The U.S. Department of Labor has released revised model Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) forms to administer federal FMLA leave and a notice poster. The updated forms should be used by employers immediately, although they include no substantive revisions despite recent rulemaking on the FMLA military caregiver leave provisions (see our article DOL Publishes Final Regulations Addressing Military Family Leave Provisions). The new forms expire on February 28, 2015. Following are links to the revised model forms: WH-380-E Certification of Health Care Provider for Employee’s Serious Health Condition WH-380-F Certification of Health Care Provider for Family Member’s Serious Health…

An annual survey by the Center for Professional Excellence notes that the perceived professionalism of entry-level workers by their managers has slipped during the past five years with about 45% of those polled saying their employees’ work ethic has worsened. Respondents cited a “too-casual” view of work, workers not being self-starters, and a “lack of ownership in one’s work”. The survey reflects an emerging trend that poses a tough challenge to HR professionals: how to encourage “milennials” to adapt and succeed within a company’s business culture. The federal government in the past few weeks has kept up the fast pace…

WHAT IS MY STATE DOING WITH EXCHANGES, MEDICAID UNDER PPACA?   States have two major decisions to make with respect to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) — whether they will run the health exchange themselves, and whether they will expand Medicaid to cover most individuals whose income is below 133 percent of the federal poverty level. Exchange Election Beginning in 2014, all states will have a health exchange.  If a state chooses not to run an exchange, the federal government will run the exchange for the state. An exchange run by the federal government for a state…

The Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services published its long-awaited final privacy and security regulations (“Final Rule”) under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”) on January 25, 2013. The Final Rule becomes effective March 26, 2013, and, in general, covered entities and business associates are required to comply by September 23, 2013. The Final Rule addresses four key areas: (i) changes made by the Health Information for Economic and Clinical Health Act (“HITECH Act”); (ii) the HIPAA enforcement rule; (iii) updates to the data breach notification regulations; and (iv) changes made by…

In the new issue of Employee Benefit Advisor, Aida Visakay was a contributor to the article, The New Age of EAPs. To read the full article, here is a direct link. Feel free to read the article and browse through the rest of the magazine by following the link.

Aida G. Visakay has been named one of New Jersey’s 2013 Best 50 Women in Business. The award program, produced by NJBIZ, New Jersey’s premiere business news publication, is sponsored by Wells Fargo, WithumSmith+Brown, PC, Comcast Business Class, and Wolff & Samson PC. The Best 50 Women in Business awards program honors New Jersey’s most dynamic women in business that have been making headlines in their field. To qualify, a nominee had to meet selection criteria that included living or working in New Jersey and holding significant authority for decision making in her company. An independent panel of judges selected…

The IRS kicked off 2013 with a little relief for some employers under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). The proposed guidance eases some of the penalties for larger employers who fail to provide adequate health care coverage for all their full-time employees. The PPACA “pay or play” penalty will not apply as long as the employer covers at least 95% of their full-time employees and their dependents up to age 26. The proposed guidance clears up questions that have lingered since the inception of the law in 2010. While the “pay or play” penalty doesn’t go into…

The Internal Revenue Service has released proposed regulations on the health care reform employer “shared responsibility” penalty provision. This is the penalty on “large” employers (those with at least 50 full-time or full-time equivalent employees) that do not provide affordable minimum essential coverage for full-time employees and their dependents and have at least one full-time employee who receives subsidized Exchange coverage (new Internal Revenue Code section 4980H, enacted as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010). The IRS also posted on its website a…

Employers that have had their group health plans audited by the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA, the arm of the U.S. Department of Labor that enforces Title I of ERISA) are aware of the broad nature of the document requests and compliance reviews carried out under these audits. The EBSA has updated its audit protocols to include a review of plans’ compliance with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA), and wellness programs, in addition to the laundry list of other federal benefits laws pertaining to group health plans. An uptick in PPACA enforcement appears…

New proposed federal regulations on wellness programs may deliver a healthy shot in the arm for employer-sponsored initiatives. Just before Thanksgiving, the federal government released a flurry of guidance regarding the PPACA. One set of proposed rules defines the value of wellness program incentives. The proposed rules would increase the maximum reward or penalty for wellness incentives from 20% of the total cost of the coverage to 30% beginning in 2014. They also would increase the ceiling on rewards for tobacco cessation programs to 50 percent of the cost of coverage. These richer incentives likely would encourage more employees to…