Articles by Girish Anand

September 12, 2018

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Grants Awarded for Obamacare Navigators

Obamacare Navigators

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has awarded $10 million in Navigator grants to 39 organizations that will serve as Navigators in Federally-facilitated Exchange states. These awards will support the work of organizations that offer assistance to consumers navigating, shopping for, and enrolling in health insurance coverage for 2019. “We are committed to making sure that...

September 10, 2018

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Obamacare Premiums to Moderate for 2019 Plan Year

After double-digit increases for the past couple of years, premiums for health insurance policies purchased on the Obamacare exchanges for 2019 are expected to moderate -- or even drop -- in 41 states, while six states will see 10-percent-plus increases, according to a study done by Avalere Health and the Associated Press. Obamaca...

September 6, 2018

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WHD Targets Hotel Industry for Compliance with H-2B Visa Program

To ensure compliance with federal wage laws, the Department of Labor (DOL) and its Wage and Hour Division (WHD) are conducting a nationwide initiative to strengthen compliance with the labor provisions of the H-2B temporary visa program in the hotel industry. The initiative includes providing compliance assistance tools and information to employers and stakeholders, as well as conducting inv...

September 6, 2018

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Second Shoe of ACA Business Penalties Drops

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in late 2017 began issuing its first wave of Affordable Care Act (ACA) penalties to companies that failed to provide minimum essential health coverage to at least 70 percent of their employees in 2015. Now, the IRS is issuing a new round of penalties for companies that provided coverage but had at least one employee who qualified for a premium tax credit (P...

Constitutionality of ACA Goes on Trial Today

September 5, 2018

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U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor will hear arguments in Texas beginning today in a case brought by 20 "red" states over the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or Obamacare), whose result could have far-reaching consequences in the upcoming national elections and beyond. Even as Obamacare open enrollment draws nea...

September 4, 2018

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September Is Peak Lawsuit Filing Month for EEOC

Watch Personnel Concepts' video on Workplace Harassment Investigations. As the federal fiscal year approaches its end each September, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) traditionally files its largest aggregate of lawsuits for the year. In September 2017, for instance, the EEOC filed 88 lawsuits. This fiscal year, the commission through the end of August had filed some 112...

September 4, 2018

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After 10-Year Decline, Employers Offering Health Insurance on the Rise

Snapping a decline that began in 2008, employers are more and more offering health insurance to their employers, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI). In 2017, nearly 47 percent of employers offered health insurance, rising from 45.3 percent the year before. In 2008, the percentage before the long decline stood at 56.4. The increase was fairly consistent among compa...

States Win Big Refunds over Obamacare Tax for Medicaid

September 2, 2018

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A federal judge in North Texas has handed a group of states hundreds of millions of dollars in refunds from an Affordable Care Act (ACA, or Obamacare) program known as the Health Insurance Providers Fee, which collects Medicaid taxes from the states to help fund Obamacare. A federal appeal is almost a certainty. Texas Attorney Ge...

September 1, 2018

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FMLA Forms Now Good Through 2021

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has approved the reissuing of all Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) forms with a new expiration date of Aug. 31, 2021. The previous forms had expired on May 31 due to the Paperwork Reduction Act, which requires all government forms to be reviewed, re-approved and reissued (or not) after three years. The Department of Labor (DOL) had previously been...

Labor Department Launches Apprenticeship.gov

August 30, 2018

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The Department of Labor (DOL) today announced the launch of a new digital platform, Apprenticeship.gov, featuring an Apprenticeship Finder tool that offers career seekers a platform to search for apprenticeships by city, state and occupation, as well as connects job seekers to high-skilled, high-paying careers. The Apprenticeship Finder, a no-cost tool for both employers and career seekers, ...

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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