Damning report: Obamacare penalizes your workers, ‘taxes’ them

By Jared Bilski

There’s been plenty of criticism on how the Affordable Care Act is hurting businesses. But a new report by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) offers a 10-year outlook that is perhaps the worst criticism of the law yet.

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Bringing civility back into the workplace

By Tim Gould

It seems like today’s workplace has become a lot less civil than it used to be. Why is that? And is there anything we can do about it?  


Industrial psychologist Dennis Davis, who works for the law firm Ogletree Deakins and is a regular speaker at employment law conferences, offers some theories on both questions.

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Does the common cold or flu trigger FMLA obligations?

By Christian Schappel

There’s one passage in the FMLA’s rules that’s particularly vexing for employers.
Here it is:

… conditions that ordinarily, unless complications arise, would not meet the regulatory definition of a serious health condition and would not, therefore, qualify for FMLA leave: the common cold, the flu, ear aches, upset stomach, minor ulcers, headaches other than migraine, routine dental or orthodontia problems, periodontal disease, etc.

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Tip Tuesday! Affordable Care Act Update

By Jason Cogdill

Marketplace Update
On January 13, 2014, the Department of Health and Human Services released a report on the Health Insurance Marketplace covering the first three months of open enrollment, October 1 through December 28, 2013.
Key statistics include:

• Through December, 2.15 million enrolled in either the federal Marketplace (1.2 million) or state exchanges (950k). That figure is now around 3 million.
• Of 7.7 million applications through December, 5.1 million were eligible for an exchange plan (rather than Medicaid or Medicare). 53% of applicants were eligible for subsidy.
• 80% of enrollees were subsidy eligible.
• 33% of enrollees were ages 55-64.
• 60% of enrollees chose Silver plan.  20% chose Bronze plan. 1% enrolled in catastrophic plans.

How Can Employers Reimburse Individual Health Premiums?

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Digital-age dilemma: Handling employees who misbehave in emails

By Tim Gould

 

Email’s ubiquitous in today’s workplace. And it can sometimes qualify as HR’s biggest digital-age headache.  

Electronic messaging is just one more opportunity for employees — and, yes, managers — to screw up.

Take this recent case out of Illinois:

Margarita Zaya was an ultrasound technician at Rockford Memorial Hospital. She’d received positive performance reviews — until she apparently became disenchanted with her direct supervisor.

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Talent management: The 4 big challenges for HR [INFOGRAPHIC]

By Dan Wisniewski

When it comes to managing your company’s talent, are you on top of these four issues?
  
The folks at Silk Road recently surveyed 3,700 talent management and HR professionals to get to the bottom of what’s in the way of handling talent correctly.

The four biggest problems?

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Specifics on “Play or Pay” Final Rules for Large Employers

By Lisa Klinger

On February 10, 2014, the Internal Revenue Service issued long-awaited Final Regulations (227 pages) implementing the Employer Shared Responsibility provisions under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), as well as a Fact Sheet (3 pages) and Questions and Answers (15 pages).  The final regulations leave intact the basic implementation framework of the Proposed Regulations that were issued December 28, 2012, but make a number of important changes and much-needed clarifications. 

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On February 10, 2014, the Internal Revenue Service issued long-awaited Final Regulations (227 pages) implementing the Employer Shared Responsibility provisions under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), as well as a Fact Sheet (3 pages) and Questions and Answers (15 pages).  The final regulations leave intact the basic implementation framework of the Proposed Regulations that were issued December 28, 2012, but make a number of important changes and much-needed clarifications. - See more at: http://news.leavitt.com/health-care-reform/specifics-final-regs-employer-mandate-one-year-delay-smaller-employers-requirements-eased-larger-employers/#sthash.MsEMfPFr.dpufskldjglkjl

On February 10, 2014, the Internal Revenue Service issued long-awaited Final Regulations (227 pages) implementing the Employer Shared Responsibility provisions under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), as well as a Fact Sheet (3 pages) and Questions and Answers (15 pages).  The final regulations leave intact the basic implementation framework of the Proposed Regulations that were issued December 28, 2012, but make a number of important changes and much-needed clarifications.
This article provides additional details on our original article (published February 10, 2014) and summarizes what we consider the primary areas of interest for employers.  We will soon publish separate and more detailed articles on specific topics in the regulations.
- See more at: http://news.leavitt.com/health-care-reform/specifics-final-regs-employer-mandate-one-year-delay-smaller-employers-requirements-eased-larger-employers/#sthash.MsEMfPFr.dpuf

On February 10, 2014, the Internal Revenue Service issued long-awaited Final Regulations (227 pages) implementing the Employer Shared Responsibility provisions under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), as well as a Fact Sheet (3 pages) and Questions and Answers (15 pages).  The final regulations leave intact the basic implementation framework of the Proposed Regulations that were issued December 28, 2012, but make a number of important changes and much-needed clarifications.
This article provides additional details on our original article (published February 10, 2014) and summarizes what we consider the primary areas of interest for employers.  We will soon publish separate and more detailed articles on specific topics in the regulations.
- See more at: http://news.leavitt.com/health-care-reform/specifics-final-regs-employer-mandate-one-year-delay-smaller-employers-requirements-eased-larger-employers/#sthash.MsEMfPFr.dpuf

New Obamacare rules: IRS won’t let wellness help with ‘affordability’

By Jared Bilski

A number of prominent wellness advocates, as well the ERISA Industry Committee, had previously asked the IRS to count incentives earned through wellness programs toward employers’ “affordability” calculations under the Affordable Care Act. The agency’s response: Nope.

Well, mostly no. With the release of the latest Obamacare regs, the feds have effectively said that wellness incentives won’t count toward determining whether employees have been offered “affordable healthcare coverage” unless the incentive is earned through a smoking-cessation program.

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4 keys to calculating full-time employees under Affordable Care Act

By Sheryl Southwick

Under the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) shared responsibility provision, a large employer (who employs at least 50 full-time equivalent employees on average) must offer affordable medical coverage to at least 95% of its full-time equivalent employees and their dependent children age 26 or younger — or face stiff penalties.

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Tip Tuesday! Employer Mandate Delayed until 2016 for Employers with Up to 99 Employees

By Lisa Klinger

The Treasury Department issued a Fact Sheet  and Final Rules implementing Employer Shared Responsibility under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).  SOME HIGHLIGHTS ARE: 

• Employers with fewer than 100 employees get a 1-year delay:  They will not have to comply until 2016, rather than 2015.

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3 new benefits plans not subject to Obamacare

By Jared Bilski

The DOL, HHS and Treasury just rolled out some proposed regs that add a number of employer plans to a list of those that are exempt from health reform provisions as well as HIPAA requirements. Here’s a breakdown of what’s on that list. The latest federal guidance covered “excepted benefits,” which are specific limited-scope benefits that are exempt — or as the feds say “excepted” — from the insurance market provisions of Obamacare and the requirements of HIPAA. The following plans were added to the list of excepted benefits under the feds’ latest guidance:

• Self-insured dental and vision plans (even if participants aren’t required to pay a separate additional charge for them),
• A new category of limited wraparound group coverage of individual coverage (if special conditions are met), and
• Certain employee assistance programs (EAPs).

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Rules for Equal Coverage by Employers Remain Elusive Under Health Law

By Robert Pear

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is delaying enforcement of another provision of the new health care law, one that prohibits employers from providing better health benefits to top executives than to other employees.

Tax officials said they would not enforce the provision this year because they had yet to issue regulations for employers to follow.

The Affordable Care Act, adopted nearly four years ago, says employer-sponsored health plans must not discriminate “in favor of highly compensated individuals” with respect to either eligibility or benefits. The government provides a substantial tax break for employer-sponsored insurance, and, as a matter of equity and fairness, lawmakers said employers should not provide more generous coverage to a select group of high-paid employees.

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What You Need to Know About the New Eligibility Waiting Period Provisions

By Bill Olson

The 90-day maximum for eligibility waiting periods is effective as of the start of the 2014 plan year.  As employers are beginning to implement this new requirement, many have questions. For instance, what should employers do if they hired an employee under the prior rules?  

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Tip Tuesday! Understanding the Difference between Minimum Essential Coverage, Essential Health Benefits, Minimum Value, and Actuarial Value

By Lisa Klinger

There are several terms in the Affordable Care Act that sound similar and therefore cause some confusion. Each term has a different meaning and different ramifications—for employers and individuals—in terms of penalties, taxes and subsidies.    This article defines four such terms and explains how each applies to individuals and to employers.   The four terms are “Minimum Essential Coverage,” “Essential Health Benefits,”  “Minimum Value” and “Actuarial Value.”

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