Articles by Girish Anand

July 12, 2018

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CMS Modernizes Medicare to Cut Paperwork

Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed what it is calling "historic changes" that would increase the amount of time that doctors and other clinicians can spend with their patients by reducing the burden of paperwork that clinicians face when billing Medicare. The proposed rules would fundamentally improve the nation’s healthcare system and help restore the doctor...

July 12, 2018

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CMS Cuts Obamacare Navigator Funding from $36M to $10M

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) Navigator program, which funds groups and individuals to help walk people through the Obamacare sign-up process, is being cut financially once again by the Trump administration, this time from $36 million to $10 million. In 2017, funding stood at $63 million. Regardless of the federal outlay, the Navigator program has routinely helped fewer than 1 percent of all...

July 12, 2018

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Las Vegas Chamber Reviving Its Association Health Plan

The Las Vegas Metro Chamber of Commerce is reviving its once-thriving association health plan (AHP) under new rules released by the Department of Labor (DOL). Prior to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the chamber's AHP served some 20,000 members for nearly 30 years but was forced out of business because it didn't meet the new standards of Obamacare. ...

July 11, 2018

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AGs Challenge Fast-Food No-Poach Agreements

A coalition of 11 state attorneys general (AGs) has launched an initiative to stop the practice of no-poaching agreements that prevent fast food workers from being hired by competing franchisees. DOJ and AGs target fast food no-poach agreements “Our goal through this action is to reduce barriers and empower workers t...

July 10, 2018

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Grants Help Homeless Veterans Gain Employment

Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta has announced the award of 163 Homeless Veterans' Reintegration Program (HVRP) grants totaling $47,600,000. This funding will provide workforce reintegration services to more than 18,000 homeless veterans. Labor Secretary Acosta "While serving in the military, veterans learn many sk...

July 10, 2018

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SCOTUS to Start Next Term with Age Discrimination Case from Arizona

The coming term of the U.S. Supreme Court, possibly with a new justice named Brett Kavanaugh seated, will open Oct. 1 with a review of a case from Arizona involving two firefighters alleging they were terminated because of age. In a brief order issued yesterday, the court placed the case of John Guido and Dennis Rankin and their lawsuit against the Mount Lemmon Fire District on the day-one a...

July 10, 2018

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NLRB Launches Pilot Program to Expand Use of Alternative Dispute Resolution System

Today, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced it is launching a new pilot program to enhance the use of its Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) program. The new pilot program will increase participation opportunities for parties in the ADR program and help to facilitate mutually-satisfactory settlements. Under the new pilot program, the Board’s Office of the Executive Secretary...

July 7, 2018

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ACA Risk-Adjusted Payments Halted after Judge's Ruling

UPDATE: On Tuesday, July 24, the Trump administration restored the risk-adjusted payments to prevent "chaos" in the health insurance market. Risk-adjusted payments, a principal component of the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or Obamacare) that seeks to level the playing field among insurers, have been put on hold by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) following a judge's ruling t...

July 7, 2018

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IRS Preparing to Send 2016 Obamacare Penalty Notices

Even as many applicable large employers (ALEs) grapple with Employer Shared Responsibility Penalty (ESRP) letters from 2015, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is preparing to issue more such letters -- known as Letter 226-J -- for 2015, with still more coming later this year for 2016. Still down the road later this year, the agency is prepared to go after individual taxpayers who received s...

July 5, 2018

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Paid Family Leave to Get Senate Committee Hearing

Even with the endorsement of the president in his State of the Union address, First Daughter Ivanka Trump's paid family leave proposal seemed dead on arrival, but after working with Sen. Marco Rubio (R.-Fla.) and others, Ivanka has convinced enough people in the Senate to schedule a hearing on July 11. The Senate Committee on Finance -- whose members include paid-leave advocates Republican S...

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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