Legislative, Regulatory & Legal

Matthews, N.C. -- Family Dollar Stores Inc. has set Oct. 30., 2014 as the date for stockholders to vote on a proposed merger agreement with Dollar Tree Inc. Family Dollar has not yet set the time or location of the vote.  

Hoffman Estates, Ill. –- An inventory clerk at a Sears Holding Corp. distribution center in Logan Township, N.J., has reportedly been arrested for stealing merchandise worth $3.7 million in retail value and selling it for both cash and bartered services to a network of individuals in the tri-state area. According to the New Jersey Star-Ledger, following an investigation by Sears loss prevention officials and local and county police, Kim Watson, 32, was arrested on Friday, Oct. 17.  

New York --A group of 104 national, state and local organizations--representing farmers, manufacturers, retailers, transportation providers and others--signed a letter urging the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) “to quickly conclude a new labor agreement...to allay growing concerns of thousands of businesses who rely on West Coast ports for orderly and timely supply chain operations.”

Washington -- As part of an executive order unveiled on Friday, President Obama set a new policy that requires newly issued and existing government credit and debit cards to be enabled with chip and personal identification number (PIN) technology.  

President Barack Obama has taken heat over his use of executive orders, but that wasn’t the case on Friday when retail trade groups lined up behind the president in support of wide ranging data security measures.

Seattle –- Amazon.com and Sears Holdings Corp. have both reportedly removed men’s rings featuring the Nazi swastika emblem from their websites after public complaints. According to the Wall Street Journal, in both instances the items were sold by third-party vendors, but the companies handled the complaints differently.  

Washington, D.C. -- The National Retail Federation (NRF) is offering Retail Jobs Week the week of Oct. 13-17, a multi-faceted effort to push back against long-held misperceptions about working in the retail industry. Through this initiative, NRF aims to continue educating Washington lawmakers about the value retail jobs deliver for workers and the economy.  

Hoffman Estates, Ill. -- Kmart is the latest retailer to be hit by a payment data breach. The breach was discovered last Thursday by the chain’s information technology team, and the company immediately launched an investigation with a leading security firm, according to Kmart’s parent company, Sears Holdings Corp.