HR Compliance / Legislation Updates

HHS Issues Proposed Rules under ACA Section 1557 to Clarify Scope of Discrimination Protections

Read Time: 7 Minutes

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has announced a proposed rule (Proposed Rule) implementing Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, and disability in certain health programs and activities. The Proposed Rule is the latest turn in a series of events that has expanded and contracted – and led to great confusion regarding – the application and enforcement scope of Section 1557. According to HHS, the Proposed Rule intends to restore protections for patients and consumers in certain federally funded health programs and HHS programs.

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WEBINAR:

ERISA Plan Documents – What Employers Need to Know

Tuesday, August 9, 2022

2:00PM EST

The ERISA plan document requirements can be confusing for many employers. In this webinar, we will dig into the ERISA written plan document requirements and discuss the documents employers need to adopt and maintain to satisfy these seemingly complex regulations. We will also discuss how to distribute plan information to participants and beneficiaries in a clear, concise format and provide some best practices for compliance.

This webinar will help you answer the following questions:

Which employers must have ERISA plan documents?
What information needs to be included?
What are best practices for preparing and distributing plan documents?
Why should you have an ERISA wrap document and what are the pros and cons of having one?
Who needs to have a cafeteria plan document?
What information needs to be included in a cafeteria plan document?

The Play-or-Pay Penalty and Counting Employees under the ACA

Since 2015, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has required applicable large employers (ALEs) to offer their full-time employees health coverage or pay one of two shared responsibility penalties (ESRP or "play-or-pay"). An employer is an ALE if it employs 50 or more full-time or full-time equivalent employees. Final IRS regulations provide guidance to help employers determine if they are ALEs and what they must do to avoid penalties.

Download this comprehensive guide to explore:

Which workers must be counted
What hours must be counted
If the employer large enough for penalties to be an issue
Applying the requirement to offer coverage
Applying the requirement to offer affordable, minimum value coverage
Which full-time employees must be offered coverage

Employer Abortion Policy Considerations
Source: HR Service Inc.
Read Time: 5 Minutes

On June 24, 2022, in Dobbs v. Jackson, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the U.S. Constitution does not protect the right to obtain an abortion but also acknowledged the states are free to restrict or prohibit abortions. Employers who sponsor group health plans need to be ready to answer questions about state laws and what their insurance plan may cover if allowed within their state.

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Compliance Question of the Week

Q: Can we ask references about an applicant’s previous use of sick time? We’d like to get a sense of their reliability.

A: No, you shouldn’t make any inquiries into an applicant’s history of calling in sick. Asking about absences because of illness or injury before extending an offer of employment runs afoul of the Americans with Disabilities Act because it’s likely to elicit information about an applicant’s disability.

Sick leave laws may also come into play. If you’re in a state that requires you to provide sick leave, making adverse employment decisions based on use of protected sick leave use (including deciding not to hire someone) could expose you to liability.