Beacon Transcript – On-call scheduling will no longer be used by six new retailers as the technique and its users are being looked into and contested by many more.

The decision should come to advantage workers. On-call scheduling is a method used by many retailers. It is sometimes called on-call shifts. It involved irregular hours and unpredictable work scheduled.

Basically, a retailer worker is not sure when they will work. Typically, such a worker would have to make or expect a call before a shift. As such, they would find out if they will be needed at work.

Employees assigned to such shifts have a highly irregular program. The program is tiresome and quite taxing, especially for adults. Such workers would have no way of scheduling their day in advance.

The method has come under quite some scrutiny. Both employees, regulators, and labor groups are demanding an end to on-call scheduling.

A number of about seven states are trying to take measures against it. The District of Columbia is also involved. Eric Schneiderman, the New York Attorney General, is one of the lead figures in the movement.

Together with other state officials, he has sent letters. These demanded from the respective retailer to put a stop to this scheduling.

Such letters seem to have had an effect. Six new retailers will be renouncing the practice. Their decision was announced this Tuesday. As such, they will be joining an increasing retailer category.

Such category members have agreed to stop on-call scheduling. They should now be offering more predictable hours.  The six new retailers have reportedly received inquiries on the matter.

They include the following. Carter’s, The Disney Store, David’s Tea, Zumlez, PacSun, and Aeropostale. Amongst them, 4 also agreed to an additional measure. They will be setting schedules in advance. These should be released at least a week ahead of the shift.

As such, the workers will be able to plan their time. The only two not to impose this new rule are PacSun and Aeropostale.

Attorney General Schneiderman responded to the announcement. He applauded the retailers for their decision. Schneiderman also gave them as an example, one to follow.

He does not consider on-call shifts a necessity. Furthermore, he considers them a thing of the past. Retailer workers should not be forced to keep their day open. Adults with children would find it hard to manage. And time lost waiting for the shift announcement is not compensated.

On-call scheduling is also somehow conflicting with the law. In this case, the New York state law. As such, its contesters had a legal reason for addressing the retailers.

New York laws agreed on a “call-in pay” statute. This would require situation-specific employee payments. More exactly, employers would have to pay workers if they report to work in call-ins. They would have to be paid the equivalent of more than 4 hours.

Such a law should help discourage companies from forcefully calling-in employees. Similar laws are already being considered.

The six new retailers are not the only ones to have made this decision.  Last year saw a number of other such announcements. They came from Victoria’s Secret, Gap, and Bath & Body Works. J. Crew, Abercrombie & Fitch, and Urban Outfitters made the same announcement.

These all decided to stop their on-call scheduling practices. They also reportedly received inquiries before making the decision.

Neither of the six new retailers has as yet released an official statement on the matter.

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Beacon Transcript – Sumner Redstone has announced that he will be officially stepping down from the Viacom board of directors as he will retire to a chairman emeritus role.

Viacom Inc. is a Manhattan, New York-based media conglomerate. Its primary targets are the cable and cinema industry. The conglomerate is considered to be amongst the world’s largest cable and broadcast companies, according to their revenues.

National Amusements Inc. is the Viacom voting control. The theater company is owned and controlled by Sumner Redstone.

The Massachusetts-based company is primarily owned by Redstone. Remaining shares are owned by his daughter, Shari Redstone.

National Amusements holds the supervoting shares and as such controls both Viacom and CBS Corporation. Whilst CBS Corporation is best known for CBS, Viacom is also known for being the owner of Paramount Pictures.

Sumner Redstone’s decision to renounce his place on the board of directors was announced on Friday. It was made known through a company proxy statement.

The same release announced that Shari, Redstone’s daughter will remain on the board. She will also be officially taking over National Amusements. Before the statement, Shari Redstone had 20 percent of the company shares. Sumner Redstone had the remaining 80 percent.

Redstone’s step down will take effect in two months time. It will probably come after the annual Viacom meeting. This is set to take place February 6, 2017.

Following his retirement, Sumner Redstone will retain a chairman emeritus status. This means he will have a non-voting role on the Viacom board.

His Viacom decision come after two other step downs. Earlier this year, Redstone also renounced his CBS and Viacom chairman role.

Some analysts have been less than surprised about the step-down. Sumner Redstone is 93 years old. The respectable age and health condition are believed to be amongst the contributing factors.

Redstone’s advanced age also brought forth questions about his ability to lead. Earlier this same year, the previous Viacom CEO filed a lawsuit.

Phillipe Dauman, the former CEO, and other board members questioned the man’s capability of making business decisions. They argued that Shari was unduly influencing him.

The lawsuit led way to a management turnover initiated by the Redstones. Following the addition of new board members, the company also chose a new CEO.

Viacom chose Bob Bakish, the acting CEO. Earlier this week, Bakish was officially elected as President and CEO.

Viacom is the parent company of networks such as MTV and Comedy Central. As they target the younger audience, they have also been raising a number of strategy questions.

Most are wondering how they will survive as their audience is turning more and more towards the digital. This has also been one of the causes for a possible merger.

In order to redress Viacom’s decrease, the Redstones had been driving for a merger with CBS. However, the plan, which was advanced in September, was withdrawn.

Shari and Sumner Redstone are reportedly pleased with Viacom’s current direction. Shari went to release a statement on the matter. She expressed her approval of the new company movement.

Redstone also went to congratulate Brakish on his strategy plans and on his passion and hard work. As such, the family has withdrawn the CBS merger plans.

Viacom’s faith remains to be seen. With a target audience cutting back on traditional TV hours, it remains to be seen how the company will retain its independent status.

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Beacon Transcript – IBM has announced its intention of hiring new employees as it could increase its worker numbers by almost 25,000 over the next four years time period.

The International Business Machines Corporation, or IBM as it is more commonly known, is an American multinational. Based in Armonk, New York, it is specialized in technology.

Founded in 1911, the company has since spread its outreach. It currently operates in more than 170 countries across the globe.

IBM offers a series of technology-related products. It manufactures and sells software, middleware, and hardware. It also offers consulting and hosting services. The areas covered by such services range from nanotechnology to computer mainframes.

The company’s new employees plans were revealed earlier this week by Ginni Rometty. Rometty is the IBM Chief Executive Officer.

She went to reveal both new employees plans and also current worker programs. One of the major points of her statement reveals the Big Blue’s intention of hiring new workers.

Over the next four years period of time, the company could come to employ approximately 25,000 people. The plan and employee number increase would target the company’s United States facilities.

The American tech company could also come to offer new benefits for both current and new workers. This plan would also be carried out over the next four years.

During that period, the company could come to offer training sessions and development offers for its employees. According to Rometty’s declaration, the value of such a plan will be quite significant.

Its human resources training and development investment could come to reach a $1 billion value.

Rometty also went to further explain and clarify the potential new job offerings. The CEO went to state that the company is targeting the so-called “new collar” jobs.

The tech industry is reportedly demanding a quite high number of new such employees. However, most such positions are noted to remain unfilled.

Through this declaration, Rometty is believed to be referring to recent statistics. The Unites States Department of Labor statistic released a series of numbers.

According to them, America has well over half a million available and open jobs in the technology industry.

The IBM CEO pointed out that the company alone has some thousands of such job openings. Such Big Blue positions remain or may become open at any time.

Rometty stated that in 2017 alone, IBM is planning on hiring 6,000 new employees. The CEO also went to explain the high need of tech industry workers.

According to her, this is related to the actual nature of the industry. As technology is continuosly and rapidly evolving, it is also on a constant look out for new skills.

Technology has spread its effects over a wide range of other industrial areas. Nowadays, even agriculture and manufacturing are affected or being downright reshaped by technological advancements.

New cloud computing and data science are creating jobs that require new skills. According to Rometty, this should also require new recruiting, training, and education, in general.

She reportedly stated that these new jobs did not necessarily require an advanced or completed college education. More exactly, these new workplaces required relevant skills.

New employees could reportedly acquire such skills with the help of vocational training. According to the company CEO, about one-third of the IBM workers don’t have a four-year degree.

This was said to apply throughout most of the company’s United States locations. Still, Rometty did encourage the governmental investment in new vocational training and education.

She states that new collar jobs would need new collaborations between a series of state authorities. These include both the public school systems and the community colleges. They also target state and federal governments, as well as private businesses.

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Beacon Transcript – Lonza Group is reportedly in the advanced stage talks for an acquisition deal targeting Capsugel, the United States drug delivery systems company.

The Lonza Group is a Basel, Switzerland-based multinational company. Specialized in biotechnology and chemicals, the company has spread and reached a global coverage.

The multinational is targeting to offer product development services for the biologic and pharmaceutical industries.

Capsugel is a United States-based company. Specialized in the manufacturing and sale of drug capsules, it also offers various other services. These services include filling and sealing equipment for empty and liquid capsules.

Initially founded in 1931 as a Parke-Davis subdivision, Capsugel has had several owners. It is currently owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts.

The global investment firm bought the drug capsules producer back in 2011 in a $2.38 billion sales deal with Pfizer.

Morristown-based Capsugel has quite an outreach area of its own. It produces finished dosage forms and empty two-piece hard capsules ready for drug delivery. It currently serves an estimated number of 4,000 corporate customers spread throughout more than 100 countries.

Reports released earlier this year seemed to suggest that KKR was targeting either a possible sale of the company or an initial public offering.

Now, Capsugel will reportedly be passed on to another ownership. Sources familiar with the matter stated that Lonza is seeking to acquire the capsule producer.

The reported sales value could come to be of around $5 billion, according to the said reports.

Lonza would benefit from the acquisition as it could grow its life sciences sector. As such, it would be able to produce a wider range of products in the molecules area.

These would then be used in drug delivery and as active pharmaceutical ingredients. Lonza is not at its first try to acquire a drug delivery company.

Earlier this year, the Swiss company was reportedly in talks with the United States-based such company, Catalent. However, the respective acquisition talks fell through.

Reports state that current discussion between Lonza and the Capsugel mother company could lead to a final deal quite soon.

As such, KKR & Co., and the Swiss company could reach a Capsugel-related final deal as soon as this week.

However, according to the same sources, which released the information on Sunday, the deal could still fall through.

The reported sources asked to not be revealed as the talks are currently still confidential. Neither Lonza nor Capsugel or KKR representatives did not immediately release statements about the sales claims.

As an official statement is yet to be released, it remains to be seen if the news will be confirmed or if the sale will come to pass.

The Lonza Group has already been expanding its United States outreach. Over the past few years, the firm has acquired a number of small biopharmaceutical companies.

Back in 2011, it also acquired Arch Chemicals, the chemical maker company in a $1.4 billion. Lonza’s market capitalization is placed at $9.25 billion or 9.4 billion Swiss Francs.

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Beacon Transcript – Johnson & Johnson were sentenced to a $1 billion verdict by a Texas jury as their hip implants were found to be faulty and host unrevealed problems.

Johnson & Johnson is a New Brunswick, New Jersey-based multinational company which specializes in medical and pharmaceutical devices. The company is also a packaged goods for consumers manufacturer.

Earlier this week, Johnson & Johnson or J&J received the verdict in the case involving one of the company’s hip replacement products.

The current $1 billion fine verdict is not the first and may not be the last such case the company has to face involving the same product.

The unit in question is one of the DePuy hip replacement products, the ULTAMET Metal-on-Metal. DePuy is a J&J subsidiary which tests and produces medical devices aimed at solving orthopaedical, neuroscience, and spinal care aids and solutions.

ULTAMET Metal-on-Metal is one such product as it acts as a hip replacement for patients in need. However, the product has been causing quite some controversies due mostly to the material on which it is based.

A number of lawsuits have already been filed against J&J. Patients have started complaining that the prosthetics may be the cause of or lead to bloodstream poisonings.

Besides being dangerous in itself, this usually also requires a change of prosthetics as the current devices were observed to fall off, which in turn requires their removal.

The cause of the bloodstream poisoning is thought to be determined by cobalt and chromium materials leaks coming from the metal-on-metal implants.

As the current $1 billion verdict case was not the first case of its type, it nonetheless features the highest verdict.

J&J was involved in its first ULTAMET Metal-on-Metal lawsuit back in 2014, case won by the company.

Since then, Johnson & Johnson was faced with a number of other similar trials, all featuring similar or the same claims.

Both the first and the subsequent cases claimed that the company did, in fact, know about the potential blood poisoning issue.

However, despite the potential dangers caused by the metal-on-metal device, the company decided to go ahead and ignore them. It also reportedly failed to denounce the issues and also continued selling the devices.

Just earlier this year, a Dallas-based jury decided in favor of a number of 5 patients that filed a lawsuit with these claims.

As the initial settlement value was of $502 million, a jury later decided to reduce the sum to $150 million.

According to company statements, J&J is planning on also appealing on the current $1 billion verdict case. The verdict, which was also delivered by a Dallas-based jury set a $1 billion verdict for the lawsuit’s punitive damages.

The six patients to have filed the case have been granted over $30 million so as to account for the damages caused by the reportedly faulty device.

As J&J is considering an appeal, the company together with DePuy have asked judges for a temporal pause in their other hip device trials.

The company will reportedly have to face a number of other 8,900 lawsuits concerning the hip replacement product.

Later Edit: As the initial article was talking about a settlement, the court has now ruled a verdict. The company’s take on the matter has also been included as Johnson & Johnson have, in the meantime, issued a public statement.

According to Mindy Tinsley, a DePuy spokesperson, the company has been and is constantly trying to offer new and innovative medical solutions. These are designed and produced so as to offer its users the chance of living an active and comfortable life.

As all of the company’s designs undergo rigurous tests and follow the regulations, the company does not consider to be responsible of the unexpected adverse reactions.

Tinsley stated that the ULTAMET Metal-on-Metal product, besides rigurously following the regulations and having had its design and utility tested, it is also backed by clinical data.

As the strong track record of clinical data went to show, the metal prosthetic was demonstrated to have restored mobility and reduced the users’ pain.

As opposed to other similar cases, J&J and DePuy drew attention to the case restrictions and rulings. The companies have had to defend themselves against six simultaneos plaintiffs.

This means that they have had to move for mistral six times and may have not been given the chance of fairly and properly defending themselves against the allegations.

As such, the companies will be preparing post-trial motions so as to challenge the $1 billion verdict as they have strong motives to do so. They will also be continuing their long-term defense in other similar allegations trials.

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Beacon Transcript – Theranos and Holmes, its CEO and founder, are facing yet another new lawsuit as two more of the company’s investors have decided to take action against them.

Theranos is a Palo Alto, California-based privately owned company which was specialized on health technologies such as its renowned microfluidics and fingerstick technologies.

Following investigations, the company received a number of sanctions from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

These included both a revocation of the Theranos CLIA certificate and a revocation of its owners’ and operators’ rights of working in a laboratory over a period of two years.

The cause of all these investigations and ensuing sanctions and now lawsuits is related to the company’s blood testing practices.

Theranos declared that its technology could analyze and produce tests by using just a single drop of blood. But its results were put to question when reports appeared that the technology used was the usual lab equipment.

As the Walgreens’ outlet testing was revealed to have been made by the usual technology, these tests required a higher blood quantity.

As such Theranos’s integrity and practices started being investigated and its ties with Walgreens were severed by the latter company.

With the company facing serious repercussions for its practices, the company’s Partner Fund Management or PFM also decided to take action.

Back in October, the PFM decided to sue Theranos and Elizabeth Holmes. They targeted the aforementioned Holmes, the founder and CEO of the company, as well as its former president, Ramesh Balwani.

The two were accused of deceiving the investors with false information. They were also accused of making false statements and promises which were built on omissions and deceitful declarations.

One such declaration stated that the company had invented and perfected a revolutionary technique which would mark a global change in lab practices.

As the PFM sued Theranos, just a few weeks later Walgreens, the drugstore chain, decided to seek a case against the company for a $140 million sum.

Now, a third case has been filed against Theranos and Holmes, which was filed by two of the company’s investors.

However, this new case is also the first among them to also seek a class-action status and has similar plaintiffs with the PFM case.

The two investors to have filled the lawsuit are Robert Colman and Hillary Taubman-Dye.

Robert Colman, who is a Silicon Valley investment banker and well-known in his area, started investing in the company after its 2013 Walgreens association.

In contrast, Hillary Taubman-Dye could be considered to have made an unfortunate choice. She declared to have bought company shares just a few months before the scandal broke down in August 2015.

Reportedly, Taubman-Dye tried canceling the transaction made through the SharesPost Inc. online exchange platform but did not succeed.

As of December, her transaction went through and she has now joined the class-action lawsuit.

The lawsuit will be undertaken by the law firm Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro. According to declarations, the firm is  looking for other investors interested and willing to join the case.

It is also reportedly looking for various sources of information which can offer details and help them in their investigation for the case against Theranos and Homes.

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