Human resources and benefit managers will have excellent opportunities to demonstrate their expertise in 2018. The complexity of issues they address on a daily basis continues to grow and evolve. Federal, state, county and city laws that govern emp…
For the past several years, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has been providing the industry with vague hints about liability Medicare set-aside arrangements (LMSAs). The absence of clarity left the liability community unable to…
It’s a topic that gets much buzz – how will the cloud of legislation surrounding recreational and medical marijuana use impact businesses, specifically when it comes to compensability for workers’ compensation? I am sure you have all caught up on n…
A recent ruling by the California Court of Appeal (Castro-Ramirez v. Dependable Highway Express, Inc. (2016) 2 Cal. App. 5th 1028) increases the sphere of influence of the state’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) to include reasonable accommo…
For the past several years, we have been successful in obtaining zero dollar MSAs approved by the MSA review contractor. The case, however, had to meet very strict criteria: The case was denied; There had to be no payments for indemnity; There…
This blog article has been republished as originally run in Human Resource Executive magazine’s November 2015 issue As we talk with employers around the country, we hear many similar concerns. “Managing leave as an accommodation has become challengi…
It’s that time when human resources professionals and legal counsel review employment policies for the upcoming year, and this year there are new challenges impacting family and medical leave. The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the Obergefell v. …
The United States Supreme Court has ruled in a 5-4 decision that same-sex couples have the right to marry anywhere in the United States. This decision just made life easier for employers and TPAs who are responsible for administering leaves. We can…
Recently there has been a lot of discussion – in the media and throughout the industry – about the California independent medical review (IMR) process. Introduced to the workers’ compensation system in California as part of Senate Bill 863, IMR serve…
Data security, or cyber security, is and has been on everyone’s minds now for some time. The hits just keep coming even as organizations step up their efforts to keep data protected. In the area of healthcare, it is especially true that you would w…
On February 25, 2015, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued new rules revising the regulatory definition of “spouse” under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA), which entitles eligible employees of covered employers to take unpa…
New OSHA reporting requirements in effect Jan. 1, 2015 The U.S. Department of Labor announced revisions to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s recordkeeping rule, including an expansion of the list of severe work-related injuries tha…
This blog article has been republished as originally run in Human Resource Executive magazine's November 2014 issue As an employer, you've most likely heard about the multimillion-dollar lawsuits and settlements related to the Americans with Disabil…
If you have been trying to keep up with the latest Medicare compliance changes, you might feel like you are watching the carnival vendor who used to say, “around and around it goes and where it stops nobody knows.” Fortunately, with these answers y…
Sedgwick recently hosted a webinar discussing Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA) compliance, in partnership with Human Resource Executive. There was a high level of interest and employers asked many thought-provoking…