Compliance

A U.S. judge on Friday temporarily blocked a controversial new law in Wisconsin that strips public employee unions of key collective bargaining rights.

In Staub v. Proctor Hospital, the U.S. Supreme Court held that an employer may be liable for the discriminatory motives of a supervisor who influences but does not make the final decision on an adverse employment action.

New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits fell as expected last week, with the four-week moving average dropping to its lowest level in more than 2-1/2 years, pointing to a strengthening labor market.

Benefit professionals have tirelessly lobbied for an end to the so-called use-it-or-lose it rule governing pretax employee contributions to a flexible spending account, which is now the centerpiece of a bipartisan proposal in Congress.

Republican governors across the United States are betting that now is the time to cut corporate taxes, despite the tattered condition of state budgets.

The Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights will host four regional meetings to train staff from state and territorial attorneys general offices on enforcement of the HIPAA privacy and security rules.

It appears that employers can be optimistic that federal agencies are reviewing and considering their public comments on regulatory guidance under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Republicans in the Wisconsin state Senate approved sweeping curbs on collective bargaining by public employees on Wednesday in an abrupt and accelerated vote that caught many Democrats by surprise.

Fiduciary concerns ranked high on the list of hot topics at this week’s American Society of Pension Professionals and Actuaries annual summit in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Not complying with current law can be expensive in today's legal climate. Employers should review their employee handbooks and employment-related policies to make sure they are up to date.

The Obama administration will press ahead with its fight against one federal employee's bid to obtain health insurance for her same-sex spouse, according to a government court filing on Monday.

In November 2010, the Departments of Health and Human Services, Treasury, and Labor provided some relief to employers sponsoring fully insured group health plans by amending the interim final rules on grandfathered plan status under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

You are busy preparing your company's benefits open enrollment memo when the phone rings. It's Elizabeth from Operations, thanking you profusely because she just read in the newspaper that she can cover her 25-year-old son on the company's medical insurance plan.

Senators Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., have introduced a bill that would require the Internal Revenue Service to collect unpaid federal income taxes from civilian federal employees.

Most Americans oppose laws that would take away the collective bargaining power of public employee unions, as has been proposed in Wisconsin, Ohio and other states, according to a USA Today/Gallup Poll released on Wednesday.

The Wisconsin state Assembly late on Tuesday rejected an attempt to send back to the drawing board a Republican proposal to curb public sector union rights that has sparked large protests and a tense stand-off with Democrats.

Many of the millions of people with disabilities may be paying more in taxes than necessary, according to a disability insurance service provider.

The U.S. Department of Labor recently issued three advisory opinions considering fiduciary or prohibited transaction issues arising in the management of ERISA plans.

On Feb. 8, the National Labor Relations Board announced that it had settled a complaint against American Medical Response of Connecticut for discharging an employee who made negative comments on her Facebook page about a supervisor.

The Obama administration is expected to propose a way for states to raise more money in payroll taxes to pay for the cost of unemployment insurance.