Expert Compliance Insights & Tips for Businesses

February 29, 2016

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CMS Announces Special Enrollment Period Confirmation Process

After big insurers like UnitedHealthcare threatened to leave the Obamacare exchanges because of abuse of the system, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced this past week that it was creating a Special Enrollment Period (SEP) Confirmation Process, to be phased in after public feedback. The CMS site says: Once the new Special Enrollment Confirmation Process is implemente...

February 25, 2016

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DOL Issues NPRM on Paid Sick Leave by Federal Contractors

The Department of Labor (DOL) has announced a proposed rule to implement Executive Order 13706, Establishing Paid Sick Leave for Federal Contractors. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) was published on Feb. 25, 2016, in the Federal Register. Executive Order 13706 was signed by President Barack Obama on Sept. 7, 2015, and requires parties that enter into covered contracts with the Federal...

February 25, 2016

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EEOC Pushes for 12 Percent Disabled Participation by Federal Agencies

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) describing specific actions that federal agencies must take to comply with their obligation to engage in affirmative action in employment for individuals with disabilities, setting a goal of 12 percent workforce participation. The NPRM is available in the Public Inspection portion of the Fed...

February 24, 2016

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Obama's Budget Seeks More Agents for More Investigations

No doubt dead on arrival in the Republican House, the Obama budget request nonetheless includes healthy increases for hiring Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) investigators. The Feb. 9 budget request envisions an 8 percent increase for OSHA, for a total budget of $595 million for Fiscal Year 2017. On the MSHA front, it urges a...

February 23, 2016

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EEOC to Supply Employees with Company's Position Papers

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has standardized its policies and procedures across all field offices so that employees can now receive copies of their company's position statement regarding the charge at hand. When a charge of discrimination is filed against a business, that entity has 30 days to submit what is called a position statement; in short, its side of the story. E...

February 22, 2016

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Oregon Tinkers with Tiered Minimum Wage Structure

The Oregon legislature has passed a plan to raise the state minimum wage in a tiered structure that sees employees in Portland earning $14.75 an hour, those in Salem, Eugene and other smaller cities $13.50, and those in the hinterlands $12.50 -- all by 2022. Gov. Kate Brown, in a statement, said she is prepared to sign the legislation. In drafting the measure, the governor and legislature hope...

February 19, 2016

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DOL Affirms July 2016 as White Collar Overtime Rule Publishing Date

Squashing rumors that it intended to rush the white collar overtime rule out by May to avoid having it overturned should a Republican become president in 2017, the Department of Labor (DOL) has affirmed that it is sticking with its announced July publication date. Speaking at an American Bar Association (ABA) meeting this week, Solicitor of Labor M. Patricia Smith confirmed that the DOL's Fin...

February 18, 2016

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Federal Judge Dismisses College-Athletes-Are-Employees Claim

A federal judge in Indianapolis this week threw out a lawsuit by student athletes against more than 100 Division I colleges and universities, alleging they were employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) deserving of being paid the minimum wage. U.S. District Court Judge William T. Lawrence ruled against the athletes, writing: “The question is not whether the plaintiffs, as student at...

February 17, 2016

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HIPAA Breaches from 2015 Must Be Reported by Feb. 29

Covered entities that experienced a breach (or breaches) of protected health information (PHI) have 60 days after the end of the calendar year to submit reports to the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), making this year's deadline Monday, Feb. 29. The year-end rule applies to breaches of fewer than 500 individuals; breaches affecting 500 or more individuals must be reported within 60 days of disco...

February 16, 2016

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OSHA's National Safety Stand-Down Set for May 2-6

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and other federal safety agencies announced today that they have designated May 2-6, 2016, for the third annual National Safety Stand-Down. The event is a nationwide effort to remind and educate employers and workers in the construction industry of the serious dangers of falls – the cause of the highest number of industry deaths in the co...

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