Articles by Girish Anand

While it works to issue a new Form I-9 -- "Employment Eligibility Verification" -- the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is urging employees to keep using the current version dated "07/17/17," which is set to expire on Aug. 31. The agency notes: "We will publish a new edition of this form soon. In the meantime, you may file using the 07/17/17 edition. You can find th...

President Trump has made official his nomination of Eugene Scalia, a pro-business lawyer and son of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, to become secretary of the Department of Labor (DOL), following the July resignation of Alexander Acosta.  Eugene Scalia Scalia, currently a partner at Gibson, Dunn and Cru...

In addition to the web-based portal for the collection of pay and hours worked data for calendar years 2017 and 2018 which opened on July 15, 2019, a data file upload function and validation process is now open, as an alternative data collection method for employers who prefer to utilize data file upload capability. Information regarding the data file upload function is available at https://eeo...

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has announced proposed changes to the federal regulations governing the confidentiality of patient records created by federally-assisted substance use disorder treatment programs, known as 42 CFR Part 2.  HHS Secretary Alex Azar The proposed rule establishes important r...

From a peak of 18.8 million in 2015  -- the first year of Obamacare -- the number of Americans enrolled in individual marketplace health insurance policies has dropped to 13.7 million, most of the decline stemming from the non-Obamacare exchanges.  Click to Enlarge Following the zeroing out in 2019 of the individual m...

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that minor league baseball players in Arizona can sue for minimum wage under Arizona's governing laws. The state's minimum wage is currently $11 an hour, rising to $12 next Jan. 1. First-year minor leaguers are forced to sign a contract that pays them $1,100 a month, excluding the four-week spring training camp that runs each year in February a...

The Department of Labor (DOL) and its Wage and Hour Division (WHD) are seeking public comments through Oct. 4 on proposed changes to the forms used for Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave. According to the DOL, the goal in revising the forms is to increase compliance with the FMLA, improve customer service, and reduce the burden on the public by making the forms easier to understand an...

An analysis of health insurer rate filings with state commissioners shows that 2020 premiums for policies sold on the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or Obamacare) exchanges look to rise just 0.6 percent, according to a report by Healthcare Dive. Many states might actually see a decrease, with Colorado showing an expected plunge of 18 percent. The projected overall slight increase is largely th...

From 2016 to 2018, 2.5 million customers who failed to qualify for a subsidy dropped their coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or Obamacare), a 40 percent falloff, according to data released Monday by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). CMS Administrator Seema Verma “As President Trump predi...

The Department of Labor (DOL) is sending its proposed new overtime rule to the White House today for review by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) just five months after initiating the regulatory process. Acting Labor Secretary Patrick Pizzella The rule, as initially proposed, would raise the over...