December 2020 SM Online

BACKGROUND SCREENING
According to the Professional Background Screening Association, 96.1 percent of employers perform some sort of preemployment background screening.

BUSINESS TRAVEL
The Global Business Travel Association polled its membership and other stakeholders on how business travel has been affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL
An Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) report discusses international travel during the pandemic.

HARMONIZING TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS
The European Tourism Manifesto alliance, the voice of the European travel and tourism sector, calls on Member States to agree on travel restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic.

CYBER POLICY
In summer 2020, the Australian government released its 2020 Cyber Security Strategy and committed to devoting $1.35 billion AUS over the next decade to cybersecurity.

ORGANIZED CRIME
Mexico faces an escalating security crisis as criminal drug-trafficking organizations’ activities rise, according to a report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

TRAVEL IN EUROPE
The European Commission released a statement on the coordination of measures restricting free movement in the European Union related to the coronavirus pandemic.

TRAFFIC FATALITIES
Despite stay-at-home orders, the United States saw a 20 percent jump in motor vehicle deaths in the first half of 2020, according to the National Safety Council.

DRUG CARTELS
Mexican criminal drug-trafficking organizations have recently diversified into crimes of extortion, human smuggling, and oil theft, a Congressional Research Service report found.

FIRST RESPONDERS
An association for occupational and environmental health and safety professionals released new resources to help emergency response leaders account for long-term health risks for first responders.

SECURITY IN MEXICO
The Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) has a presence in 27 of 32 Mexican states, an Insight Crime study found.

GENDER DISCRIMINATION
Walmart will pay a $20 million settlement over a nationwide hiring discrimination case brought forth by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. 

PATENT INFRINGEMENT
A U.S. judge ordered Cisco Systems Inc to pay $1.9 billion to a Virginia company that accused it of copying its cybersecurity patents. 

ACTIVE SHOOTER
A grand jury declined to indict a volunteer church security guard who killed a gunman in Texas.

BUSINESS INTERRUPTION
More than 400 business interruption lawsuits have been filed since the coronavirus pandemic hit the United States. A state judge rejected a Michigan’s restaurant claim.

REST PERIODS
California approved a law amending the state’s Labor Code, which deals with the rest periods of security officers. 

PANDEMIC
The United Kingdom will start fining people who refuse to self-isolate after testing positive for the COVID-19 virus. 

MORALITY
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority blocked access to five dating and live streaming applications, citing the negative effects of immoral or indecent content provided by the platforms.

DISCRIMINATION
Wells Fargo agrees to settle race and sex bias claims for $7.8 million. 

TERRORISM
A federal appeals court overturned the death sentence of one of the men convicted of collaborating to bomb the Boston marathon’s finish line. 

ACTIVE SHOOTER
A court approved a settlement of $800 million from MGM Resorts International casino company to the more than 4,400 relatives and victims of the Las Vegas shooting from October 2018.

SEX DISCRIMINATION
A federal appeals court ruled that the male-only draft is indeed constitutional.