On May 10, 2021, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) will interpret and enforce Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (Section 1557) to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Section 1557 prohibits discrimination based on race, color, national origin, sex (this now includes sexual orientation and gender identity), age, or disability in covered health programs or activities. Additionally, covered entities are prohibited from discriminating against consumers based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
Tags: Pinnacle Employee Services, Healthcare, sexual orientation, hhs
On May 13, 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 can:
Tags: Pinnacle Employee Services, COVID-19, masks, cdc, center for disease
On July 24, 2020, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing released an updated guidance for employers about COVID-19 addressing:
Tags: Pinnacle Employee Services, Business, Employers, COVID-19, businesses
On July 31, 2020, the California Department of Public Health updated its COVID-19 Employer Playbook For a Safe Reopening to require employers to contact the local health department in any jurisdiction where an employee lives when there is a COVID-19 workplace outbreak. An outbreak is three or more laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 within a two-week period among employees who live in different households.
Tags: Pinnacle Employee Services, Employers, small businesses, COVID-19
On Sept. 10, 2014, Gov. Jerry Brown signed the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014 (Assembly Bill 1522), making California the second state, after Connecticut, to implement paid sick leave state-wide. This law takes effect July 1, 2015, and implements a number of new Labor Code provisions (sections 245 et seq.).
Tags: Pinnacle Employee Services, Paid Sick Leave, California Paid Sick Leave
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced a final rule Sept. 11, 2014, revising the requirements for reporting work-related fatality, injury and illness information. The rule also updates the list of employers partially exempt from OSHA record-keeping requirements.
Tags: Pinnacle Employee Services, OSHA, Injury Reporting, PES
San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors, has “banned the box,” the widely used criminal history check box on employment applications. The ordinance makes San Francisco the ninth jurisdiction to enact ban-the-box legislation applicable to private employers. In addition to banning the box, the new San Francisco legislation imposes a host of additional new restrictions on the use of criminal history for employment purposes. These restrictions supplement those already imposed by the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and arguably make San Francisco the toughest jurisdiction in the U.S. for employers to use criminal history.
Tags: Pinnacle Employee Services, San Francisco Bans Box, banned box, criminal background checks, ban the box
SOUND THE ALARM!
If you’re a business owner that does business in America, you might be paying higher Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA) taxes at year-end and might not even know it. Did you know
Tags: FUTA, FUTA Tax, UI Tax, Unemployment Tax, Pinnacle Employee Services, Federal Unemployment Tax Act, HR Allen Consulting Services