Articles by Girish Anand

June 17, 2014

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HHS Counsel Predicts HIPAA Fines to Soar Even Higher

The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has collected $10 million in fines since June 2013 for breaches of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which protects patients' medical privacy, but an OCR senior counsel says that figure will be "low compared to what's coming up." HHS Chief Regional Civil ...

June 16, 2014

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NLRB Deposes a Witness in Spain via Videoconferencing

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for the first time in the agency’s history recently conducted a trial examination of a witness via international videoconferencing. NLRB Region 20 in San Francisco worked with employees of the US Embassy in Madrid, Spain, to facilitate the transmission of the testimony. Prior to this week’s testimony, all previous use of video ...

June 14, 2014

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Appeals Court Busts DOL for Lowering Wages in Herding Industry

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, in a 3-0 decision, has ruled that the Department of Labor (DOL) illegally lowered wages and worsened working conditions for cattle herders, sheepherders and goat herders because it bypassed required rulemaking procedures. in 2011 the DOL updated its regulations on wages and working conditions in the herding industry, but it did so wi...

June 13, 2014

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DOL Issues Proposed Rule Implementing New Contractor Minimum Wage

The Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of the Department of Labor (DOL) has issued a proposed rule to implement President Obama's Executive Order 13658, which mandates a minimum wage of at least $10.10 an hour at companies entering into contractors to do federally compensated work. According to a fact sheet on the new proposal, the minimum wage applies to four categories of federal con...

June 12, 2014

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Seattle Faces Lawsuit Over Implementation of $15-an-Hour Minimum Wage

The International Franchise Association (IFA) has filed suit against Seattle for lumping franchise owners into the major corporation category, meaning they have to implement the new $15-an-hour minimum wage in three years rather than in the seven years given small businesses to comply. The clock starts ticking on April 1, 2015, when the law kicks in. The association has even launched ...

June 11, 2014

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CMS Allows 18 States to Forego SHOP 'Employee Choice' Until 2016

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) yesterday approved applications by 18 state insurance commissioners to delay offering the "employee choice" option on their Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP). Under "employee choice," individual employees of a qualifying small business would be able to pick and choose among policies. The states that wi...

June 9, 2014

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HHS Scraps Program to Audit Medicare Advantage Plans

After uncovering hundreds of millions -- potentially billions -- in payments to Medicare Advantage health plans for inflated "risk scores," the Inspector General (IG) for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) scrapped the audits as too costly this past year, according to a yearlong investigation by the Center for Public Integrity. In 2007 alone, the IG audits found t...

June 7, 2014

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Obamacare Site to Be Revamped, Hosted by Amazon

The administration's 36-state-and-growing health insurance website is undergoing a makeover for the umpteenth time and will now see many of its functions hosted in the cloud by Amazon.com, according to the Wall Street Journal. Among other changes, HealthCare.gov will feature a new application for insurance and a new comparison tool for weighing plan options. The changes were annou...

June 5, 2014

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Burwell Confirmed as HHS Secretary

The Senate today, by a vote to 78 to 17, confirmed Sylvia Mathews Burwell as secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), succeeding Kathleen Sibelius, who will be remembered as the architect of HealthCare.gov and its many travails. Ms. Burwell, 48, moves over from the West Wing, where she serves as President Obama's budget director, a post to which she was confirmed unanimously just...

June 3, 2014

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WalMart Employees to Strike Nationwide Today

In advance of a shareholders' meeting on Friday, WalMart employees nationwide and online will strike today over wages and what they claim is retaliation for employees who speak out about company issues. Protests will be held in some 20-plus cities to demand wages of at least $25,000 a year, Organization United For Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart), which is associated with th...

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About author

Girish Anand

Recent Articles

Practical articles on HR, Safety, compliance, and people operations—written for real businesses, not legal textbooks.

U.S. Department of Labor Officially Restores Prior Overtime Exemption Rules

On May 14th, 2026, the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced it has officially rescinded the 2024 overtime exemption rules. Specifically, the WHD published a technical amendment to restore previous 2019 regulations that dictated overtime exemptions for...

NLRB General Counsel Takes Action to Tackle Current Case Backlog

On May 6th, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and NLRB General Counsel Crystal Stowe Carey announced the bulk transfer of thousands of labor practice cases. Specifically, this action fulfills an initiative signed by the NLRB General Counsel earlier this year. Overall, the initiative...

Privacy Agency Invites Comments from Businesses on the CCPA’s Usage of Personal Data

Recently, the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) issued a call for comments on the current state of personal data collection under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). Specifically, the invitation to deliver remarks was issued on April 20th, 2026. The information provided by the...

DOL Proposes New Joint Employer Rule To Unify Standards Under Federal Labor Laws

In April 2026, the U.S. Department of Labor issued a proposed rule to establish a single, clear standard for determining when joint-employer status applies under three major federal laws: the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), and the Migrant and Seasonal...

DOL Updates Enforcement Approach for Employee Benefit Plans: What Employers Should Know

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently announced a significant change in its enforcement of employee benefit plan rules. The DOL will now focus more closely on serious violations that harm workers and retirees, meaning compliant employers may face less scrutiny under the updated approach.

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Articles by Girish Anand