Articles by WorkWise Compliance team

In a letter to the Inspector General who just criticized the agency for its lack of action, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) pledged to commence Phase 2 of its HIPAA audit program in early 2016. The audits to check compliance with the security, privacy and breach rules of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) will include onsite visits and desk reviews. About 350 cov...

Following a series of liberal-leaning, social-changing decisions in its most recent October-to-July session, the U.S. Supreme Court reconvenes today. After Chief Justice John Roberts for the second time saved Obamacare and Justice Anthony Kennedy engineered a reinterpretation of the 14th Amendment to allow same-sex marriages, the nine justices -- five supposedly conservative and four very deci...

As a result of a lawsuit brought by former UCLA basketball star Ed O'Bannon, college athletes will now enjoy expanded coverage of expenses, but not the $5,000 payment for use of their images that U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken ordered in 2014. That's the ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this week in its review of the O'Bannon lawsuit and Judge Wilken's decision. Instead of ...

Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton says to axe it, and efforts in both Houses of Congress are gaining steam to do just that: end the so-called Cadillac Tax that's set to take effect in 2018 as part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The 40-percent tax on individual health plans that cost $10,200 or more a year and on family plans that cost $27,500 or more annually, if not repealed, is expec...

Today the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced the preliminary Top 10 most frequently cited workplace safety violations for fiscal year 2015. Patrick Kapust, deputy director of OSHA's Directorate of Enforcement Programs, presented the Top 10 on the Expo floor as part of the 2015 NSC Congress & Expo, the world's largest gathering of safety professionals. The Top 1...

The birth control mandate of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) could end up before the U.S. Supreme Court following contradictory rulings by several U.S. circuit courts. This past week a three-member panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that, as written and implemented, the mandate violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and requires an easier religious exemption. The plain...

The International Franchise Association, suing on behalf of franchisees in Seattle, has once again been rebuffed in its legal battle over the city's new minimum wage law. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this past week upheld the local U.S. District Court's ruling that the Emerald City's new $15-an-hour minimum wage law is correct in lumping franchises in with corporations for size consid...

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell told a group of medical students yesterday that getting those who are still uninsured to sign up during the next open enrollment period is going to be a "bigger challenge." Speaking at the Howard University College of Medicine, Burwell said, "But while our goals may be harder to reach, we're working smarter to reach them." The t...

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced it is extending the deadline for submitting comments on its proposed rule that seeks to clarify that employers have a continuing obligation to make and maintain an accurate record of each recordable injury and illness. The comment due date has been extended to Oct. 28, 2015. OSHA issued this proposed rule in light of the decisi...

The San Diego Chargers of the National Football League (NFL) reportedly pay their cheerleaders $75 per game and nothing for rehearsal time, but that will stop in January when a new California law will force teams to adhere to state and federal labor laws regarding minimum wage and overtime. Already, four teams have lost court cases, resulting in back pay for their cheerleaders and adherence to...