On March 27, President Barack Obama announced his intent to use his constitutional power to make appointments while Congress is in recess to appoint Democrat Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). This is the first time the President has used recess appointments.

Becker, a union attorney, has been a controversial nominee since he was first nominated, and in February, Senate Republicans used a filibuster to block his nomination. The business community and Republicans have been strongly opposed to his nomination, mainly because he has become associated with the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), a bill that would make it much easier for employees to form labor unions. Employer groups and Republicans have suggested that if Becker were nominated to the NLRB, he and a Democratic majority on the Board could implement provisions of EFCA, even if Congress failed to pass the bill.

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The Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act (H.R. 2847), a jobs bill President Barack Obama signed into law on March 18, 2010, provides tax breaks to employers that hire unemployed workers or individuals who were only working part-time in 2010. Under the HIRE Act, qualified employers could receive a payroll tax incentive and a general business tax credit.

Payroll Tax Incentive
Under the Act, employers that hire new employees this year may be exempt from paying the 6.2 percent social security tax on wages paid to qualified employees after March 18, 2010, through December 31, 2010. An employee is “qualified” if she:

• starts work after February 3, 2010, and before January 1, 2011;
• certifies in a signed affidavit that she hasn’t been employed for more than 40 hours during the previous 60-day period (the 60-day period ends on the date the employee starts work);
• wasn’t hired to replace another employee unless the other employee voluntarily left the position or was terminated for cause; and
• isn’t a family member or other relative of the employer.

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Updated Thursday, March 25, 2010

Since President Barack Obama signed part of an expansive health care reform package into law on Tuesday, March 23, 2010, employers should prepare for many changes to their health and benefits plans. The President signed the U.S. Senate’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (H.R. 3590), which the U.S. House of Representatives passed by a 219-212 vote on March 21, 2010. On that same day, the House also passed the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010 (H.R. 4872), a compromise reconciliation bill designed to provide a package of “fixes” to the Senate’s original bill. The total legislation package (the original Senate bill and the reconciliation bill) will have far-reaching effects on employers.

Audio Conference: Health Care Reform Is Here: Impact and Answers for Employers

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Yesterday, congressional Democrats released the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010 (H.R. 4872), a compromise bill designed to provide a package of “fixes” to the U.S. Senate’s original health care reform bill — the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (H.R. 3590). Similar to the original Senate bill, there are several provisions in the new reconciliation bill that would affect employers in many different ways.

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

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On March 18, Governor Mitch Daniels signed into law a bill allowing most employees in the state to bring weapons onto their employer’s property as long as the weapons are kept out of plain sight in locked vehicles. The bill will take effect July 1, 2010.

In the signing statement accompanying the bill, Governor Daniels acknowledged the broad bipartisan support the legislation had received in the legislature. He also acknowledged and encouraged the legislature to resolve the bill’s ambiguities to avoid unnecessary litigation. Most significantly, however, the governor’s decision to sign the legislation rested in large part on the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the “even stronger language” of the Indiana Constitution, which states: “The people shall have a right to bear arms, for the defense of themselves and the State.” Here is Governor Daniels’ complete signing statement:

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This week, Democrats have been moving full steam ahead toward passage of health care reform legislation that would affect employers in many ways. Since the Democrats lost their supermajority in the U.S. Senate, many of their colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives want to pass the Senate’s version of health care reform so the Senate doesn’t have to vote on another bill and encounter an inevitable Republican filibuster. House Democrats, however, don’t like the Senate legislation in its current form and don’t want to pass it without also passing a package of “fixes.”

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

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Last week, the U.S. Senate passed legislation that would further extend the federal COBRA subsidy created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The American Workers, State, and Business Relief Act of 2010 (H.R. 4213), which passed the Senate by a 62-36 vote, would extend the subsidy to individuals who were involuntarily terminated through December 31, 2010.

The new legislation is a follow-up to the Temporary Extension Act of 2010 (H.R. 4691), which President Barack Obama signed into law at the beginning of March. This previous legislation extended the federal COBRA subsidy to individuals who are involuntarily terminated between March 1, 2010, and March 31, 2010.

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The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee heard extensive testimony this morning on the Paycheck Fairness Act (S. 182; H.R. 11), a bill that proposes numerous changes to the Equal Pay Act of 1963. Among the witnesses present were Representative Rosa DeLauro, who is one of the sponsors of the Act, and Commissioner Stuart Ishimaru, the acting chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

During his testimony, Chairman Ishimaru focused on the importance of the Act’s pay data provisions, noting that the EEOC currently has no way of knowing about private-sector pay information because employees keep that information private and are often told not to talk about it. He noted that the Paycheck Fairness Act would give the EEOC better tools to help employees, while also providing data standards that would assist employers. (For a written statement from Chairman Ishimaru, visit http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/events/ishimaru_paycheck_fairness.cfm)

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A Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pension (HELP) Committee hearing on pay equity, scheduled for Thursday, March 11, may revive discussion of the stalled Paycheck Fairness Act.

The Paycheck Fairness Act (S. 182; H.R. 11) was sponsored before the Senate in January 2009 by then-Senator Hillary Clinton and Representative Rosa DeLauro. Representative DeLauro will appear as a witness before the HELP Committee during the first panel of Thursday’s hearing.

The Paycheck Fairness Act, which passed the House in July 2008, would expand damages under the Equal Pay Act (EPA), allowing prevailing employees to recover compensatory and punitive damages for gender-based pay discrimination. The Act would also amend the Equal Pay Act to prohibit employers from retaliating against employees who share salary information with their coworkers.

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by David Wagner, Mitzi Martin, and Susan Kline

Late Thursday, the Indiana Legislature passed, with overwhelming support, a bill prohibiting employers from keeping employees’ legally-possessed firearms off their property, so long as the firearms are kept out of sight in a locked vehicle.

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