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New guidance from the IRS proposes new approaches to the application of the look-back measurement method, which employers use to determine if an employee is full-time or part-time for purposes of the employer mandate. Notice 2014-49 covers situations such as when an employee transfers from a position (such as hourly) using one measurement period to […]
In spite of its one-year suspension of the employer mandate under health care reform, the government added implementation and compliance materials for employers to government websites. Meanwhile Republican legislators attacked not only reform’s revenue and penalty collection functions, but also its definition of full-time employees as 30 hours per week, saying it must become 40 hours a […]
As the U.S. Supreme Court decides the fate of health reform, America is getting the chance to try the law on for size while waiting for the people in the robes to say how much of it will remain in effect. Some employers are probably soft-pedaling implementation – they don’t like the law much anyway, […]
Just two weeks ago, a temblor measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale rattled San Jose and was felt throughout the reaches of the Bay Area. Fortunately, it didn’t cause any major damage. But the quake was another wake-up call for California residents and businesses about the possibility of a much bigger, destructive quake occurring in […]
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has published final regulations that will extend employment authorization eligibility to spouses of certain nonimmigrant workers who are in the United States on H-1B visas. The H-1B, or highly-skilled worker, visa is the most commonly discussed and highly sought employment-based nonimmigrant visa. The number of visas available each year […]
Companies often struggle with how to measure employee engagement. Employee surveys and online reviews are frequently recommended.
For the last decade, big companies and the people who run them have been some of the most despised and least trusted in America. In the 80s and 90s, “greed was good” as everyone benefited from a skyrocketing stock market. No one much cared what was going on in those big companies as long as the […]
Health reform has been strongly urging plans to cover the essential health benefits (EHB) package, and that means there will have to be coverage in 10 categories of health benefits. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) gave examples of what to expect under the state-based approach to defining EHB by giving examples and […]
Is every employee who makes a formal complaint considered a “whistleblower”? The federal District Court says no. Mark Shulthies, a long time Amtrak employee working in California, sent an email to his supervisor complaining that the company’s decision to reorganize certain aspects of its service between the Bay Area and Bakersfield posed a “danger to […]