Expert Compliance Insights & Tips for Businesses

September 13, 2016

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California to Mandate Farmworker Overtime Pay after 8 Hours in a Day

California Gov. Jerry Brown has signed landmark legislation granting farmworkers overtime pay after 8 hours of work in a single day or 40 hours in a workweek. The current standard is 10 hours a day and 60 hours in a week before overtime kicks in for farmworkers. Assembly Bill 1066 starts phasing in the new standard in 2019, lowering the overtime threshold a half-hour each year until it reaches...

September 12, 2016

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Richmond EEOC Office Signs Agreement with Mexican Consulate

The Richmond Local Office of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Washington, D.C. Consulate of Mexico. The agreement establishes an ongoing collaborative relationship between these two entities to provide Mexican nationals with information, guidance and access to resources on the prevention of discrimination in the wo...

September 9, 2016

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Revised Form I-9 to Debut within 90 Days

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in late August approved revisions to the federal Employment Verification Form I-9 and gave the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) 90 days to release the new form. The note sent to USCIS by OMB reads: USCIS will, within 90 days, update the I-9 system in order to reflect the new instruments. USCIS will indicate at the bottom of th...

September 8, 2016

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Circuit Court Slams the Brakes on Uber Drivers' Lawsuit

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that Uber drivers who signed arbitration agreements with the ride-sharing company must use the arbitration process and not the courts to settle their grievances. Essentially, this means that only about 8,000 of some 240,000 drivers involved in the California-Massachusetts class action can proceed with the lawsuit. The others all signed arbit...

September 6, 2016

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U.S., Canada Agree on Common Labeling of Chemicals

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and Health Canada, through the Regulatory Cooperation Council, have jointly developed a 2016-2017 Workplace Chemicals Work Plan. The purpose of the work plan is to ensure that current and future requirements for classifying and communicating the hazards of workplace chemicals will be acceptable in the United States and Canada without redu...

September 4, 2016

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DOL, Nebraska Sign Agreement on Fighting Misclassification

The Department of Labor (DOL) and its Wage and Hour Division (WHD) have signed a three-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Nebraska Department of Labor intended to protect employees’ rights by preventing their misclassification as independent contractors or other non-employee statuses. The two agencies will provide clear, accurate and easy-to-access outreach to employers, employees...

September 2, 2016

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State OSH Programs Show Better Compliance Rate than Fed/OSHA

The Federal Annual Monitoring and Evaluation (FAME) report for 2015 found that many state Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) programs had better safety compliance rates than the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Those states showed 33.3 percent of employers complying versus 28 percent on the fed level. On the flip side, many states did not meet performance goals ...

August 31, 2016

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CMS Proposes Changes to Obamacare Marketplace Beginning in 2017

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued its proposed annual Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters for 2018, which proposes additional steps to strengthen the Health Insurance Marketplace. CMS said it is issuing this rule earlier in the calendar year in order to provide more certainty to the Marketplace as it continues to mature. "Right now, we are preparing to serv...

August 29, 2016

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EEOC Issues New Retaliation Guidance

Today the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued its final Enforcement Guidance on Retaliation and Related Issues to replace its 1998 Compliance Manual section on retaliation. The guidance also addresses the separate "interference" provision under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which prohibits coercion, threats, or other acts that interfere with the exercise of ADA ri...

August 28, 2016

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Almost Two-Thirds of U.S. Counties Face Two or Fewer Health Insurance Choices

An analysis by the respected Kaiser Family Foundation finds that 31 percent of U.S. counties will have only one insurer to choose from when open enrollment for Obamacare commences Nov. 1. Another 31 percent will have only two, and one county -- Pinal in Arizona -- likely will have none. In 2016, only 7 percent had only one insurer choice, while 29 percent had just two. Most of the counties aff...

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