United Benefit Advisors Insight and Analysis Blog

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently released a final rule on the procedures for the handling of whistleblower complaints under Section 1558 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). The regulations protect employees (which includes former employees and applicants for employment) who may have been subject to retaliation for seeking assistance under certain affordability assistance provisions, or for reporting potential violations of the ACA’s consumer protections.

Topics: ACA, Affordable Care Act, OSHA, Nancy Bourque, whistleblower complaints, retaliation, consumer protection

Reports submitted to the U.S. government that include both names and Social Security numbers (SSNs), such as 1095 and W-2 forms, are filtered through U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a division of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). In some cases, employers will receive a No-Match Letter or an Employer Correction Request from the Social Security Administration (SSA) for certain employees. ICE will send a similar letter (the Notice of Suspect Documents) after inspection of files during an I-9 audit when discrepancies are noted.

Topics: Nancy Bourque, employment eligibility, worker identity, no-match letter

On December 1, 2016, the Department of Labor (DOL) will implement changes raising the minimum compensation for exempt employees to $47,476 annually. While salary is just half of a two-part equation that includes a duties test of essential job functions, scrutiny is under way to analyze compensation and find solutions to avoid conflict with the new rule. Many employers are asking: Why not just have all employees work 40 hours and get approval for overtime?

Topics: Nancy Bourque, counting employee hours, Department of Labor salary considerations, exempt employee salary, tracking employee hours

Your new position just got approved and, finally, that mission-critical headcount addition is green-lighted. Celebration ensues until the actual work of finding the ideal candidate begins. The first step is to get a job description. In some cases, a perfectly vetted position analysis and description may exist, one that captures the particulars and purpose of the job. For those not fortunate enough to have a compensation professional providing such information, the search to find the right words to describe the work begins. So launches the journey of a thousand words cut-and-pasted from Indeed.com.

Topics: employment law, Department of Labor, Nancy Bourque, position descriptions, job descriptions

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued sweeping changes to record-keeping and reporting rules. Starting in 2017, employers with as few as 20 employees may be required to electronically report workplace injuries and illnesses on an annual basis, and the information from those reports will be searchable, by employer name, by any member of the public.

Topics: workplace safety, OSHA, Nancy Bourque, workplace injuries and illnesses, OSHA reporting, covered employer

Beginning in 2017, certain employers with as few as 20 employees at a single site will be required to electronically file information about employee injuries and accidents that occurred in the prior year. This means that, for many employers, injuries and illnesses occurring in 2016 will be subject to this change.

Topics: employee injuries, workplace safety, OSHA, employee accidents, Nancy Bourque, workplace injuries and illnesses