Starting July 1, 2022, the District of Columbia will increase the amounts of leave employees are due under the district’s Universal Paid Leave Act (UPLA), while decreasing the employer payroll tax that funds the leave. The district’s Acting Chief Financial Officer, Fitzroy Lee, announced the changes in a required March 1, 2022, certification letter projecting […]
The District of Columbia announced a $16.10 per hour minimum wage rate for nonexempt employees. The district’s minimum wage rate is adjusted each summer to reflect changes in the cost of living. The new rate becomes effective on July 1, 2022.
On March 7, 2022, OSHA announced an enforcement memorandum for a short-term increase in highly focused inspections directed at hospitals and skilled nursing care facilities that treat COVID-19 patients. The goal of this enforcement initiative is to expand OSHA’s presence to ensure continued mitigation to control the spread of COVID-19 and future variants of the coronavirus.
Massachusetts has announced that the state’s COVID-19 emergency paid sick leave program will expire on March 15, 2022. Employers must offer emergency paid sick leave through that date. The state will continue to honor employer requests for reimbursement through April 29, 2022; all reimbursement requests must be submitted by then. Official state guidance about the […]
On March 4, 2022, the state of Washington adopted senate bill (SB) 5564. SB 5564 seeks to encourage employee participation in employee assistance programs (EAPs) by strengthening privacy and anti-retaliation protections for program participants. The new law becomes effective on June 9, 2022.
Recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced updates to its mask-wearing recommendations, loosening guidance for a majority of the U.S. population. The agency now only recommends that individuals in high-risk areas wear a mask in indoor settings. Currently, around 70% of the U.S. population is in a low- or medium-risk county. As such, […]
The Departments of Labor (“DOL”), Health and Human Services (“HHS”), and the Treasury (collectively, “the Departments”) released additional guidance to assist group health plans in implementing the over-the-counter (“OTC”) COVID-19 testing coverage requirements previously discussed in FAQs Part 51. FAQs Part 52 were published on February 4, 2022, in response to stakeholder questions. Briefly, the […]
The California Department of Industrial Relations has published answers to frequently asked questions and a poster employers must use in connection with the state’s new COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave law. The law took effect Feb. 19, 2022, but it is retroactive to Jan. 1, 2022.
The IRS has made permanent an automatic 30-day extension to March 2, 2022 for furnishing Affordable Care Act Forms 1095-C (or 1095-B) to full-time employees and other individuals to demonstrate proof of health insurance coverage for each month in the 2021 calendar year. The IRS has made permanent an automatic 30-day extension to March 2, […]
Employers sponsoring a group health plan (whether insured or self-insured) need to report information on the creditable (or non-creditable) status of the plan’s prescription drug coverage to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Employers with a calendar year plan must complete this reporting no later than Tuesday, March 1, 2022. Employers sponsoring a group […]