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Health Care reform is complex and difficult to understand.Here is a synopsis of the IMMEDIATE changes ALL employers must comply with for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act:
The Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act of 2010 (HIRE) became law on March 18, 2010 as signed by President Obama. Unfortunately, this new law did not get a lot of press due to the Health Care Reform Passage, but is critical for employers who intend to hire.
Under this law, an employer who hires an employee after February 3, 2010 and before January 1, 2011, will receive a tax credit equal to the employer’s portion of the Social Security tax (FICA) for hiring an unemployed worker for new positions or replacement for employees who resigns or discharged for cause. All employers except government institutions are eligible for this great tax credit.
Genetic Information is the most recent protected characteristic (such as race, religion, and sex) to be added to the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) of 2008 [Public Law 110-233, H.R. 493, S. 358] was signed into law by President Bush on May 21, 2008. The law prohibits health insurers and employers from discriminating on the basis of genetic information and sets a national baseline of protections from any such discrimination across the country. In the legislation, the term “genetic information” means a person’s genetic test results, the genetic test results of an individual’s family members and/or information about a genetic disease or disorder in family members.
1) Revise all your EEO statements and job applications to include genetic non-discrimination.
2) Post new EEO nondiscrimination posters.
3) Train all managers on what this means. (CALL ME – I CAN HELP WITH THIS.)
4) Discontinue requests for family medical history from post offer or fitness of duty evaluations or in connection with reasonable accommodations.
5) Store genetic information in confidential medical files.
President Obama signed this bill into law on 12/19/2009 (P.L. No:111-118). This federal spending bill includes two important provisions:
1. Extended and expanded the COBRA subsidy program enacted under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). This expands the COBRA premium subsidy period to employees who were/or are involuntarily terminated on or before 2/28/10. Employers who have affected employees will pay the 65% subsidy for employees COBRA payments and employees will only need to pay 35% of their COBRA coverage. The COBRA premium subsidy is extended from 9 months to 15 months and employers must notify the affected terminated employees.
2. Extended unemployment benefits through July 31, 2010. For example, an individual who runs out of all their unemployment benefits on or before 2/20/2010 may be eligible for an extension of an additional 14-20 weeks of benefits. All affected employees are encouraged to contact your state’s unemployment office to understand their detailed unemployment benefits. Each state, depending on their unemployment rates will have different weekly extentions.
President Obama signed a FMLA coverage extension for Military Families on October 28, 2009. The 2010 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) extends FMLA exigency leave coverage to both active duty members of Armed Forces, Reserves and National Guard, and family members of active members of the Armed Forces, Reserves and National Guard. The FMLA provides 26 weeks of leave and is only for employers with 50 or more employees. This new laws covers FMLA caregiver leave for up to five years after the veteran ends active duty. Qualify exigencies are the following:
1. Short-notice deployment
2. Military event and related activities
3. Childcare and school activities
4. Financial and legal arrangements
5. Counseling
6. Rest and recuperation
7. Post-deployment activities and
8. Additional activities to address other events which arise out of the covered military members’ active duty or call to active duty.
President Obama approved the extension of Unemployment Benefits an extra 14 weeks of benefits in states with unemployment rates less than 8.5% and an extra 20 weeks in states with unemployment rates above 8.5%. Any individual whose benefits have expired will be eligible to re-apply for the additional benefits.
Click here to check the current unemployment rate in your state.
The U.S. Department of Labor plans increased enforcement of small-to-medium sized businesses after the September 2009 release of a 72-page report documenting what some call “rampant” violations of wage-and-hour laws by employers.
Martha Neil of the ABA Journal writes,
It [US DOL] is hiring 250 additional investigators to pursue claimed widespread practices by numerous employers of not paying the required minimum wage, not paying required overtime, and not allowing workers to take required breaks.
“During the first 6 months of the year, the Department of Labor (DOL) already has recovered more than $82 million in back wages for nearly 107,000 minimum wage workers.”
DAS HR Consulting, LLC advises employers to review their job descriptions and ensure proper Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) status.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) interprets the definition of a disability more broadly and expands the definition of “major life activities”. To learn more click here: Long-Awaited Proposed ADA Regulations Issued by the EEOC
ADA On September 25, 2008, the President signed the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act of 2008 (“ADA Amendments Act” or “Act”). The Act makes important changes to the definition of the term “disability” by rejecting the holdings in several Supreme Court decisions and portions of EEOC’s ADA regulations. The Act retains the ADA’s basic definition of “disability” as an impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a record of such an impairment, or being regarded as having such an impairment. However, it changes the way that these statutory terms should be interpreted in several ways.
