The Supreme Court has issued an important judgement that gives employers some helpful guiding principles to consider when drafting contracts in order to avoid creating unenforceable penalty clauses.
On September 29, 2015, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General (OIG), Office of Evaluation and Inspections, released two studies calling on the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to strengthen its efforts in both general enforcement of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Standards and enforcement of security breach reporting requirements. OIG commissioned both studies out of concern for the increased risk of an invasion of privacy and exposure to fraud, identity theft and other harm that patients face in an ever-expanding digital health environment.
A new obligation has been introduced requiring large commercial organisations operating in the United Kingdom to publish a “slavery and human trafficking statement” at the end of each financial year.
The requirement extends to all commercial organisations in any part of a group structure (wherever incorporated, and whether a company or a partnership) that carry on a business, or part of a business, supplying goods or services in any sector in the United Kingdom and have annual turnover of at least £36 million. This includes the turnover of any subsidiary undertakings, regardless of where those subsidiaries are based or operate.
Read the full UK Employment Alert.
On October, 30, 2015, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued a proposed rule that would amend regulations implementing Title II of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA), as they relate to employer wellness programs. Title II of GINA protects employees from employment discrimination based on their genetic information, including the health status of workers’ families.
On October 23, 2015, the U.S. Departments of Labor (DOL), Health and Human Services (HHS) and Treasury issued frequently asked questions (FAQs) on the implementation of preventive care and wellness provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and mental health parity disclosure, adding to the existing list of 28 previous editions of FAQs on the implementation of ACA.
The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) fee was established under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to advance comparative clinical effectiveness research. The PCORI fee is assessed on issuers of health insurance policies and sponsors of self-insured health plans. The fees are calculated using the average number of lives covered under the policy or plan, and the applicable dollar amount for that policy or plan year.
On September 17, 2015, McDermott hosted a webcast featuring, among others, four speakers from our own Employee Benefits, Compensation and Labor & Employment practice discussing the ramifications of the NLRB’s decision and the steps businesses should be taking to decrease risk associated with joint-employer relationships.
Click here to view the archived webinar (materials available here until December 17, 2015).
Last week, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) gave an important data privacy ruling, which any business transferring personal data between the EU and US should know about – particularly those that have made use of the “Safe Harbor” scheme for data transfer, which the CJEU has now ruled to be invalid.
Read the full UK Employment Alert.
On-site clinics can be a valuable addition to an employer’s overall health care strategy with respect to promoting prevention, improving quality outcomes and reducing the employer’s overall trend in health care spending. However, given the myriad laws that apply to such clinics, an employer is well-advised to develop a comprehensive legal compliance strategy in designing and implementing the structure and operation of its onsite clinic.
Recognized for outstanding contributions in the category of Labor and Employment, McDermott’s Employee Benefits Blog has been selected from more than 2,000 nominees to be one of only 250 blogs chosen to compete in The Expert Institute’s Best Legal Blog Contest. The blog’s editors, Diane Morgenthaler and Maureen O’Brien, welcome your support in voting. The voting polls close today and the process is very simple.
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