Articles by WorkWise Compliance team

December 4, 2014
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Workplace Injury, Illness Rate Declines, But OSHA Ups Reporting Requirements

David Michaels, assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health, today issued the following statement on the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics' 2013 Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses: "Today we learned that, in 2013, approximately three million private sector workers in America experienced a serious injury or illness on the job. In this extraordinarily h...
December 4, 2014
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Senate Confirms Two to the EEOC | WWC

Still under Democratic control for a while longer, the U.S. Senate has confirmed a new Commissioner for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), along with a General Counsel. Charlotte Burrows, currently Associate Deputy Attorney General at the Department of Justice (DOJ), will serve as a Commissioner. David Lopez was reconfirmed as General Counsel, a position he has held since 2010...
December 3, 2014
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DOL Announces Rule to Protect Against Sexual Orientation, Gender ID Discrimination

A new rule prohibiting discrimination on the bases of sexual orientation and gender identity in the federal contracting workforce is being announced today by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). The rule implements Executive Order 13672, which was signed by President Obama on July 21. "Americans believe in fairness and opportunity. No one should live in fear of being fired or passed over or dis...
December 2, 2014
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35 U.S. Hospitals Named Ebola Centers | WWC

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), state health officials have now identified and designated 35 hospitals as Ebola treatment centers, with more expected in the coming weeks. Hospitals with Ebola treatment centers have been designated by state health officials to serve as treatment facilities for Ebola patients based on a collaborative decision with local health ...
December 2, 2014
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HHS Report Touts Benefits of Obamacare | WWC

A report released today by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) shows an estimated 50,000 fewer patients died in hospitals and approximately $12 billion in health care costs were saved as a result of a reduction in hospital-acquired conditions from 2010 to 2013. According to the report, progress toward a safer health care system occurred during a period of concerted attention by h...
December 1, 2014
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DOL 'Interpretations' Go Before High Court Today | WWC

The Department of Labor (DOL) is the subject of a Supreme Court review today in the case of Perez v. Mortgage Bankers Association (Thomas Perez is DOL Secretary), with arguments focusing on whether a federal agency can issue "interpretations" of existing laws and regulations without conducting a public commentary period. The Mortgage Bankers Association brought suit when the DOL reinterpreted ...
November 26, 2014
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HealthCare.Gov Signs Up 462,125 in First Week | WWC

In 2014, just 106,000 people enrolled in Obamacare in the first month, but this year in the first week of open enrollment, HealthCare.gov and its Spanish-language counterpart CiudadodeSalud.gov signed up 462,125 people, according to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) blog. (Unofficially, by the end of week two, the number had risen to about 1.04 million federal sign-ups.) The DO...
November 25, 2014
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Federal Agencies Release Fall Regulatory Plans | WWC

Just as Congress was leaving town for the Thanksgiving holiday, various federal agencies released their mandated Fall 2014 Regulatory Plans and Unified Agendas on Friday, Nov. 21 -- beating winter by a month. The reports are issued twice a year. The most ambitious agency, the Department of Labor (DOL), plans to issue 23 final rules and 38 proposed rules through the end of 2015. The quickest on...
November 22, 2014
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CMS Proposes Vast Changes in Obamacare | WWC

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on Friday issued a notice of proposed rulemaking to improve consumers’ experience in the Health Insurance Marketplace and to ensure their coverage options are affordable and accessible. To establish the new consumer standards for 2016, the proposed rule seeks to implement several Affordable Care Act (ACA) provisions on payment parameters fo...
November 21, 2014
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2014 ACA Enrollment Stats Inflated | WWC

What the Republicans in Congress quickly dubbed "Obamacare obfuscation," Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Sylvia Mathew Burwell called merely "a mistake." Whatever you call it, the HHS-released figured of 7.1 million Obamacare enrollees in 2014 included 400,000 standalone dental plan enrollees, so the official figure for health care enrollment has been corrected to 6.7 million. "This...