Expert Compliance Insights & Tips for Businesses

January 17, 2013
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HIPAA/HITECH Final Rule Published

HIPAA HITECH privacy rule
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) moved forward today to strengthen the privacy and security protections for health information established under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA).  The final omnibus rule, published today in the Federal Register, greatly enhances a patient’s privacy protections, provides individuals new right...
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January 17, 2013
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HHS Secretary Proposes Rule to Ease Access to Health Insurance

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has released a proposed rule that promotes consistent policies and processes for eligibility notices and appeals in Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and Exchanges and gives states more flexibility when operating their Medicaid programs.  “Before the health care law was passed, millions of America...
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January 15, 2013
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HHS Extends Deadline on States' Decision on Setting up Health Insurance Exchanges

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which was under a deadline of Jan. 1, 2013, to determine if the states were ready to set up health insurance exchanges as mandated by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), but it has extended the deadline until Feb. 15. Since only 18 states and the District of Columbia have so far received approval to set up an exchange, the d...
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January 14, 2013
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Acting General Counsel Releases Summary of NLRB Activities for FY 2012

National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Acting General Counsel Lafe Solomon has released a summary of the board's activities during Fiscal Year 2012. Here are some details he selected for emphasis: 93.9% of all initial union elections were conducted within 56 days of the filing of the petition. Initial elections in union representation elections were conducted in a median of 38 days from t...
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January 11, 2013
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WHD to Do Survey in Conjunction with Employee Right to Know Rule

The Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of the Department of Labor (DOL) is in preliminary stages of conducting a workplace employee survey to gauge employer classification of employees as well as employees' knowledge of their rights under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).  According to a notice published in today's Federal Register, the survey is meant to “provide critical infor...
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January 9, 2013
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Hilda Solis Resigns as Secretary of Labor

In a letter of resignation sent today to the White House, Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis announced her resignation. The letter reads in part: This afternoon, I submitted my resignation to President Obama. Growing up in a large Mexican-American family in La Puente, California, I never imagined that I would have the opportunity to serve in a president’s Cabinet, let alone in the service o...
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January 7, 2013
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OSHA Extends Residential Construction Measures for Three Months

The Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has extended for three months its temporary enforcement measures in residential construction. The temporary enforcement measures, now extended through March 15, 2013, include priority free on-site compliance assistance, penalty reductions, extended abatement dates, measures to ensure consistency and increased ou...
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January 7, 2013
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USCIS Begins Publishing Its Immigration Manual Online

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today began the agency’s transition toward an online, centralized manual of immigration policies by releasing the first volume of the new USCIS Policy Manual-- the Citizenship and Naturalization volume. Today’s release follows an unprecedented, agency-wide review of USCIS policies that incorporates feedback from thousands of agen...
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January 7, 2013
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I2P2 to Be Published by End of Year, OSHA Says

In a recent regulatory update, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced that it would publish a proposed regulation on a nationwide Injury and Illness Prevention Program (IIPP), which has been dubbed I2P2, by the end of 2013. OSHA has been working on this rule for years now. This month the agency said it would commence the rule's small business review under the Sma...
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January 3, 2013
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Michigan Becomes Fourth State to Ban Password Requests by Employers, Schools

Michigan has become the fourth state to ban employers and educational institutions from seeking social media and email passwords from applicants, employees and students. When Gov. Ricky Snyder signed the legislation in late 2012, Michigan joined California, Illinois and Maryland in the growing movement to prevent social media probes by employers and others. "Cybersecurity is important to t...
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EEOC Rescinds Permissible Affirmative Action Guidance
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