The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL)’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced a restructuring of its Whistleblower Protection Program. Under the restructuring, the DOL’s Office of the Assistant Secretary will now oversee the program.

The restructuring will significantly elevate priority status for whistleblower enforcement, according to the DOL’s announcement. Emphasizing employees’ rights, the head of OSHA, Assistant Secretary of Labor Dr. David Michaels, stated: “The ability of workers to speak out … without fear of retaliation provides the backbone for some of American workers’ most essential legal protections.”

OSHA enforces the whistleblower provisions of the Occupational Safety and Health Act. Unbeknownst to many, OSHA also enforces 20 other statutes protecting the rights of employees to report various regulatory violations relating to workplaces, commercial vehicles, airlines, the environment, consumer products, food and safety, and consumer financial reform.

OSHA also became responsible for investigating and enforcing laws protecting individuals who complain of corporate securities fraud with the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) in 2002.

Last year, OSHA first announced that it would restructure its whistleblower program as part of a “multifaceted plan” to strengthen enforcement efforts. As part of its plan, DOL requested a budgetary increase of more than $6 million for additional investigators for FY 2012. DOL also released a new edition of its Whistleblower Investigation Manual.

A California court recently rendered a positive decision for employers on an issue that has been unsettled for years. The issue centers on the “good faith personnel action defense.” Under this defense, an employee’s psychiatric injuries that are a result of an employer’s good faith personnel actions are not covered workers’ compensation injuries.

As we all know, there was a big push under federal health care reform for plan sponsors to amend health plans for the 2011 plan year. 

Though 2012 will not be a year of quite so many changes, there is still work to do to ensure you are in compliance with health care reform measures for the year under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).

You will need to add these "to dos" to your 2012 PPACA checklist:

A bill that creates a California-mandated leave benefit that differs from federal law will be considered by the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee on March 28, 2012.

AB 2039 would significantly expands the type of individuals or circumstances under which employees can take a 12-week, protected leave of absence under California’s Family Rights Act (CFRA) and creates an even further disconnect with the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).

Expands California Law
Currently, CFRA requires an employer with 50 or more employees to allow an employee who worked at least 1,250 hours to take up to 12 weeks of leave in a 12-month period for:

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced that the Fraud Tips and Leads Gateway is now available to support state agencies in “detecting, preventing, and recovering improper unemployment insurance payments as well as combating UI fraud.”

The online portal provides state-by-state resources for reporting fraud. It also identifies strategies that DOL uses to help states address improper UI payments.

“Too many people don’t know their responsibilities under the programs, and too many businesses don’t know what’s at stake for them especially the tax implications,” said Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis.

According to the DOL, improper UI benefit payments are most likely to occur when:

Final regulations on summary of benefits and coverage (SBC) are available. Insurers, employers and administrators — pay close attention to these rules because they will apply to open enrollment that begins on or after September 23, 2012.

On August 22, 2011, the departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and Treasury (the agencies) issued proposed regulations on the requirements for drafting and issuing SBCs and the uniform glossary that is required to be provided by plans as well.  

A summary of those proposed regulations are available here. 

On February 9, 2012, the agencies released final regulations on the requirements for drafting and issuing SBCs and the uniform glossary that is required to be provided by plans as well. The new rules take effect on April 16, 2012.   

The departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the Treasury (the departments) issued a joint set of frequently asked questions addressing various provisions of the federal health care reform act.

The FAQ (Notice 2012-17) addresses questions relating to the following provisions of the health care reform act (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act), including:

On March 6, the Labor Commissioner announced filing two lawsuits against three Los Angeles carwash businesses alleging multiple wage theft violations and seeking more than $2 million in unpaid wages, penalties and damages.

As HRWatchdog reported earlier this week, the state Labor Commissioner is making wage theft prevention a top priority. 

“We will use every tool available to ensure employees pay their workers what is owed for the labor that is provided. Employers cannot be allowed to reap the benefit from the labor of their workers without providing them with at least the basic pay required by law,” said Labor Commissioner Julie A. Su.

And the Labor Commissioner has more tools available than ever before:

As the March 15 corporate tax filing deadline approaches, the California Chamber of Commerce is reminding small businesses to take advantage of the small business health care tax credit. The tax credit is part of the federal 2010 Affordable Care Act.

The credit is worth up to 35 percent of a small business's premium costs (25 percent for tax-exempt employers). In 2014, this rate increases to 50 percent (35 percent for tax-exempt employers).

California small businesses can review the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) guidelines to determine eligibility for the tax credit on the new business-oriented website,www.healthlawguideforbusiness.org. The website offers a “tax credit calculator” that helps employers estimate savings available under the law.

Qualifying for the Credit

To qualify, an employer must have fewer than the equivalent of 25 full-time workers (for example, an employer with fewer than 50 half-time workers may be eligible). A qualifying employer also must pay average annual wages below $50,000.

A California Court of Appeal sided with an employer in a recent lawsuit over unpaid overtime wages. Clarifying the definition of a commissioned inside salesperson, the court found that the employer properly classified the employees as exempt, and therefore owed the employees no overtime compensation. Muldrew v. Surrex Solutions Corp., 202 Cal.App.4th 1232 (2012)