DOL Enforcement

Department of Labor Secretary Solis is adding 500 new, full-time enforcement personnel. Secretary Solis has made is abundantly clear that enforcement will be a top priority for Department of Labor. Now is a very good time to ensure your employment practices and policies meet the requirements of a diverse laws and regulations. With additional feet on the street, the DOL is going to increase the cost of non-compliance. The best thing you can do is find out where you stand and begin fixing things before the DOL provides you with unwanted, expensive assistance.

Severance and Waivers of Discrimination Claims

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has published guidelines covering terminated employees' rights and obligations when an employer offers severance pay in exchange for a waiver of discrimination claims. EEOC issued the guidelines following a spike in age discrimination complaints, and the increased use of severance agreements.

The guidelines cover basic information about severance agreements and special requirements for waivers of age discrimination claims. The complete document may be found at:

http://www.eeoc.gov/policy/docs/qanda_severance-agreements.html

Premiums Rise, But You Can Make a Difference

Healthcare premiums are projected to rise nearly 12 percent in 2010. Employers have been increasingly successful in reducing these costs by a few percentage points over the past few years through plan design changes, cost shifting, and negotiating aggressively, but the trend continues.

Most employers are considering a number of strategies to help ease the impact of large premium increases. These strategies include:

·         Companies continue to consolidate vendors under self-insured plans. Consolidating plans enables employers to take more control of their claims data so that they can better analyze the results, and put preventive strategies in place to affect employees health risks, conditions, and utilization patterns.

·         Employers are negotiating more aggressively than ever before with health plans as they look for ways to find cost savings.

·         Many companies are shifting a greater portion of health care costs to employees. This year, an increasing number of employers are shifting to a coinsurance model.  For example, they can change a $20 office copay to a $200 plan deductible followed by 90 percent coinsurance for all services.

Improving the overall health and wellness of employees continues to grow as a focus for companies, even when cost containment is a top priority. The payback for making an investment in the health and productivity of employees is significant.

Reducing Hours or Requiring Furloughs

The Department of Labor has issued a list of questions to guide employers when asking workers to take unpaid time off. The questions addressed include the differences between exempt and non-exempt employees in assigning furloughs, how to pay on-call workers, reducing hourly pay, and other issues. The guidelines may be obtained at http://www.dol.gov/esa/WHD/flsa/FurloughFAQ.pdf.

Healthy Families Update

The Healthy Families Act was introduced in the Senate in May. A companion bill was introduced in the House. Both bills are still in committee at this time. The new Act would require employers to provide seven days of paid sick leave a year to employees (this includes both full- and part-time employees).  Sick time would start accruing from the first day of employment, and employees could start taking sick time after 60 days of employment.  There are many questions unanswered at this point, but the bill’s chances for passage appear to be fairly high.

This new law will be incredibly expensive for many businesses.  This is a very good time to review your overall benefits strategies and policies and prepare yourself for any changes you might wish to make.