News

Recommendations Do Not Create New Legal Obligations The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has released its Recommended Practices for Safety and Health Programs in Construction publication to help employers improve safety and health at construction worksites. Highlights of the recommendations are presented below. New Features The recommended practices reflect current conditions in the […]

Rule Generally Applicable Beginning January 1, 2017 The U.S. Departments of Treasury, Labor, and Health and Human Services recently published a final rule that restricts the allowable duration of short-term, limited-duration insurance to less than three months and requires issuers to prominently display a new notice in the contract and application materials provided in connection […]

Further Legal Developments Expected The U.S. Department of Justice, on behalf of the U.S. Department of Labor, has filed a notice to appeal the nationwide preliminary injunction previously granted against implementation and enforcement of the new federal overtime rule, which was set to become effective on December 1, 2016. The appeal will be heard by […]

New State Minimum Wages The minimum wage will rise in a number of states next year. Unless otherwise noted, the following minimum wage rates (per hour) are scheduled to become effective on January 1, 2017: Alaska: $9.80 Arizona: $10.00 Arkansas: $8.50 California: $10.50 for employers with 26 or more employees (for smaller employers, the rate […]

Model Notices Previously Set to Expire on November 30, 2016 The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has extended the effective date of its model Employer CHIP Notice, General Notice of COBRA Rights, and COBRA Election Notice through December 31, 2016. Previously, these model notices were set to expire on November 30, 2016.  These model notices […]

Q&As Available on Notice Requirement Employers subject to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)—generally those with 15 or more employees—that offer a wellness program that collects employee health information are reminded that they must provide a new notice to employees as of the first day of the plan year that begins on or after January […]

Email Targets Employees of HIPAA Covered Entities & Their Business Associates The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has become aware of a phishing email that is being circulated on mock HHS Departmental letterhead under the signature of the Office of Civil Rights’ Director, Jocelyn Samuels. The email appears to be an official […]

Employers May Apply a Reasonable, Good Faith Interpretation of the Term ‘Seasonal Worker’ Employers that hire seasonal workers this holiday season are reminded that there is an exception when measuring workforce size to determine whether they are an applicable large employer (ALE) subject to the Affordable Care Act’s employer shared responsibility (“pay or play”) and […]

Business Insurances are extremely important, especially living in areas such as Southern California where flooding, earthquake, and fire are real dangers. Contact us today to learn more about your business insurances. An excerpt from insurancejournal.com, written by Joyce Rosenberg: Small companies frequently either don’t buy insurance at all or don’t have enough to cover their […]

New Resources Now Available The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has issued updated enforcement guidance on national origin discrimination to replace its 2002 compliance manual section on that subject. Background Title VII of the Civil Rights Act (Title VII), generally applicable to employers with 15 or more employees, prohibits employment discrimination based on race, […]