WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. employers who tell workers to stay home when they are sick will have to give them paid time off for up to five days under new federal legislation proposed on Tuesday.

The emergency law would cover pandemic H1N1 flu or any other infectious disease, said California Representative George Miller, a Democrat who chairs the House Education and Labor Committee and who introduced the bill.

"Sick workers advised to stay home by their employers shouldn't have to choose between their livelihood, and their co-workers' or customers' health," Miller said.

"This will not only protect employees, but it will save employers money by ensuring that sick employees don't spread infection to co-workers and customers, and will relieve the financial burden on our health system swamped by those suffering from H1N1."

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises employers to encourage sick workers to stay home so they do not spread H1N1. "But workers have been reporting that many of them are either afraid or cannot afford to take time off," Miller told reporters in a telephone briefing.

Paid sick leave is not required by U.S. laws.

Miller said the committee would hold a hearing the week of November 16 and he would press to have a full vote as soon as possible.

Miller said at least 50 million American workers are not paid for time taken off sick, "many in lower-wage jobs that have direct contact with the public such as the food-service and hospitality industry, schools and health care fields."

MORE VACCINE READY

In a regular briefing, CDC director Dr. Thomas Frieden said 31.8 million doses of flu vaccine have now become available -- still far short of the minimum of 80 million to 100 million that had been projected for the first week of November.

This number includes vaccine already administered. Frieden said CDC hoped 10 million new doses will have been made available by the end of the week.

He said the pandemic may be having an unexpected side-effect -- increasing demand for the seasonal influenza vaccine. "We think this year will be the highest ever uptake on seasonal flu vaccine," Frieden said.

"We anticipate there being around 114 million doses of seasonal flu vaccine available through the market by the end of the year. It may be there is even greater demand than that by the end of the season."

This includes healthcare workers, who are often reluctant to be vaccinated. In recent years, only around 38 to 40 percent of healthcare workers get flu vaccines, but that percentage may be higher this year, Frieden said.

As with the vaccine against H1N1 swine flu, distribution is slow and patchy for seasonal flu vaccine. "We continue to hear that people are unable to get the vaccine," Frieden said.

The United States buys both seasonal and H1N1 vaccine from five makers -- GlaxoSmithKline Plc, AstraZeneca Plc's MedImmune unit, Novartis, Sanofi-Aventis and CSL Limited.

Some members of Congress and media commentators complained that detainees at Guantanamo Bay -- the U.S. base in Cuba -- would receive H1N1 vaccines when Americans were still struggling to find them.

But White House spokesman Robert Gibbs denied this on Tuesday. "There is no vaccine in Guantanamo and there's no vaccine on the way to Guantanamo," he told reporters.

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor

Read Reuters Article Here

Labels: Employees, Employers, Health, law, Politics

The White House Office of Management and Budget estimates that the tax exemption that helped create the employer-based health care system during World War II will cost the federal government $174 billion in lost tax receipts in 2009, making it a policy target for health care reform.

Click here to continue reading story

Labels: law

San Francisco, CA March 18, 2008 - Earlier today, the WCIRB Governing Committee directed the WCIRB to submit a filing to the California Department of Insurance (CDI) recommending an approximate 24.4% increase in pure premium rates (or "claims cost benchmark") effective July 1, 2009. The Governing Committee made its decision based on a recommendation made by the WCIRB Actuarial Committee at its March 16, 2009 meeting.

The recommendation is based on two principal components. First, the WCIRB's evaluation of December 31, 2008 loss experience produces an indicated increase in the claims cost benchmark of 17.6%. This indicated increase is primarily the result of increased medical costs. Second, the WCIRB's analysis of anticipated cost increases stemming from three recent Workers' Compensation Appeals Board decisions (Ogilvie v. City and County of San Francisco, Almaraz v. Environmental Recovery Services and Guzman v. Milpitas Unified School District) indicates an additional increase of 5.8%. Throughout its discussion, there was a general consensus among Governing Committee members that 5.8% is a "minimum estimate" of the potential additional costs arising from these decisions inasmuch as no cost data is yet available. It is quite likely that the actual additional costs arising from these decisions could be significantly higher.

If the full 24.4% increase is approved by the Insurance Commissioner, the July 1, 2009 pure premium rates will still be, on average, 54% lower than the approved pure premium rates in effect July 1, 2003.

Labels: law, regulations

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (COBRA Subsidy) provides a government funded subsidy to eligible individuals for the purchase of most COBRA coverage. The subsidy is equal to 65% of the monthly COBRA premium charge and is available for up to 9 months. The subsidy must be available by employers to individuals involuntarily terminated on or after September 1, 2008 and before January 10, 2010. The subsidy is limited to individuals who have a modified adjusted gross income of less than $145,000 ($290,000 for joint filers).

Labels: Employers, law

Another way the stimulus law could endure is by launching broader health care reform. It contains $19 billion to establish a national health information technology system to support computerized medical records for every American by 2014.

Continue reading this story here.

Labels: Employers, Human Resource, law, Politics

On January 29, 2009, President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law with an effective date of May 28, 2007, which is the day before the Ledbetter decision.

What this means is that an employee may come back and sue you today for what they believe was a “discriminatory” pay decision – even if it happened years ago! Under the bill, as long as workers file charges within 300 or 180 days of a discriminatory paycheck, depending on the state where they live, their charges would be considered timely. Any federal cases currently pending that were filed after May 28, 2007 will be subject to this new law.

The Lilly Ledbetter bill restores the rights of workers to fight pay discrimination. This bill’s passing has opened up the window to file a lawsuit if an employee feels that they have not been fairly paid for the job they do.

Some experts say that this bill will create an increase in lawsuits, potentially subjecting businesses to expensive litigation. This may or not be the case, but it does require action on the part of the employer to review his own practices regarding compensation for all employees.

Our advice to an employer is, begin your audit now:

• Examine current compensation policies. If you maintain a policy of carrying out performance evaluations, follow your policy consistently
• Review job descriptions
• Properly train supervisors and managers who make decisions on compensation and/or promotions

The bottom line: Employers should take steps now to evaluate their exposure, train employees responsible for decisions that influence compensation, and make necessary modifications to their pay equity.

At ESG republic, we are committed to helping our current clients as well as future clients in finding the best solutions for their business.

Written By
Karen Burns
Human Resources Specialist

Labels: Human Resource, law, President

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it has delayed by 60 days, until April 3, 2009, the effective date for using the revised Form I-9, originally scheduled to go into effect today. Please note: Employers who use the new form prior to the April 3, 2009 effective date are subject to civil monetary penalties.

Labels: Human Resource, law

Anyone who deals with payroll has probably gotten a headache or two trying to understand out how bonuses figure into overtime calculations.

Under both state and federal law, non-discretionary bonuses must be included in an employee's "regular rate of pay" in order to calculate overtime pay. Unfortunately, differences between federal regulations and California law have long made determining the regular rate a confusing process. A recent California appeals court decision provides some guidance for employers—well, sort of.

In Marin v. Costco Wholesale Corp, employees brought a class action lawsuit alleging that Costco's method for including bonuses in overtime calculations violated California law. Costco rewarded its long-term employees with semi-annual bonuses, provided that the employee remained in Costco's employment at bonus time and had worked at least 1,000 hours in the six months preceding the bonus cutoff date. Because the bonuses were paid semi-annually, the overtime calculation pay-rate had to be done retroactively when the bonuses were paid, as required by state and federal law, rather than for each employee's weekly paycheck.

Continue reading story here.

Labels: California, law, Payroll

President Barack Obama will soon be able to fulfill a campaign promise by signing a pay discrimination bill into law that was passed by the House on Tuesday, January 27, in a 250-177 vote.

The measure, known as the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, would make it easier for workers to sue for pay inequities.

The House acted on a bill the Senate approved January 22. The House originally passed the measure as part of a larger pay discrimination package January 9. But the Senate acted only on the Ledbetter portion, which necessitated another House vote.

Obama and first lady Michelle Obama made the Ledbetter bill a centerpiece of campaign events designed to highlight women’s issues.

Under the legislation, each paycheck that has been diminished by discrimination is a separate violation of civil rights law. The statute of limitations for filing a suit would run 180 days from each paycheck. A worker could recover two years of back pay.

Opponents argue that the bill eviscerates the statute of limitations, potentially subjecting businesses to lawsuits over pay decisions that date back decades at a time when they are trying to cope with the recession.

Supporters say that the bill overturns a 2007 Supreme Court decision. Ledbetter, a former supervisor at a Goodyear Tire & Rubber plant in Alabama, sued the company for paying her less than her male counterparts for 20 years.

Continue reading this story here
Written by Workforce Management writer —Mark Schoeff Jr.

Labels: Employers, Human Resource, law, Politics, President, rules, Washington

Here are some important dates for Human Resources. Keep these in mind as they will soon pass.

• FMLA Final Regulations, effective 1/16/09
• Furnish W-2 to Employees and Former Employees, no later than 1/31/09
• Post OSHA 300-A, beginning 2/1/09
• Revised Form I-9: Employers must start using on 2/2/09
• Federal Contractors Must E-Verify, postponed to 2/20/09
• GINA: Title I of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA), which applies to group health plans, effective 5/21/09, except for calendar-year plans.

Brought to you by SHRM

Labels: Administrator, Employers, FMLA, Human Resource, law, regulations

In the week ending Jan. 17, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 589,000, an increase of 62,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 527,000. The 4-week moving average was 519,250, unchanged from the previous week's revised average of 519,250.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.4 percent for the week ending Jan. 10, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate of 3.4 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending Jan. 10 was 4,607,000, an increase of 97,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 4,510,000. The 4-week moving average was 4,559,750, an increase of 58,750 from the preceding week's revised average of 4,501,000.

Continue reading this article at U.S. Department of Labor

Labels: Employees, Employers, Human Resource, law

Effective January 16, 2009, there have been some modifications to the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). FMLA requires covered employers to provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job protected leave to “eligible” employees for certain family and medical reasons such as: 

1. To care for the employee’s child after birth, or placement for adoption or foster care; 
2. To care for the employee’s spouse, son, or daughter or parent who has a serious health condition; or 
3. For a serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform the employee’s job. 
4. Providing additional leave relating to military service and the caring for service members.

What does this mean to you?

EMPLOYERS MUST NOTIFY EMPLOYEES OF THEIR RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES UNDER FMLA.

Employer goals are to keep employees in compliance and keep them updated on the ever changing rules and regulations of employment law.

What should you do if an employee is out more than 3 days? 

1. Keep a log of the employee timesheet if he/she has been away from the office more than 3 days.
2. Log or save any documentation received from the employee.
 
3. Communicate any updates to the employee’s work status to your Human Resource Specialist contact.

Employers should notify the employee of his/her rights and make sure that they have proper documentation from a physician placing the employee on a leave.

Also, verify the employee’s work release from their physician. Lastly, keep track of the amount of time the employee has used towards his/her FMLA entitlement. 

Labels: documentation, Employees, Family, FMLA, law, regulations, rules