Articles by Girish Anand

December 3, 2013

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Lawsuits Challenge Legality of Obamacare Federal Subsidies and Penalties

Oklahoma was the first state to issue a legal challenge, but it was soon followed by Indiana and then by individuals and businesses in Virginia and the District of Columbia. At issue is the wording of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which states in section 1311 that health insurance subsidies are available only if policies are purchased through state insurance exchanges set up under the A...

December 2, 2013

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N.J. Social Media Privacy Act Becomes Law

New Jersey's Social Media Privacy Law took effect yesterday, prohibiting employers in the state from requiring applicants or employees to disclose their personal social media usernames and passwords or to provide access to their personal social media accounts. The law also has a strong anti-retaliation provision to prevent employers from pressuring employees or applicants into waiving...

December 2, 2013

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Federal Agencies Issue Regulatory Agendas

Quietly just before the Thanksgiving holiday, federal agencies released their upcoming regulatory agendas as required by law. Among the highlights: The Department of Labor (DOL) has issued or will issue in the next few months 24 regulations that will help implement its Plan/Prevent/Protect program, which shifts "the burden of ensuring compliance from the Department - which cannot ...

December 1, 2013

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HHS Declares Health Care Site 'Fixed'

The Obama administration claimed today that its troubled HealthCare.gov site has been "fixed" and can handle up to 50,000 visitors at a time, the original goal for the site when it was launched Oct. 1. In a rare Sunday morning press call, Health and Human Services (HHS) officials said the redone site is capable of handling "in the zone of 80 percent" of all users. The ...

November 27, 2013

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CMS to Seek Public Input on Obamacare Fine-Tuning

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is publishing a 254-page packet of draft regulations in the Federal Register on Monday, with public commentary due no later than 30 days thereafter on the Obamacare issues it addresses. The omnibus package deals with Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) provisions, including risk-management program fees, Small Business Hea...

November 26, 2013

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SeaTac $15 Minimum Wage Wins on Ballots, But Recount Possible

Both sides foresaw a potential recount of balloting for SeaTac Proposition 1, which would raise the small city's airport-related hospitality and transportation workers' salaries to a minimum of $15 an hour. On Monday after three weeks of counting votes, the proposition was leading by 76 votes, and King County officials were expected to certify the results today. As of Friday, ...

November 25, 2013

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DOL Launches Online Work-Sharing Resource

The Department of Labor has launched a new online resource that provides guidance and information to states interested in developing or improving short-time compensation programs, also known as work-sharing. The STC program is designed to avert employee layoffs for businesses faced with a temporary slowdown in business activity. The online resources, which will be available to state workforce...

November 25, 2013

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White Hat Hacker Says HealthCare.gov Completely Insecure

A professional Internet security expert, aka a "white hat hacker," claims that it will take a year to fix the security flaws in the federal Obamacare website. David Kennedy, chief executive of TrustedSec, testified about the flaws in HealthCare.gov before Congress last week, and this morning appeared on CNBC to convey the same message. "When you develop a website, you d...

November 22, 2013

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CMS Follows California in Extending Obamacare Deadline to Dec. 23

A day after Covered California extended the sign-up deadline for Obamacare health policies starting on Jan, 1, the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has opted to follow suit, giving consumers nationwide another eight days for enrolling on HealthCare.gov. The new deadline for policies commencing on New Year's Day is Dec. 23, up from Dec. 15, CMS announced today....

November 22, 2013

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HHS Delays Enrollment Period for Year Two of Obamacare

Health and Human Services (HHS) plans to delay the start of the second year of Obamacare enrollment by one month to allow insurers more time to set rates after assessing their plan experiences during 2014, a department official informed Bloomberg Business News Thursday night. Translated, this means that instead of an Oct. 15-Dec. 7, 2014, enrollment period for health plans starting in Jan...

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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