Employers are still trying to understand how the U.S. Senate’s Christmas present to the nation — a 2,074 page health care reform bill topped with a 383-page manager’s amendment — will affect them and their employees. (During a highly unusual Christmas Eve session, the Senate passed the bill in a 60-39 party-line vote.) Before the managers amendment was added, the bill was predicted to bury employers in paperwork. When Congress returns in January, members of both houses will work in a conference committee to iron out the differences in the health care reform bills passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate. So, although we don’t know yet exactly what will be included in the bill that comes out of the conference committee, many predict that the Senate bill will be the backbone of the consolidated bill, and we already know it places many issues affecting employers on the table.

How does the manager’s amendment affect employers?
The manager’s amendment revises the original Senate health care reform bill to include the compromises and alterations that were required to obtain the 60 votes needed to pass the legislation.  Among other things, it affects employers by: read more…

Last week, President Barack Obama signed legislation into law that extends the original federal COBRA subsidy created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). The legislation extends:

• the total allowable time an individual could receive the COBRA subsidy by six months (from nine to 15 months); and
• the subsidy to individuals who are involuntarily terminated between January 1, 2010, and February 28, 2010.

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President Barack Obama signed legislation into law today that would extend the original federal COBRA subsidy created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

The legislation was part of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2010 (H.R. 3326), a bill that appropriates funds for the Department of Defense. The bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a 395-34 vote and the U.S. Senate by an 88-10 vote last week. The legislation extends: read more…

Update Dec. 21, 2009: President signs bill including COBRA subsidy extension

In an unusual Saturday morning session on Dec. 19, the U.S. Senate voted 88-10 to pass legislation that would extend the original federal COBRA subsidy created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), which President Barack Obama signed into law in February.

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Update Dec. 21, 2009: President signs bill including COBRA subsidy extension

By John Hickman and Ashley Gillihan

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HRHero’s Compensation 2010 survey results shows that wage and benefit issues continue to be a pressing problem for many companies and new issues are arising as employers try to deal with doing business in a vastly changed economy from two years ago. Here are some of the results

• 35% of survey respondents say their organization will have a hiring freeze;
• 30% report that hourly employees will be getting no raises and 32 % report the same for exempt employees;
• Of employers reporting raises in 2010, most will be between 2% and 3%;
• More than 50% report they will not be giving bonuses instead of raises in 2010 and 32% will give no bonuses at all;
• In addition to hiring freezes, respondents report that their organizations will use temp workers (23%), layoffs (20%), or furloughs (10%).

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The U.S. Supreme Court announced on Monday that it would hear arguments in a case involving sexually explicit text messages sent by employees using their employer-provided pagers. The issue for the court is whether the employer violated its employees’ privacy rights by reading the messages.

The case involved several police officers with the Ontario, California, SWAT unit. The Ontario Police Department had a general computer and Internet use policy that prohibited employees from using the department’s computers and Internet service for personal reasons and advised them that they had no expectation of privacy in their use of those items. Employees who received pagers were required to acknowledge the policy and were informed of a 25,000-character limit on text messages sent per moth.

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Employers may need to prepare for an avalanche of paperwork if the U.S. Senate’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (H.R. 3590) passes Congress in its current form (or a similar form). The comprehensive 2,074-page health care reform bill, if passed, would impose many additional burdens on employers.

Audio Conference: Health Care Reform Is Here: Impact and Answers for Employers offered April 22, May 6 and May 20

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The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has now begun reviewing the more than 600 comments that were received in response to its proposed ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA) regulations. According to the latest regulatory agenda, the EEOC anticipates the review will be complete — and final ADAAA regulations will be implemented — in July 2010.

The regulations interpret the requirements of the ADAAA, which Congress passed in late 2008 to make it easier for employees and applicants who allege disability discrimination to establish that they are disabled as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

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Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer, has kicked off the holiday shopping season with a costly expense. The company has agreed to pay $40 million in the most recent of a string of wage and hour class-action settlements that have challenged the retailer over the past 12 months.

Last December, the company agreed to pay up to $640 million to settle 63 outstanding federal and state class-action wage and hour suits. This most recent settlement, which will benefit more than 87,000 current and former employees in Massachusetts, was based on allegations similar to those of that landmark December 2009 settlement, but it is not a part of that group of cases.

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