Health Law Advisor

As 2017 comes to a close, recent headlines have underscored the importance of compliance and training. In this Take 5, we review major workforce management issues in 2017, and their impact, and offer critical actions that employers should consider to minimize exposure:

1. Addressing Workplace Sexual Harassment in the Wake of #MeToo
2. A Busy 2017 Sets the Stage for Further Wage-Hour Developments
3. Your “Top Ten” Cybersecurity Vulnerabilities
4. 2017: The Year of the Comprehensive Paid Leave Laws
5. Efforts Continue to Strengthen Equal Pay Laws in 2017

In the new issue of Take 5, our colleagues examine five employment, labor, and workforce management issues that will continue to be reviewed and remain top of mind for employers under the Trump administration:

• Change in Labor Landscape Is Not Likely to Come Quickly

• For Wage and Hour Changes, Look Locally

• Employer Group Health Plans Post-ACA: What’s Next for Employers and Workers?

• Examination of Retirement Plans Under a Trump Administration Microscope

• Cyber Threats Are Front and Center for Employers as the Trump Administration Takes Office

With flu season quickly approaching, health care employers may be considering mandatory influenza vaccinations for their workforce. Mandatory vaccination policies may dramatically increase patient safety, but they may also cause friction within the workforce when employees object on religious grounds to being vaccinated.

While no federal and few state statutes address the legality of enforcing mandatory vaccination policies, the EEOC and private litigants recently have moved this issue forward in the courts. Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title ...

The increased use of portable electronic devices in the workplace and the popularity of social media pose unique challenges for health care employers, particularly when the requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”) conflict with the NLRB’s position on policies that could infringe upon an employee’s right to engage in concerted activity under the NLRA.

HIPAA governs the use and disclosure of protected health information (“PHI”) by health care providers. HIPAA violations may occur when health care employees post ...

In recent years, unions representing employees in health care facilities have engaged in activities during contract negotiations to pressure employers into settling, while limiting the cost of engaging in strike activity in the form of lost wages to union employees. The two most common forms of such activity used by unions are informational picketing, and short, sometimes intermittent, strikes, usually lasting only a day or two.

Informational Picketing

Informational picketing is yet another issue on which the NLRB has recently overturned precedent, in this case favoring union ...

The new episode of Employment Law This Week offers a year-end roundup of the biggest employment, workforce, and management issues in 2016:

• Impact of the Defend Trade Secrets Act
• States Called to Ban Non-Compete Agreements
• Paid Sick Leave Laws Expand
• Transgender Employment Law
• Uncertainty Over the DOL’s Overtime Rule and Salary Thresholds
• NLRB Addresses Joint Employment
• NLRB Rules on Union Organizing

Watch the episode below and read EBG’s Take 5 newsletter, "Top Five Employment, Labor & Workforce Management Issues of 2016."

While Section 1557 imposes significant nondiscrimination requirements on “Covered Entities” (as discussed in the article above), most employers are not “Covered Entities” as defined under the final rule (“non-covered employers”). The impact of Section 1557 on non-covered employers depends on whether their respective group health plans are insured or self-insured and the level of involvement in the plans by insurance issuers that are “Covered Entities” under the final rule.

Non-Covered Employers with Fully Insured Group Health Plans

Nearly all health ...

In May 2016, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) published a final rule implementing Section 1557 of the ACA. Section 1557 prohibits discrimination in the health programs and activities of “Covered Entities” on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability. Section 1557 also imposes detailed and specific notice and disclosure requirements on Covered Entities, including, among other things, the requirement to provide information about the use of auxiliary aids and services, the adoption of grievance procedures, and access for ...

Our colleagues Adam C. Solander, August Emil Huelle, Stuart M. Gerson, René Y. Quashie, Amy F. Lerman, Frank C. Morris, Jr., Kevin J. Ryan, and Griffin W. Mulcahey contributed to Epstein Becker Green’s recent issue of Take 5 newsletter.   In this special edition, we address important health care issues confronting health care employers:

1. Potential ACA Changes Impacting Health Care Employers Under the New Congress
2. Pending Supreme Court Cases Involving the Affordable Care Act
3. Telemedicine and Employers: The New Frontier
4. Wellness Programs Under EEOC Attack—What to Do Now

My colleague Lee T. Polk authored Epstein Becker Green’s recent issue of its Take 5 newsletter.   This Take 5 features five considerations suggesting the advantages of employee benefit plans as programs that are beneficial to both employers and employees.

1. Tax Aspects of Qualified Retirement Plans Can Save Money For Both Employers and Employees
2. The Benefits of a Contractual Claims Limitation Period
3. The Benefits of a Contractual Venue Selection Clause
4. The Standard of Judicial Review in the Context of Top Hat Plan Benefit Disputes
5. Fiduciary Exception to the Attorney-Client ...