on GSX 2019 keynote presentations, please visit https://www.gsx.org/security-education-conference/keynotes. gsx.org

RILA Panel Discusses Product Recall Effectiveness
Retailers Play Unique Role in Recall Process
Last week, Autumn Moore, RILA’s director of regulatory affairs and compliance, spoke to over 150 product safety professionals on a panel at the International Consumer Product Health and Safety Organization (ICPHSO). The panel, titled “Why are Effective Recalls so Hard?”, focused on retailers’ role in implementing consumer product recalls and also featured U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) Compliance Field Director Beverly Kohen and Carma Project’s Founding Partner and President Tony Lim, and was moderated by Consumer Federation of America’s Legislative Director and General Counsel Rachel Weintraub.

RILA highlighted the unique role retailers play in the recall process, as both the face of a recall for customers returning a product and seeking remedy, and the facilitator of recalls on behalf of the manufacturer or supplier. Both roles are key in ensuring that consumer product recalls happen efficiently and effectively. rila.org

New York Legislators Upend the Workplace Legal Landscape
New York employers should be aware of sweeping changes to the state's employment laws impacting settlement and separation agreements, employment-related litigation, and hiring and pay practices.

State lawmakers' 2019 changes come on the heels of landmark legislation enacted in 2018 aimed at curbing workplace sexual harassment.

Nondisclosure Provisions Get the Kibosh

In July 2018, New York became the first jurisdiction to curtail the use of nondisclosure provisions in sexual-harassment settlement agreements. The law prohibits employers from including nondisclosure provisions unless the employee wants to include the provisions and the employer complies with certain nuanced procedural requirements.

In 2019, lawmakers expanded this limitation to cover agreements resolving all forms of unlawful discrimination, harassment and retaliation

Lowering the Bar for Proving Workplace Harassment

Following California's lead, New York's new laws make it easier for employees to prove workplace harassment claims. Under the new laws, however, harassment, at least for purposes of New York's anti-discrimination law, will be deemed illegal "regardless of whether such harassment would be considered severe or pervasive under precedent applied to harassment claims."

Expanding Equal Pay Protection to All Employees

Say Goodbye to Salary-History Inquiries

Additional Expansions to New York's Workplace Laws shrm.org

Surge in Brazen Phone Thefts Leads to 'Major Police Crackdown' in Australia
Shoppers & Workers Terrorized by Gangs, Stores Hiring Security Guards
Police arrested the seven teenagers − all aged between 14 and 16 − and seized electronic devices in raids at three addresses in Melbourne's west on Tuesday and Wednesday. It follows the arrests of four other boys over similar alleged thefts last week.

The wave of recent arrests signals a major police crackdown on gangs that terrorise shoppers and workers by swarming phone and computer displays to rip away valuable goods.

Smash-and-grabs have become so common in Melbourne shopping malls that the big three telcos have resorted to hiring security guards, equipping staff with personal distress beacons and removing expensive models from display. Some stores are now putting 'dummy items' on display. Others hide their stock in the back rooms and bring them out only when a customer is interested.

The trend is so new neither police nor AMTA collect specific data about their frequency, but Mr Althaus estimated there had been more than 100 robberies combined across Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane stores in the three months to May alone. The thieves are brazen enough to work in busy shopping malls and often in clear view of CCTV. theage.com.au

Another Retailer Unseats Bill Gates as World's 2nd Richest Man
Luxury Goods-Maker LVMH - Oversees 70 Brands, Including Louis Vuitton & Sephora
Bill Gates is no longer the world's second-richest person. That title now belongs to French billionaire Bernard Arnault.

Arnault, the CEO of luxury goods maker LVMH (LVMHF), overtook Gates Tuesday on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. It's the first time since the index was created seven years ago that Gates has dropped out of the top two.

Arnault has built LVMH into a global luxury powerhouse that controls brands such as Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior and Givenchy. It's also the home of Champagne brand Dom Pérignon and beauty retailer Sephora. bloomberg.com

U.S. House Passes $15 Minimum-Wage Bill
The U.S. House of Representatives approved a bill that would gradually raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour over the next six years. However, the bill is not likely to be considered in the Republican-controlled Senate. shrm.org

U.S. Department of Labor Redesigns OSHA's Whistleblower Website
OSHA recently redesigned the Whistleblower Protection Program's website. The streamlined design highlights important information for employers and employees on more than 20 statutes enforced by the agency. The new whistleblower homepage utilizes video to showcase the covered industries, which include the railroad, airline, and securities industries. The improved navigational structure allows visitors to easily access information on protected activities, filing deadlines, and resources. whistleblowers.gov

The Sober Group - Wow Great News
82% of People Between 21 to 36 Think Drinking Too Much is Uncool
The "Moderation Millennials" - 16% don't drink, 35% drink less than once a week, and 82% say drinking too much is uncool. With food and restaurants being the going-out preferences. stores.org

Tru Kids & b8ta to open 2 Toys R Us 'Playgrounds' for Holidays
Modernized - "Retail as a Service" Platform for Product Brands
The smaller format, 6,500-square-feet, stores will use b8ta's model of charging product vendors for space in the stores. The locations will serve as venues for displaying and playing with products as well as event-hosting. 70% retailing and 30% events and activities. The companies said they planned to open more locations in "prime, high-traffic retail markets" in 2020 but did not specify how many.

The Galleria in Houston and the Westfield Garden State Plaza mall in Paramus, New Jersey. CEO Nordy wouldn't rule out more than 200 stores at some point. retaildive.com

JetBlue flight evacuated after photo of suicide vest sent to crew, passengers
via AirDrop
A Tampa-bound JetBlue flight waiting for takeoff at Newark Airport was evacuated after members of the crew and some passengers received a photo of a suicide vest via Apple’s AirDrop. Although the source of the photo is unknown, someone nearby – potentially a passenger, according to a report in the New York Daily News – would have had to share the disturbing picture through the Bluetooth technology. scmagazine.com