Articles by WorkWise Compliance team

State pay transparency laws have exploded over the last few years. What started as a few local ordinances is now a patchwork of statewide rules that are rewriting how employers advertise jobs, promote employees, and discuss compensation. For employers, staying compliant means more than just sticking a number in a job ad; it requires an understanding of how to train hiring managers and maintain accurate pay scales.

Businesses are using artificial intelligence to recruit, manage, and monitor their employees. New automated systems are filtering résumés and providing metrics on how long employees are working at their desks. While the efficiencies gained from these systems can be a benefit to employers, there is also a potential compliance risk associated with these systems. For example, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and state governments are increasingly focused on AI workplace compliance, scrutinizing AI systems for potential bias against protected classes of workers as well as for infringing upon employee privacy.

BREAKING NEWS: A continuing budget resolution introduced in the House of Representatives today includes $2.85 billion in CHIP funding through March 2018. It was approved by the Senate shortly thereafter and send to the president for signature. Though Congress authorized partial funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) as part of a temporary budget measure, that measure -- a...

Congress this morning passed its tax reform legislation and sent it to the president's desk for signing. The inclusion of a provision to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or Obamacare) individual mandate has caused concern that a shrinking pool of young people on the Obamacare exchanges will result in higher premiums for older, sicker individuals forced to buy coverage for their pre-conditio...

Following President Trump's surprise reappointment of Chai Feldblum to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation is urging Senate Republicans to block the liberal workers' advocate's new term, which would run through 2022. Chai Feldblum When Trump a week ago an...

The Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will continue accepting 2016 OSHA Form 300A data through the Injury Tracking Application (ITA) until midnight on Dec. 31, 2017. OSHA will not take enforcement action against those employers who submit their reports after the December 15, 2017, deadline but before Dec. 31, 2017, final entry date. Starting Jan. 1, 2018...

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced it is taking steps to implement the International Entrepreneur Rule (IER), in accordance with a recent court decision. Although the IER was published during the previous administration with an effective date of July 17, 2017, it did not take effect because the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a final rule on July 11, 201...

UnitedHealth, the industry's largest insurer, is eyeing lessened or no participation in the Obamacare marketplaces in 2017 and is already cutting back participation during this year's open enrollment, citing high costs and low participation. "We cannot sustain these losses," Chief Executive Stephen Hemsley said Thursday. "We can't really subsidize a marketplace that doesn't appear at the momen...

The Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is seeking public comment on an updated version of its voluntary Safety and Health Program Management Guidelines. First published in 1989, the guidelines are being updated to reflect modern technology and practices. These guidelines are intended to help employers establish health and safety management plans at their...

Nearly 70 million workers lack access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan. Many states are seeking ways to expand savings options for these workers. It is against this backdrop that the Department of Labor (DOL) has published a notice of proposed rulemaking and an interpretive bulletin meant to guide states as they create programs that help more workers save for retirement, and that do not...