Compliance

While Uber is fighting hard on all fronts to prove its drivers are correctly characterized as independent contractors, there are examples of other successful app-driven on-demand start-ups that have either converted contractors to employee status or characterized all workers as employees from the get-go.

Consider the following, relatively uncommon scenario: An employee stole your trade secrets and went to work for a competitor. You know the employee did it, you just can't prove it. What do you do?

Fitness device maker Fitbit now will enter into HIPAA business associate agreements with corporations, health plans and self-insured employers that want to offer its wellness platform to employees.

Commentary: Many plan sponsors believe that just by hiring an adviser they do not have a fiduciary obligation to understand the investments in their plans. This is fundamentally wrong.

Retirement plan sponsors need more clarity with QDIA regulations, says the Government Accountability Office.

When it comes to FMLA leave, not all comments are treated equally. Some comments may discourage an employee from using FMLA leave, thereby interfering with the employee’s FMLA rights and creating employer liability.

The DOL’s proposed fiduciary rule presents complex challenges to advisers, clients and will exacerbate the savings crisis in America, NAIFA warned Congress Thursday — two weeks before the comment period on the controversial rule closes.

The IRS says employers can now do a trial run of their electronic form filing for reporting requirements under the ACA, giving nervous employers and their benefit advisers a way to test for readiness in advance of the reporting deadlines.

Transgender individuals would gain new health care protections in rules proposed Thursday by U.S. regulators.

Notable gap exists between what employers are demanding and what brokers are supplying

Uber will have to defend a group lawsuit brought by drivers seeking the pay and benefits of employees.

Commentary: Just because vendors are promising you will avoid penalties because you were able to provide a “good faith” effort, doesn’t mean you actually will be penalty-free.

More companies may be held responsible for labor-law violations committed by contractors and forced to negotiate wages and benefits with their workers under a decision by a politically split U.S. labor board.

The number of employers who could be subject to the ACA’s Cadillac tax is predicted to rise if employers remain stagnant on health care plan changes, underscoring a need to make plan adjustments sooner rather than later.

The Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges primarily affects the administration of benefits and almost exclusively applies to employers in those states that previously did not recognize same-sex marriage.

Commentary: Good faith effort, transition relief, 30-day extension and other safety nets for 6055 and 6066 tax filing.

Despite the wide range of cannabis program laws, consistent themes have begun to emerge.

Warnings of billions in crippling costs and TV attack ads are the latest salvos from opponents of the Labor Department's fiduciary rule after hearings closed last week. The industry's newest claim is that independent firms could get hit with a bill tallying up to $3.9 billion in startup costs alone should the rule go into effect.

Non-union employers are often under the misimpression that they are not affected by the National Labor Relations Act.

Commentary: Many employers feel that the Americans with Disabilities Act is burdensome, but that burden is the reality, and employers have to accept their responsibility to meet it. Here are five tips to help employers with ADA compliance.