Expert Compliance Insights & Tips for Businesses

December 28, 2013

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Judge Strikes Down Most of SeaTac's $15 Minimum Wage Law

A King County Superior Court Judge yesterday severely curtailed the reach of the recently passed SeaTac $15 minimum wage initiative, saying it could only be enforced outside the boundary of Seattle Tacoma (SeaTac) International Airport. The result is that 1,600 transportation and hospitality workers employed outside the airport's territory will be covered by the law. The 4,700 who wor...

December 28, 2013

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Long-Term Jobless Benefits Expire Today

One of the last remaining programs fashioned to help fight the Great Recession expires today, affecting 1.3 million Americans who will lose their extended unemployment benefits paid by the federal government. Several million more are expected to reach their limit in the next year. At one point, the program offered up to 99 weeks of unemployment benefit payments. Now, the maximum will be 2...

December 27, 2013

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Think HealthCare.gov Has Problems? Oregon's Site Still Doesn't Work

Almost three months after the Oregon Health Care Marketplace was supposed to go live, the website still isn't working, and state officials have pulled all Obamacare advertising from the airways. An estimated 36,000 Oregonians have thus far enrolled through Cover Oregon, including about 12,000 in private health insurance and another 24,000 in the Oregon Health Plan. Thousands of o...

December 26, 2013

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HealthCare.gov and the Never-Arriving Deadline

Even as it extended the deadline to midnight Dec. 24 for those seeking health coverage starting on Jan. 1, 2014, HealthCare.gov officials posted a message on the site that anyone who started enrollment by the deadline but couldn't finish due to heavy traffic or site issues would still have more time. A message late Tuesday on HealthCare.gov announced: “We don’t want ...

December 26, 2013

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Whistleblowers Can Now File Complaints Online

Whistleblowers covered by one of 22 statutes administered by the Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will now be able to file complaints online. The online form will provide workers who have been retaliated against an additional way to reach out for OSHA assistance online. "The ability of workers to speak out and exercise their rights withou...

December 23, 2013

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Federal Obamacare Deadline Extended Until Dec. 24 for January Policies

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced early today that it was extending the already-extended Dec. 23 deadline for healtha insurance policies starting Jan. 1, 2014, by one more day. In a statement, Julie Bataille, director of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' Office of Communications, said, "We recognize that many have chosen to make their fin...

December 23, 2013

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Court Rules in Favor of EEOC on Conciliation Issue

In a decision endorsed by all its judges, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit decided Friday that employers cannot challenge - and courts cannot review - the adequacy of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's (EEOC) informal pre-litigation efforts to bring employers into compliance with federal anti-discrimination laws. According to the Court, Title VII of ...

December 22, 2013

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EEOC Clarifies Policy on Hiring Convicted Criminals

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), in three recent opinion letters, has clarified that businesses must have clear reasons and policies for not hiring individuals with criminal pasts, especially if the not-hire decision results in a disparate impact in matters of race or national origin. “Excluding people from employment due to criminal records may raise issues under...

December 19, 2013

32 view(s)

IRS Posts New Mileage Reimbursement Rates

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced mileage reimbursement rates for 2014, with two of them decreasing by a half-cent each. Beginning Jan. 1, 2014, employers using the standard IRS rates for mileage reimbursement should adhere to these standards: 56 cents per mile for business miles driven; 23.5 cents per mile driven for medical or moving purposes; and 14 ce...

December 17, 2013

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D.C. Set to Vote on $11 Minimum Wage, Judge to Rule on SeaTac $15 Rate

In a mere formality, the Washington, D.C. Council is set to vote today on raising the city's minimum wage to $11.50 an hour by 2016. The council previously approved the hike unanimously. This time the measure will go to Mayor Vincent Gray for his signature. Gray has said he supports an immediate raise to $10 an hour but added that he wants to study the prospect of further increases. ...

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EEOC Rescinds Permissible Affirmative Action Guidance

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