Immediate pay and job protection for New Yorkers quarantined as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) , as well as comprehensive paid sick leave that will impact all employers within six months, will be enacted imminently into law, Governor Cuomo of New York has announced. Originally designed as one bill, New York lawmakers and the … Continue Reading
Employers with fewer than 500 employees will be required to provide up to 80 hours of paid sick leave for certain employees impacted by the coronavirus (COVID-19) and will receive a tax credit in return under an emergency bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives this weekend. The Senate is expected to consider the … Continue Reading
Benefit plan sponsors are responding to participant questions about the coronavirus/COVID-19. In particular, employers’ HR departments are fielding questions about whether their health plan will pay for any necessary testing and/or treatment. Both full-insured and self-funded plans are widely announcing plans to waive the cost of physician-ordered tests. But until now, there was one huge … Continue Reading
A recent ruling by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia calls into question the recently expanded regulations allowing small employers to band together to establish Association Health Plans. This development should be monitored closely by employers and employer organizations currently sponsoring, or considering sponsoring, these plans.… Continue Reading
New Illinois Expense Reimbursement Obligations Joining employers in California and a growing number of other states, Illinois employers must now reimburse their employees for all expenditures or losses incurred within the scope of their employment which were authorized or required by their employer. A failure in compliance could result in severe penalties and the payment … Continue Reading
Employers with established wellness programs that collect health information and/or require a medical exam can no longer rely on the EEOC regulations to justify that incentives provided under their wellness programs are voluntary. On December 20, the EEOC published a final rule (83 Fed. Reg. 65296) vacating the rules that allowed employers to offer those … Continue Reading
As we alluded in our “Preparing for the Unknown: Open Enrollment 2018” blog post, employers that are finalizing their employee benefit plan designs in advance of the 2018 plan year would be well-advised to monitor the developments concerning the future of health care reform, the employee wellness program regulations, and mental health benefit enforcement activity.… Continue Reading
With Open Enrollment season just around the corner, employers have been hoping for answers regarding the direction of health insurance under the Trump Administration. However, it’s looking like clarity is a long way off. Despite the lack of certainty, there are a handful of important issues employers should keep in mind: Future of the Affordable … Continue Reading
On the heels of Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta’s announcement that the Department of Labor’s oft-delayed “Fiduciary Rule” would finally take effect on June 9th, Congressmen introduced new legislation on June 8th to overturn it. The new bill’s sponsors, House Representatives Phil Roe (R-TN) and Peter Roskam (R-IL), and other opponents contend that the Fiduciary Rule … Continue Reading
Employees who don’t want to disclose genetic information about themselves and their families to their employers may have to pay a stiff price for that privacy in the future. The Preserving Employee Wellness Programs Act (H.R. 1313), a GOP-sponsored bill currently under consideration in Congress, could dismantle the employee privacy protections of the Genetic Information … Continue Reading
Providing employers with a piece of good news, a Texas court has issued a nationwide preliminary injunction that delays the December 1 implementation of the controversial final rule that increased the salary level for exempt employees to $47,476, more than double what it had been. The court found that the 21 states challenging the rule showed both … Continue Reading
Healthcare providers and others who receive federal financial assistance are now subject to new non-discrimination rules and notice requirements under the Affordable Care Act. The new regulation prohibits discrimination in healthcare programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability and sex – including pregnancy, gender identity, and sex stereotyping. The … Continue Reading
Does your company have employees who work remotely in a city, or a state, where your company does not maintain a physical location? Do you count those employees for purposes of determining whether the company has to offer leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)? Well, in what may come as a surprise, … Continue Reading
As we begin 2016, it is a good time to look back at 2015 labor and employment law developments that employers must keep in mind during the new year. 2015 was indeed a busy year.… Continue Reading
With ACA reporting deadlines quickly approaching, many employers should be preparing to address the various reporting requirements in order to avoid the significant fines and penalties associated with non-compliance. As of January 2016, employers with 50 or more full-time employees, including full-time equivalent employees (Applicable Large Employers or ALEs) will be subject to several complex … Continue Reading
Business leaders and human resources and employee benefits professionals are well aware of potential minefields for employer group health plan sponsors under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Large employer plan sponsors are careful to invest significant time and resources to avoid triggering any number of employer tax penalties. … Continue Reading
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has issued revised pregnancy discrimination guidance setting forth a framework for assessing how far employers must go in accommodating pregnant employees, following the Supreme Court’s ruling earlier this year in Young v. United Parcel Serv., Inc. In that case, the Court held that, although a policy of providing light duty … Continue Reading
Currently, Professional Employer Organizations (PEOs) have no comprehensive federal framework under which to offer employment tax collection and remittance services to their clients. The Small Business Efficiency Act (“SBEA Act”) is set to change this effective as of January 1, 2016, following an interim deadline for the IRS to establish a federal certification program for … Continue Reading
The U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) has proposed new rules that would revise an employer’s notification requirements under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (“COBRA”) to align them with Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) provisions already in effect. Under COBRA, group health plans must provide a general notice of COBRA rights to each covered … Continue Reading
Employers in all industries are well aware of the complexities of the Affordable Care Act, and the seemingly constant barrage of guidance that interprets the health care reform requirements that apply to them. We have a recent perfect example. A lengthy final rule was issued on February 12, 2014, jointly by the U.S. Department of … Continue Reading
On November 26, 2013, the Supreme Court of the United States agreed to hear challenges to the requirement that employer-provided health insurance include certain contraceptive methods. The Supreme Court will consider two cases: Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., et al., v. Sebelius, et al. from the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals and Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp., … Continue Reading
Based upon an IRS determination which took effect last week, same-sex couples who enter into marriages in jurisdictions that recognize such marriages are now treated as married for federal tax purposes, regardless of whether the couple lives in a jurisdiction that recognizes same-sex marriage. The IRS will now allow pre-tax dollars to be used to … Continue Reading
The Treasury Department has just announced that the employer penalty provisions of Health Care Reform, which were set to go into effect on January 1, 2014, will now be delayed until 2015. The delay applies only to the employer penalty provisions and certain related information reporting requirements. At least for now, the implementation of the … Continue Reading
Traditional employment laws often interact with traditional employee benefit laws. One such example is the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)’s impact on employer-sponsored group health plans. As group health plan costs continue to rise, and as federal health care reform legislation focuses additional attention on health plan design and coverage issues, it is important for … Continue Reading
