Articles by Girish Anand

March 6, 2016

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USCIS Launches Known Employer Pilot Program

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) this past week announced the launch of a Known Employer pilot program to assess a new process for employers seeking to hire certain workers through employment-based visa categories. By modifying the process U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) uses to review an employer’s eligibility to sponsor individuals under certain employment-based im...

March 4, 2016

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Obamacare Out-of-Pocket Expenses to Rise in 2017

In a publication released this week, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has raised out-of-pocket expenses under Obamacare health plans in 2017 to $7,150 for individuals and $14,300 for joint plans, up from the current levels of $6,850 and $13,700. The raised expense levels were buried on page 332 of an HHS document titled "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; HHS Notice o...

March 3, 2016

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New SBC Template Coming for 2017

The Department of Labor (DOL) has submitted for review by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a new template for the Summary of Benefits and Coverage (SBC) that accompanies health insurance policies, which will take effect for policies issued starting in April 2017. The public has until March 27 to submit comments to the OMB. SBCs, under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), outline benefits a...

March 1, 2016

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Risk Corridor Program Expects to Redistribute $7.7 Billion

The risk corridor/reinsurance program of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is expecting collections of $7.7 billion under the program this year to compensate insurance companies that suffered losses because of high claims in 2015. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will commence payments in March and wrap them up by June 30 when HHS releases the final payment reports. Insurance com...

February 29, 2016

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CMS Announces Special Enrollment Period Confirmation Process

After big insurers like UnitedHealthcare threatened to leave the Obamacare exchanges because of abuse of the system, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced this past week that it was creating a Special Enrollment Period (SEP) Confirmation Process, to be phased in after public feedback. The CMS site says: Once the new Special Enrollment Confirmation Process is implemente...

February 25, 2016

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DOL Issues NPRM on Paid Sick Leave by Federal Contractors

The Department of Labor (DOL) has announced a proposed rule to implement Executive Order 13706, Establishing Paid Sick Leave for Federal Contractors. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) was published on Feb. 25, 2016, in the Federal Register. Executive Order 13706 was signed by President Barack Obama on Sept. 7, 2015, and requires parties that enter into covered contracts with the Federal...

February 25, 2016

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EEOC Pushes for 12 Percent Disabled Participation by Federal Agencies

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) describing specific actions that federal agencies must take to comply with their obligation to engage in affirmative action in employment for individuals with disabilities, setting a goal of 12 percent workforce participation. The NPRM is available in the Public Inspection portion of the Fed...

February 24, 2016

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Obama's Budget Seeks More Agents for More Investigations

No doubt dead on arrival in the Republican House, the Obama budget request nonetheless includes healthy increases for hiring Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) investigators. The Feb. 9 budget request envisions an 8 percent increase for OSHA, for a total budget of $595 million for Fiscal Year 2017. On the MSHA front, it urges a...

February 23, 2016

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EEOC to Supply Employees with Company's Position Papers

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has standardized its policies and procedures across all field offices so that employees can now receive copies of their company's position statement regarding the charge at hand. When a charge of discrimination is filed against a business, that entity has 30 days to submit what is called a position statement; in short, its side of the story. E...

February 22, 2016

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Oregon Tinkers with Tiered Minimum Wage Structure

The Oregon legislature has passed a plan to raise the state minimum wage in a tiered structure that sees employees in Portland earning $14.75 an hour, those in Salem, Eugene and other smaller cities $13.50, and those in the hinterlands $12.50 -- all by 2022. Gov. Kate Brown, in a statement, said she is prepared to sign the legislation. In drafting the measure, the governor and legislature hope...

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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

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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

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Articles by Girish Anand