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On November 20, the Obama administration announced it is moving forward with certain provisions in the Affordable Care Act (ACA), including banning insurance companies from discriminating against people with preexisting conditions. The administration issued the following: A proposed rule that, beginning in 2014, prohibits health insurance companies from discriminating against individuals because of a preexisting […]
The HR Daily Advisor® announced today that its editor, Stephen Bruce, PHR, has been named one of the Top 25 Digital Influencers for 2011 by HRExaminer. The list places Bruce in the company of HR leaders such as Kevin Grossman, Trish McFarlane, and Sharlyn Lauby. “The people on the list are (quantitatively) the most widely […]
In recent weeks, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has announced a string of victories on behalf of employees in sexual harassment lawsuits. In one case, Specialty Restaurants Corp., based in Anaheim, agreed to pay $625,000 to settle a class action lawsuit charging that female workers were subjected to inappropriate touching, indecent and offensive […]
When RJR Nabisco decided to terminate an overfunded pension program, it purchased an annuity from an insurance company to cover its obligations to beneficiaries and plan participants. RJR then sold the pension fund’s assets, netting RJR more than $43 million. But the insurance company it chose to issue the annuity, Executive Life Insurance Company of […]
The IRS and Treasury Departments recently published final regulations providing guidance on the new Roth 401(k) plans, along with a handy list of questions and answers about these plans. Designated Roth contributions allow for employees to designate all or a portion of their 401(k) employee deferrals as Roth contributions, which would receive treatment much like […]
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services responded to doubts over whether health insurance exchanges (now formally referred to as “marketplaces”) would verify incomes consumers applying for health-insurance subsidies, which come in the form of: (1) advances on tax credits for premiums; and (2) reduced cost-sharing. Marketplaces will always use data from tax filings and […]
Under a revised proposal by the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council, companies would have to certify that they are in compliance with a broad range of federal laws to contract with the federal government. This new version of a rule proposed in 1999 clarifies the existing requirement that federal contractors have a satisfactory record of “integrity […]
According to a recent California Court of Appeal decision involving Wal-Mart, you can be sued by an independent contractor’s employee if you supply equipment that’s involved in an accident injuring the worker. Wal-Mart had hired Musi-Cal to install a sound system in the retailer’s Chino, Calif., store. The work involved placing speakers and running wires […]
The federal Department of Labor and the Internal Revenue Service have announced that they’re tracking down delinquent filers of Form 5500, which is required to be filed annually for benefit plans. And in December 2002, the agencies plan to begin sending out letters of inquiry to delinquent filers. Penalties for late filing can be steep, […]
Health care reform may be responsible for a rise in partisan bickering, but what is also rising is the number of young adults with health insurance — 1 million more since last year, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). In the first quarter of 2011, the percentage of adults between […]