Articles by Girish Anand

November 13, 2013

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HHS Releases Obamacare Enrollment Tallies

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today released end-of-month enrollment figures for the rollout of Obamacare on Oct. 1, saying that 26,794 Americans had purchased a private insurance plan on HealthCare.gov, the federal marketplace, with an additional 79,391 doing so on the state exchanges. The announced goal for sign-ups under the just-rolled-out Affordable Care Act (ACA)...

November 13, 2013

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Workplace Injuries Inch Downward, But Remain Above 3 Million Annually

This month the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) revealed that both work-related injuries and illnesses and work-related fatalities continued a downward trend in 2012, though the aggregate number of incidents remains stuck above 3 million per annum. The overall incidence rate was 3.4 cases per 100 full-time workers or their equivalents in 2012. On the fatality front In 2012, 4,383 workers ...

November 13, 2013

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HealthCare.gov Removes Woman's Image; Model Claims 'Bullying' from Users

The HealthCare.gov federal Obamacare website, while undergoing fixes for bugs that frequently prevent access and enrollments, also is sporting a new look (see image). For its debut, the website featured a woman's image, but the woman recently claimed during an ABC News interview that reaction to the website amounted to "some form of bullying" that affected her personall...

November 12, 2013

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Fewer Than 50,000 Sign Up for Obamacare on HealthCare.gov

While the federal government rushes to fix the bugs in its HealthCare.gov online Marketplace, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that fewer than 50,000 persons had enrolled in health care on the site through Nov. 1. HealthCare.gov serves customers in the 36 states that declined to establish their own health insurance exchanges, or marketplaces, under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). A...

November 8, 2013

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OSHA's Electronic Reporting Rule to Be Published Today

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is proposing to amend its record-keeping regulations to add requirements for the electronic submission of injury and illness information employers are already required to keep under Part 1904. The proposed rule would amend 29 CFR §1904.41 to add three new electronic reporting requirements (proposed §1904.41 – Electr...

November 7, 2013

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OSHA Proposes Moving Company Reports Online

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) today issued a proposed rule to improve workplace safety and health through improved tracking online of workplace injuries and illnesses. The announcement follows the Bureau of Labor Statistics' release of its annual Occupational Injuries and Illnesses report, which estimates that three million workers were injured on the job i...

November 6, 2013

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Seattle 'Ban the Box' Law Extended to Private Employers

Since 2009, the City of Seattle has been observing what it refers to as a "Ban the Box" legal provision, which forbids questions about criminal history of city government job applicants. Effective Nov. 1, the ordinance has been extended to all private employers within the city as well. "Ban the Box" derives its name from the familiar checkbox on employment applications...

November 6, 2013

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New Jersey Voters Peg Minimum Wage to CPI

While the man who vetoed an earlier minimum wage measure cruised to a landslide re-election as governor, New Jersey voters approved the bill he vetoed when it appeared on the ballot yesterday, raising the state minimum wage to $8.25 an hour and pegging it henceforth to the Consumer Price Index (CPI). New Jersey thus becomes the 11th state with an automatic CPI rider to its minimum wage st...

November 5, 2013

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Minimum Wage in Seattle Suburb Could Rise to $31,200 a Year -- Or More!

A Seattle suburban mayoral competition being decided today at the ballot box could vault the SeaTac suburb to the status of highest-minimum-wage entity in the U.S. SeaTac incumbent Mayor Mike McGinn, responding to his opponent Ed Murray's vow to raise the hourly minimum wage to $15 for certain workers, says he might not stop there, declaring "I'll be there" at whatever f...

November 4, 2013

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Drug Copay Cards Legal Under Obamacare, HHS Rules

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), declaring that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) isn't a federal health care program like Medicare or Medicaid, has ruled that pharmaceutical companies are free to offer drug copay cards to Obamacare policyholders. Issuing such cards to Medicare and Medicaid participants is still illegal, however. Copay cards are offered by drug makers to...

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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.

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Articles by Girish Anand