Learn Daily, Practical Solutions for Health & Wellness with PPS

PPS teams up with the Loss Prevention Foundation
& Movement Rx to offer 2 free webinars!

Product Protection Solutions' (PPS) is partnering with the Loss Prevention Foundation (LPF) and Movement Rx to give back to the loss prevention community.

Attend this 2-part webinar series on Thursday, February 25, and Thursday, March 4, at 1:00 P.M. EST. Learn new ways to improve and maintain your health and wellness by registering for LPF's live webinar sponsored by PPS.

The webinars will:
• Provide everyday tools and knowledge on living a healthier, better life.
• Help uncover the cause of lower back, shoulder, and knee pain.
• Create a safe and progressive do-it-yourself program to help resolve physical pain.

Register for 2/25 webinar on 'Working From Home: How to Get Employees Happier & Healthier'

Register for 3/4 webinar on 'Happy Retail: Simple Tools to Improve Employee Physical & Emotional Health'

Tim Gates, Senior Vice President in Business Development at PPS, said, "One part of PPS's mission is to protect our customer's bottom line, and that extends to their employees. The health and wellness of the loss prevention team can impact how well and effective jobs are performed. By providing the LP team with solutions for physical ailments will have a positive impact on their mental wellbeing." Read More Here

COVID Update

Biden Administration Focused on Testing & Vaccinations
Not to say anything about more regulations

Employers Should Monitor Changes to COVID-19 Testing Guidelines
Employers may struggle to keep up with evolving COVID-19 testing and safety guidelines as the pandemic persists. So it's a good idea to check frequently for updates at the federal, state and local levels. Here are some key compliance tips for employers.

Look for New Federal and State Directives

In a recent executive order, Biden established the COVID-19 Pandemic Testing Board and a Public Health Workforce Program. Among other objectives, the order aims to "expand equitable access to COVID-19 testing" and "identify barriers to access and use of testing," particularly for health care and other essential workers, and in at-risk settings such as schools, long-term-care facilities and food-processing plants.

The order suggests that tests should be provided free of charge to certain populations, and that employer-sponsored health insurance plans should be reviewed to clarify COVID-19 testing coverage requirements.

However, the new directives don't make many changes to how employers should manage their COVID-19 testing programs. So anti-discrimination guidelines from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and testing protocols from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will remain in place.

Create a COVID-19 Testing Program

"Employers should think through the mechanics of how the testing is going to take place," Diamond said. Are they going to send employees test kits, perform nasal swabs onsite or at approved testing centers, or ask workers to arrange the testing on their own and provide the results?

Employers should review their contracts with testing partners to ensure that they include strong information-security standards and address the risks associated with a security breach, Gordon said. Editors Note: Don't forget cybersecurity here!

Looking Ahead

The Biden administration is focused on rapid tests, which may provide a faster and less expensive alternative to molecular tests (such as the RT-PCR tests) that are sent to a lab. But the accuracy of rapid tests is still under review.

Additionally, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is likely to issue an emergency temporary standard on COVID-19 and the workplace. shrm.org See Below Article

New Emergency Standards Coming March 15th?
Workers' group slams OSHA, demands tougher COVID-19 standards
A national worker safety organization criticized the federal government yesterday for not protecting workers from the spread of COVID-19 on the job, and demanded the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) implement an emergency temporary standard to combat the problem.

"The sad truth is that during the COVID-19 pandemic, OSHA and our federal government has failed us," said Jessica Martinez, co-executive director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, on a Zoom call with reporters where she unveiled an eight-part agenda to keep workers safe.

The call came just four days after OSHA, under President Joe Biden's new administration, issued clarified guidance to combat COVID-19 in the workplace. The president also directed the agency to reconsider its earlier decision to forgo emergency temporary standards - which would provide uniform, enforceable mandates for all workplaces nationally - and if it decides to such issue standards, to implement them by March 15. hrdive.com

10K National Guard - 200 Teams - Mass Vaccination Sites - 6,500 Pharmacies
The Vaccination Plan Continues to Evolve
Florida announced last week that it is expanding its program through more Publix locations as well as those operated by Fresco y Mas, Walmart and Winn-Dixie. A total of 6,500 pharmacies across the U.S., including those operated by Costco, CVS, Jewel-Osco, Kroger, Meijer, Rite Aid, Safeway and Walgreens, will get vaccines to immunize customers in groups prioritized by individual state governments.

The Biden administration's plan being debated in Congress would allocate funds to vaccinate individuals in traditionally underserved communities, organizing partnerships with community-based groups and local healthcare providers and deploying the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) to work with the National Guard and state and local teams. Mobile vaccination centers are also part of the plan to make sure that underserved urban and rural communities are not left high and dry. retailwire.com

Uber will offer free rides to Walgreens to expand Covid vaccine access
in underserved communities

NYC Starting to Wake Up As Employees Begin to Trickle Back
LVMH Tells Tiffany Staff to Return to Office Two Days a Week - Hybrid Schedule

Luxury giant wants New York City employees in office starting March 1 as it starts to integrate U.S. jeweler

Tiffany will join a small list of large New York companies that have required employees to return to the office, including JPMorgan Chase & Co. In Houston, Shell Oil Co. and some other energy companies brought back workers as early as May or June, only to send them home again amid coronavirus outbreaks.

Some companies that had hoped to bring employees back this spring are moving that target to late summer and beyond as Covid-19 case counts remain elevated. About 14% of New York City workers have returned, according to data from Kastle Systems, a security firm that has been tracking access-card swipes at offices.

The seven-day average of the percent of New York City Covid-19 tests that come back positive is 5%, according to state data, down from a recent high of 6.4% in early January. The World Health Organization recommends that positivity rates stay below 5% for at least two weeks before easing shutdown restrictions.

LVMH is taking workers concerns (Day-care issues, public transportation transmission concerns) into consideration and the safety of staff into account as it rolls out the hybrid policy, and employees will have the option of arriving late and leaving early, according to the memo.

Safety Rules: Employees will have their temperature checked upon entering the building, hand sanitizer will be placed throughout, masks are required and will be provided and social-distancing rules will be in effect. Conference rooms will be at half capacity and only two people will be allowed in elevators at the same time, according to the memo.

The back-to-work edict is in keeping with LVMH's policies for its other companies, which include Louis Vuitton and Dior, and its staff in France. LVMH's U.S. employees have been working with this hybrid model since September. The two-day-a-week hybrid schedule has been common in France. wsj.com

U.K. variant of the coronavirus spreads in California, sparking new concern
There are at least 693 cases in 33 states, with the highest numbers in Florida (201) and California (153).

The U.K. variant has been identified in San Diego, Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Alameda, San Mateo and Yolo counties.

Neither the South African variant nor a closely related variant first identified in Brazil, P.1, have been identified thus far in California. The P.1 variant has been identified in two people in Minnesota and one person in Oklahoma.

The currently available vaccines are believed to be highly effective against both the conventional variety of the coronavirus and the U.K. strain.

A travel advisory remains in effect in L.A. County, recommending against any nonessential travel 120 miles outside the county, especially for travel considered tourism or recreational in nature. Anyone arriving in L.A. County from other states or countries for non-essential travel must self-quarantine for 10 days after arrival. latimes.com

What to Expect From Travel in 2021
Grounded fliers should see plenty of change this year on prices, mask rules and rewards programs-if pandemic conditions improve

1. Get Ready for Prices to Zigzag
Airlines will respond to increases in demand for seats with higher prices much faster than they can get more flights into schedules. There's tons of pent-up demand, and when it spills out into bookings, prices in some markets will surge.

Downtown luxury business hotels will stay especially cheap, since their core business travelers won't be coming back in droves yet.

Summer Surge
Airlines are anticipating stronger demand for summer travel, but so far prices are pretty cheap.

2. Health Records Become a Standard Part of Flying
Expect health records to become mandatory for international air travel, just like passports.

3. The Frequent-Flier Free-For-All
There will be a mad scramble for top-level frequent-flier status in the second half of 2021. Expect airlines to offer expensive ways to purchase your status if you don't requalify.

4. The Mask Mandate Arrives

5. Recovery Starts Closer to Home
Domestic travel will be where airlines see some recovery this year. International travel will remain deeply depressed. wsj.com

McDonald's will pay employees to get vaccinated

As alcohol abuse rises amid pandemic, LA hospitals see a wave of deadly liver disease

Detroit expands COVID vaccine eligibility to include food workers & security guards

A Must Read: Great Story & History
NYC's Compstat & Predictive Policing - Transformed American Policing
The Story - The Impact - How Prevention Became the Driving Force

The black box of justice: How secret algorithms have changed policing
Crime prevention efforts increasingly depend on data analysis about neighborhoods. But there's a lot we don't know-and vast opportunities for bias.

The story of predictive policing begins in the 1990s with a process developed by the New York Police Department. Today New York is one of the safest big cities in America. In 2018, 289 people were murdered in the five boroughs. The city's murder rate-3.31 per 100,000 people-was the lowest measured in 50 years.

In 1990, it was a different city: 2,245 people were murdered, a rate of around 31 per 100,000. The city knew it had to get crime under control, but the police didn't have the right information.

In 1993, New York elected its first Republican mayor in almost 30 years-an ambitious former federal prosecutor named Rudy Giuliani. He ran a law-and-order campaign, and soon after taking office appointed Bill Bratton, formerly Boston's police commissioner, then head of New York City's Transit Police, to head the NYPD.

Bratton soon ran into a problem: he found that his new department had no focus on preventing crime.

Read the whole story

Commissioner Bratton spoke to the LP community at the Daily's
'Live in NYC at the NRF Big Show' event in 2016.

One for the Anti-Progressives Prosecutor Movement
Wonder if you get my drift here - Not everybody will

Court blocks some of Los Angeles DA's progressive policies
Los Angeles County prosecutors took the progressive new district attorney to court and won a ruling Monday blocking some criminal justice reforms he instituted to reduce prison sentences.

Superior Court Judge James Chalfant issued a preliminary injunction blocking some directives District Attorney George Gascon issued to end enhancements that can add years to prison sentences.

Gascon said he would appeal.

Gascon took office in December and immediately put in place reforms that he campaigned on, such as vowing not to seek the death penalty, not prosecute juveniles as adults and ending the use of sentencing enhancements that trigger stiffer sentences for certain elements of crimes, repeat offenses or being a gang member. Gascon has argued that enhancements don't make communities safer.

Career prosecutors took the unusual step of suing their new boss. They claimed the directives violated state law, their oath of office and ethical and professional obligations.

"The court ruled as we expected in holding that the district attorney cannot order his prosecutors to ignore laws that protect the public from repeat offenders," the union said in a statement. "The court ruled that the district attorney's policy violated the law to benefit criminal defendants and ordered him to comply with the law. This ruling protects the communities which are disproportionately affected by higher crime rates and those who are victimized." fox40.com

BOPIS Fraud Crimewave
Time for retailers to focus on the digital-physical curbside crimewave
Reports of the retail industry's death have been greatly exaggerated. While COVID-19 ravaged the hospitality, travel and leisure industries, retail has escaped total calamity through plucky entrepreneurialism and the ability to adapt. But with new innovation comes fresh vulnerability. It might have dodged death by pandemic, but now retail faces assault from a virtual curbside crimewave.

Barred from browsing and disappointed by delays in home delivery, shoppers have flocked to curbside pickup. Nearly 70 percent of American consumers made click-and-collect purchases in the past six months according to Business Insider Intelligence. But fraudsters are lining up at the curb just like the rest of us.

Taking advantage of buy online, pick-up in store (BOPIS), these scam artists impersonate customers with stolen account information to make a purchase online, then step out from behind the screen and into the actual pickup line to complete the con. By hopping between the digital and physical worlds, they abuse flaws in newfound fulfillment methods to cause severe financial and reputational risk. And the criminals are just getting started.

With the third wave of COVID-19 running rampant, most people will avoid in-person shopping for the next few months. Doorbusters will make way for Curb Busters, causing account takeovers (ATO) and associated BOPIS attacks to surge. The confluence of fresh and increased opportunity means retail will need to adapt yet again to prevent fraudsters from walking away with a buy-one-get-one-free on merchandise and customer data. scmagazine.com

Not every retailer is sold on curbside pickup
At RetailROI SuperFriday just before the NRF Big Show, a retailer roundtable hosted by Aptos discussed some of the trends that emerged in retail in 2020 and which ones appear to have staying power. Retailers had mixed opinions on curbside beyond the pandemic. For some, curbside and BOPIS helped increase average order value and prevent issues with delivery. For others, it was not a huge draw for customers or was too complicated to coordinate with closed stores. retailwire.com

Misdirecting $1.4M in Rebates to Her Personal Accounts
Financial Analyst Charged With $1.4 Million Fraud Against C-Store CoOp in Northern Texas
Tammy Walden Thomas, 60, charged with nine counts of wire fraud. From March 2016 through October 2019, Ms. Thomas served as a financial analyst for NTBA, a cooperative association of hundreds of North Texas convenience stores and gasoline station owners that negotiated discounts with multinational food and beverage companies on behalf of its members.

As a financial analyst, Ms. Thomas was charged with passing these discounts, as rebates, on to NTBA members via automatic clearinghouse transfers. However, she allegedly misdirected more than $1.4 million in rebate funds into her own bank accounts, lying to NTBA's executives and accountants in the process. If convicted, she faces up to 20 years in federal prison. justice.gov

DOJ Files First-Ever Criminal No-Poaching Charges

Company charged with conspiring with competitors not to hire senior talent

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed its first-ever criminal charges alleging a group of employers agreed not to hire away each other's senior-level employees.

No-poaching agreements-when employers agree not to hire workers from one another-make it harder for workers to be recruited by their employer's competitors or negotiate better terms of employment.

"The Department of Justice is carrying out its promise to prosecute illegal no-poaching agreements between companies," said David Reichenberg, an attorney in the New York City office of Cozen O'Connor and co-chair of the firm's antitrust practice. "Until [this case], DOJ had brought only civil enforcement actions against companies that have allegedly entered into agreements not to hire or solicit talent from one another. This prosecution signals that DOJ is moving to criminal prosecutions to regulate these problematic practices."

The focus on labor collusion will likely only increase under the Biden administration, as the new president has indicated that he would be more aggressive in minimizing employers' use of noncompetition clauses in employment contracts. shrm.org

Bill would ban reliance on salary history, mandate pay data reporting
● Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives again introduced the Paycheck Fairness Act (H.R. 7), a bill that would make several changes aimed at closing the gender wage gap.

● Among other things, the bill would prohibit employers from relying on a worker's salary history when setting pay. It also would require employers with 100 or more employees to submit pay data with demographic information to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) - something EEOC has attempted in recent years with mixed success.

● President Joe Biden urged Congress to pass H.R. 7 in a Jan. 29 statement, saying it would "take critical steps to end pay discrimination and increase transparency" while also providing tools to hold employers accountable for engaging in systemic discrimination. hrdive.com

Let's Take the Kids to the New Theme Park with Hundreds of Other Kids
Yea right - Talk about bad timing - With Billions in Debt

Malls Spent Billions on Theme Parks to Woo Shoppers. It Made Matters Worse
Destiny USA is New York's largest shopping mall, a six-story structure by Onondaga Lake. Its feature attraction is WonderWorks, a 40,000-square-foot theme park where children can experience a simulated earthquake, learn about space travel wearing an astronaut suit or play laser tag.

They could, that is, until the state made the mall close many of the attractions in November for the second time last year to counter Covid-19. Only 18% of the space leased to entertainment tenants is open currently.

Adding theme-park-like attractions was a strategy that Pyramid viewed as crucial to drawing foot traffic and reversing the years long struggles of mall operators battling online shopping. Now, the strategy looks less like a lifeline and more like a millstone.

Triple Five Group: It owns Mall of America in Minnesota and the New Jersey mall, American Dream, that have invested heavily in attractions.

Pyramid and Triple Five have gone much further than other mall owners, racking up debt they are now having trouble repaying. Last year, three of their four big U.S. malls defaulted on some CMBS debt; the fourth mall is delinquent on some local-government bills.

Triple Five's American Dream, in East Rutherford, N.J., became one of the first U.S. malls to devote more space to entertainment, restaurants and theme-park rides than to traditional retail when the $5.7 billion project opened-the costliest U.S. mall ever. Triple Five missed multiple Mall of America mortgage payments on its $1.4 billion loan last year.

Triple Five is on the hook for $2.7 billion in loans. American Dream is delinquent on payments of $1 million in 2019 and $2 million in 2020 in a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes deal with East Rutherford. wsj.com

Philadelphia maintains ordinances restricting employers' use of criminal record & credit histories in employment screening
On Jan. 20, Mayor Jim Kenney signed three bills amending Philadelphia's Fair Criminal Record Screening Standards (FCRSS) and credit ban ordinances. Taken together, the bills: (1) expand coverage; (2) eliminate exceptions; and (3) change certain procedures required by the ordinances. The amendments become effective March 21 and April 1. shrm.org

What recovery? Clothes retailers cut orders while factories fight to survive