[Guidance Overview]

Massachusetts Employers Must Provide COVID-19 Related Paid Leave

"The executive office for administration and finance will reimburse employers from the COVID-19 Emergency Paid Sick Leave Fund, for the cost of providing COVID-19 emergency paid sick leave to employees. However, any qualified leave wages paid by an employer that are eligible for the tax credit for paid leave under the [FFCRA] are not be eligible for reimbursement from the COVID-19 Emergency Paid Sick Leave Fund."  MORE >>

Wolters Kluwer; free registration required

Action Items for Annual Open Enrollment

"Follow through on disclosure requirements.... Remind employees of the 'regular' Flexible Spending Account rules.... Provide applicable notices.... Don't forget your HIPAA Notice reminder.... Consider any changes to annual enrollment material for your non-active employee population."  MORE >>

Gallagher

Employers See Employee Mental Health as Major Concern

"70 percent of U.S. employers now recognize that employee mental health is a significant workplace issue, up from 59 percent in June 2020. In addition, 31 percent said the strain on employee mental health is having a severe or significant financial impact on their company -- an 11-point increase from March 2020. However, 72 percent of employers said the stigma associated with mental illness prevents workers from seeking help[.]"  MORE >>

Watko Benefit Group

Employers Fear Costs as States Adopt Public Option Health Plans

"Employers increasingly have been open to government involvement in the health-care system out of frustration for high costs that they have been largely unable to rein in. But they fear plans being put in place by states could result in higher taxes on them or hurt their own plans by peeling off young, healthier workers."  MORE >>

Bloomberg Law

Hospital Groups Raise Red Flags About Spending Offsets in Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill

"The bill would be paid for in part by adding to the time frame for the 2% reduction in Medicare payments. That decrease, known as sequestration, has been deferred during the COVID-19 public health emergency but is scheduled to be reinstated in 2022. Under the new bill, it would be extended through 2031 instead of 2030."  MORE >>

Healthcare Financial Management Association [HFMA]

As Congressional Democrats Weigh Reconciliation Package, Voters Mostly Back Potential Health Measures

"Eighty-four percent of voters are in favor of adding dental, vision and hearing coverage to Medicare ... 54 percent of voters ... back an effort to make premium subsidies for health insurance bought through the [ACA] marketplaces permanent."  MORE >>

Morning Consult

Colorado Supreme Court Strikes Down Employer's Vacation Forfeiture Policies

"This decision has ramifications for many employers with Colorado employees and resolves a conflict between the Colorado Court of Appeals, which had concluded that such vacation forfeiture provisions were permissible, and the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE), whose informal guidelines explicitly prohibit forfeiture agreements that diminish an employee's earned vacation time." [Nieto v. Clark's Market, No. 19SC553 (Col. Jun. 14, 2021)]  MORE >>

Jackson Lewis P.C.

The Ninth Circuit's Jarvis Opinion: A Correct Application of Retrenched ERISA Preemption

"Jarvis is well-reasoned and will be followed by other courts if there are ERISA-preemption challenges to any of the many state-sponsored private sector retirement savings programs modeled on CalSavers.... Jarvis reflects the retrenchment of ERISA preemption and the realignment of the U.S. Supreme Court's ERISA preemption case law to implement that retrenchment." [Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Ass'n v. California Secure Choice Ret. Savings Program, No. 20-15591 (9th Cir. May 6, 2021)]  MORE >>

Prof. Edward A. Zelinsky, via SSRN

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Cohen & Buckmann Celebrates Fifth Anniversary

Cohen & Buckmann P.C.

Vitality Survey of Almost 90,000 U.S. Employees Offers Insights and Strategies to Drive COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance

Vitality

St. Louis Metal Finishing Company Pays $45k in Back Wages, Benefits to Employee Terminated Illegally While on Protected Leave

U.S. Department of Labor [DOL]

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What All Employers Must Know About Colorado's Supreme Court Ruling: Employers Can't Maintain 'Use-It-or-Lose-It' Vacation Pay Policies

July 13, 2021 WEBCAST

Fisher Phillips

2022 Onsite Employee Health Clinics Summit

January 20, 2022 in AZ

World Conference Forum

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Primer on Severance Plans Under ERISA and the Tax Code

Verrill Dana LLP

DOL Information Letter Regarding Production of Recording of Call Between Plan Representative and Claimant

Groom Law Group

Answers to Common 2021 COBRA Subsidy Questions

Corporate Synergies