Articles by Girish Anand

Three Red States Approve Medicaid Expansion

November 7, 2018

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Three states that are considered mostly Republican-leaning (aka "red states") approved the expansion of Medicaid at the ballot box Tuesday. Idaho, Nebraska and Utah all said yes, while Montana rejected permanent Medicaid expansion after embracing the program in 2015. Utah was one of three states where voters approved Medicaid expa...

November 7, 2018

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ACA Enrollment: First Week Hits 371K

In week one of Affordable Care Act (ACA) Open Enrollment for 2019, 371,676 people selected plans using the HealthCare.gov platform. As in past years, enrollment weeks are measured Sunday through Saturday. Consequently, week one was only three days long this year - from Thursday to Saturday. Every week during Open Enrollment, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will release ...

November 5, 2018

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DOL Proposal Allows More Flexibility in Drug Testing

The Department of Labor (DOL) has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that loosens the standards for drug testing for unemployment compensation (UC). In 2017, Congress passed, and the President signed, a resolution of disapproval revoking a 2016 rule that imposed a one-size-fits-all approach on states with regard to identifying occupations for regular drug testing. The Middle Cl...

November 5, 2018

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IRS Increases 401(k), IRA and Other Retirement Limits for 2019

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has released Notice 2018-83, which details cost-of-living adjustments for retirement contributions in 2019. Section 415 of the Internal Revenue Code requires annual adjustments on benefits and contributions under qualified retirement plans. Employees participating in 401(k), 403(b), most 457 plans and the federal government's Thrift Savings Plan will be abl...

Employees to Walk Out at Google to Protest Sexual Harassment, Favoritism

October 31, 2018

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Stay on guard at your worksite: Watch our video on Workplace Harassment Investigations. At 11 a.m. today local time, hundreds Google employees worldwide will stage a walkout over revelations in a New York Times article detailing hush-hush, non-transparent treatment of executives accused of sexual harassment -- taking specific aim at the company's binding arbitration agreement that prevents e...

October 31, 2018

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Obamacare Open Enrollment Begins Tomorrow

The window for signing up for health insurance plans effective Jan. 1, 2019, closes at the end of Obamacare open enrollment on Dec. 15 of this year, following the opening of the federal exchange -- HealthCare.gov -- tomorrow. ACA Open Enrollment begins Nov. 1 While this opening is of somewhat limited interest to appli...

OSHA Redesigns Its State Plans Webpage

October 31, 2018

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The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has redesigned its State Plans webpage, where visitors can click on their state's mapped location and see if its safety programs are state or federally run, with a pop-up box offering contact information and a brief overview of which workers are covered. Some 22 states have jurisdiction over private industry and state and local governm...

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DOL Launches Benefits Compliance Tools

October 26, 2018

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Join thousands of other Personnel Concepts customers in gaining access to our Digital Workplace Compliance Library (DWCL), which contains manuals and guides for virtually every compliance challenge facing businesses in the U.S. -- WATCH THE VIDEO The Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) of the Department of Labor (DOL) has developed compliance assistance resources to help protect...

OSHA Top Ten Safety Violations Welcome Newcomer

October 24, 2018

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After years of a static Top Ten Safety Violations list from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the annual count has welcomed a newcomer: eye and face protection, which came in at number 10 and bumped out the electrical, wiring methods, components and equipment category. The top of the list remains unchanged, with fall protection registering 7,270 violations, according ...

October 23, 2018

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Proposed Rule Allows Employees to Purchase Health Insurance with HRAs

Join thousands of other Personnel Concepts customers in gaining access to our Digital Workplace Compliance Library (DWCL), which contains manuals and guides for virtually every compliance challenge facing businesses in the U.S. -- WATCH THE VIDEO The Departments of the Treasury, Health and Human Services, and Labor today issued a proposed regulation that expands the usability of health reimb...

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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