Expert Compliance Insights & Tips for Businesses

June 30, 2017

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DOL Opens Up Commentary on Revision of Fiduciary Rule

The Department of Labor (DOL) has published a Request for Information (RFI) related to the fiduciary rule. The RFI is an opportunity for the public to provide data and information that may be used to revise the rule and associated exemptions. There is a 15-day comment period regarding extending the Jan. 1, 2018 applicability date of certain aspects, and a 30-day comment period on all other iss...

June 29, 2017

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Trump Nominates Janet Dhillon as Chair of EEOC

President Trump on Monday created some new beltway waves when he nominated outsider Janet Dhillon, currently an executive vice president and general counsel at Burlington Stores Inc., to be chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). If confirmed by the Senate, she would replace Victoria Lipnic, currently acting chair, who would remain as a commissioner. Dhillon previously se...

June 28, 2017

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OSHA Proposes Extension of Deadline for Electronic Reporting, Seeks Comments

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (SHA) has proposed a delay in the electronic reporting compliance date of the rule Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses from July 1, 2017, to Dec. 1, 2017. The proposed delay will allow OSHA an opportunity to further review and consider the rule. The agency published the final rule on May 12, 2016, and has determined that a fur...

June 28, 2017

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Private Insurers Pay Twice (or More) for Physician, Hospital Services than Medicare

At the same time that it issued its assessment of the Senate's new health care plan, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a related report comparing physician and hospital costs when paid by private insurers and when paid by Medicare and Medicare Advantage. The CBO found the average commercial payment rate for hospital admission was $21,400 in 2013, compared to $11,400 for a Medicare...

June 27, 2017

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DOL Reinstates Use of Opinion Letters

The Department of Labor (DOL) will reinstate the issuance of opinion letters, Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta announced today. The action allows the department’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) to use opinion letters as one of its methods for providing guidance to covered employers and employees. An opinion letter is an official, written opinion by the Wage and Hour Division of how a particul...

June 27, 2017

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Study of Seattle Minimum Wage Hike Shows Negative Results

A study of the effects of Seattle's effort to phase in a $15-an-hour minimum wage found that so far, with the minimum wage no higher than $13, low-wage earners have suffered an average loss of $125 a month due to decreased hours and staffing cuts. Specifically, the 2014 bump in the minimum wage resulted in a 3 percent wage increase but was accompanied by a 9 percent reduction in hours worked, ...

June 26, 2017

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OSHA Proposes to Modify Beryllium Standard for Construction and Shipyard Sectors

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (ISHA) has announced a proposed rule that would modify the agency’s recent beryllium standards for the construction and shipyard sectors. Representatives of the shipyards and construction industries, as well as members of Congress, raised concerns that they had not had a meaningful opportunity to comment on the application of the rule to their i...

June 23, 2017

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NLRB Adds 'Textual Harassment' to Supervisor Sins

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), in a unanimous decision, has expanded oral harassment to include smartphone text-based harassment, which board watchers immediately dubbed "textual harassment." The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) prohibits spoken harassment, by phone or in person, but when the law was written, there were no cell phones or text messages. In RHCG Safety Corp. and ...

June 22, 2017

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Senate Releases Details of Its Obamacare 'Repeal and Replace' Legislation

Gearing up for a hoped-for vote before the July 4th holiday, the U.S. Senate (actually, its Republican leadership) this morning released details about its proposed Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017 in pursuit of the GOP's goal to "repeal and replace" the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or Obamacare). The measure is similar to but more moderate than the previously passed House of Representatives...

June 22, 2017

28 view(s)

GSA Orders Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Clause Stricken from Federal Contracts

The Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Final Rule, which required anyone bidding for a federal contract to voluntarily report any state or federal labor law violations when applying, has already been killed twice -- by legislative and executive action -- since Donald Trump was sworn in, and now the General Services Administration (GSA) has ordered it stricken from any contracts. The recently issued ...

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DOJ Challenges EEOC's Stance on Disparate Impact Claims

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