Expert Compliance Insights & Tips for Businesses

February 17, 2014

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OSHA Aims for 'No More Falling Workers'

A maintenance worker fell to his death Jan. 31 from a cell tower in Cameron County, Texas. The next day, a cell phone tower collapsed in Clarksburg, W.Va. Minutes later a second tower at the same Clarksburg site also fell. The collapse of these two towers resulted in the deaths of two workers and a firefighter responding to the scene, and sent two other employees to the hospital with serious in...

February 16, 2014

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Seminal Unionization Vote at Tennessee VW Plant Fails

Even though the vote was held without input from Volkswagen, workers at the VW plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., have voted to turn down unionization efforts by the United Auto Workers (UAW), which was looking for a victory here to carry it to another win at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Vance, Ala. The vote was 712 against and 626 in favor. UAW President Bob King, looking to expand his union'...

February 14, 2014

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NYT, CNN Say 20 Percent of Obamacare Enrollees Haven't Paid

In a report this week, the New York Times, citing health industry insiders, says that 20 percent of enrollees in health insurance policies on the state and federal marketplaces have failed to make their premium payments. In an earlier report, cable broadcaster CNN also claimed 20 percent had failed to honor their premiums. For its part, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS...

February 13, 2014

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1.1 Million Obamacare Sign-Ups Reported in January

The government reported 1.1 million sign-ups for Obamacare in January, bringing the total to 3.3 million since the launch of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplaces in October, short of the 4.4 million projected. Of the 3.3 million total, California has contributed a whopping 728,000, far outstripping any other state. Of the 3.3 million enrollees, some 82 percent have qualified for sub...

February 11, 2014

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Obamacare Mandate Delayed for Mid-Sized Firms

The Obamacare shared responsibility provision (aka "play or pay"), originally set to begin this Jan. 1 but delayed this past summer until Jan. 1, 2015, has now been delayed again, but only for employers with 50 to 99 employees. Mid-sized employers now won't have to comply until Jan. 1, 2016. The shared responsibility provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was written to ...

February 10, 2014

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Attorney General Extends Same-Sex Spousal Protections

same-sex marriage

Attorney General Eric Holder today is expected to issue a directive recognizing the rights of same-sex spouses in the U.S. judicial system. This will mean that same-sex couples can no longer be required to testify against one another in federal court. They will also be granted the same rights in Bankruptcy Court as heterosexual couples are. The rights will extend throughout the federa...

February 6, 2014

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OSHA Going After Family Farms and Senators Object

A group of 43 U.S. Senators is asking the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to refrain from reclassifying family farms as commercial grain handlers to get around a Congressional edict that farms with fewer than 10 employees be exempt from OSHA regulations. Since 1976, Congress has repeatedly inserted language in appropriations bills to exclude these "family farms&q...

February 5, 2014

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NLRB Proposes Amendments to Speed Workplace Organizing

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced today that it is issuing proposed amendments to its rules and regulations governing representation-case procedures. In substance, the proposed amendments are identical to the representation procedure changes first proposed in June 2011. A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) will appear in the Federal Register tomorrow. ...

February 5, 2014

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CMS Issues Call to Obamacare Insurers to Expand Their Network of Providers

In a letter to all insurers offering health insurance policies on HealthCare.gov, the federal Obamacare marketplace, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) yesterday asked the insurance providers to include more federally funded health clinics, safety-net hospitals and other medical providers used by low-income people to their network of service providers. At the same time, ...

February 4, 2014

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CBO Estimates That Obamacare Will Result in 2.5 Million Fewer Full-Time Jobs

In a report issued today, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that the the Affordable Care Act (ACA, aka Obamacare) will result in a net fewer 2.5 million full-time jobs over the next decade. The report calculates the number based on persons choosing not to work because of more available health care coverage and on employees choosing to work fewer hours. This decline in hours w...

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