Expert Compliance Insights & Tips for Businesses

August 25, 2016

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Obamacare Premiums Rise Steeply

State insurance commissioners, under pressure from health insurers bleeding red on the Obamacare exchanges, have begun approving rate hikes up to 62 percent, but the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) quickly reassured consumers that taxpayers would pick up the tab. With insurance premiums to be announced steadily up to the Nov. 1 open enrollment period commencement, state commissio...

August 25, 2016

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Final Rule Issued to Facilitate State-Run IRA Programs.

The Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) has made public a final rule that assists states in creating IRA programs for workers who do not have access to workplace savings arrangements. At the same time, in response to public comments, the department is making public a proposed rule that could facilitate a limited number of cities and other local governments to do the same. “For wor...

August 23, 2016

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NLRB Grants Employee Unionization Rights to Graduate Student Assistants

In a decision today that could drastically alter the university landscape, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) voted 3-1 along party lines to grant employee status to graduate student assistants at Columbia University, allowing them to unionize. The ruling, reversing a Bush-era 2004 decision, affects for-profit colleges and universities but not public institutions. The NLRB has no jurisd...

August 22, 2016

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OSHA Tests Expedited Whistleblower Resolution Process

The Department of Labor (DOL) is launching a new pilot process in its Western region. The “Expedited Case Processing Pilot” allows a complainant covered by certain statutes to ask the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to cease its investigation and issue findings for the department’s Office of Administrative Law Judges to consider. The move is possible only if t...

August 22, 2016

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U.S. Judge in Texas Puts Hold on Obama's Transgender School Bathroom Rule

Late Sunday, U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor sided with Texas and 12 other states in their lawsuit against the Obama administration's directive that transgender students be allowed to use the bathroom of their choice by placing a temporary hold on the ruling. Judge O'Connor in essence said the directive was not interpretive of existing law but a mandate that was extralegal. “The Guidelines ...

August 20, 2016

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HIPAA Celebrates 20th Anniversary Today

On this day (Aug. 21) in 1996, President Bill Clinton signed into law the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which as its title implies protects people with pre-existing conditions when they change jobs and need new health insurance. From that date until Obamacare took over in 2014, if you left one company with a pre-existing condition, you had to obtain a Certificate...

August 19, 2016

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$5.5M Settlement Largest Ever for a HIPAA Security Violation

Advocate Health Care Network (Advocate) has agreed to a settlement with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR), for multiple potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) involving electronic protected health information (ePHI). Advocate has agreed to pay a settlement amount of $5.55 million and...

August 16, 2016

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DOL Agrees to $7 Million Settlement over Unpaid Overtime Wages

The Department of Labor (DOL) has reached a $7 million agreement to settle a longstanding dispute over unpaid overtime wages, according to the DOL's bargaining unit, American Federation of Government Employees Local 12. The unpaid overtime was due to employees' being misclassified as exempt from overtime when they were not, according to attorneys for the union. Another factor was working off t...

August 16, 2016

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Aetna Fleeing Obamacare Exchanges in 11 of 15 States It Serves

Aetna Inc., citing losses of at least $300 million this year on Affordable Care Act (ACA) health insurance policies, announced it is abandoning the Obamacare marketplaces in 11 of the 15 states it currently serves, leaving Pinal County in Arizona with no insurer willing to offer policies. After the move, Aetna will be offering policies in just 242 of the 778 counties it currently serves, and t...

August 15, 2016

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Federal Contractor Final Rule on Sex Discrimination Takes Effect Today

A final rule by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) prohibiting federal contractors from discriminating against individuals based on sex, including gender identity and sexual orientation, takes effect today, Aug. 15. The bar for businesses to qualify has been set fairly low: Any business holding a single federal contract, subcontract or federally assisted construction co...

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