We address issues, cases and matters of statutory and regulatory compliance of employment law that can impact a business' growth and profitability.
On April 28, 2022, the United States Supreme Court held emotional distress damages are not recoverable under several federal anti-discrimination laws that apply to entities receiving federal funding, including the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”), Title VI, and Title IX.
The United States Supreme Court issued four pertinent decisions during the 2020-2021 year related to labor and employment law. In one decision, the Court offered guidance regarding the clarity of arbitration agreements and the issue of an arbitrator’s authority to decide whether employer-employee disputes are subject to mandatory arbitration. Following the 5th Circuit’s ruling that the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate setting the penalty for not buying health insurance to zero was unconstitutional, the Supreme Court in the second decision determined the individual and state plaintiffs nevertheless lacked standing to challenge the mandate given they had no fairly traceable injury to the unlawful conduct.
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While ERISA has long regulated employer provided group health insurance plans, it had never in the past dictated which employees should be eligible to receive health insurance. When Congress enacted the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in 2013 (“ACA”), it required for the first time that an employer provide health insurance to all employees who work on average at least 30 hours a week. The failure to cover all eligible employees, as now defined by the ACA, would subject employers either to the increased expense for having to provide affordable health insurance to a greater percentage of employees than in the past or to the “employer mandate” financial penalties.
As we have previously reported, the EEOC has taken an adversarial stance towards employers that impose negative consequences on employees who do not take advantage of wellness program initiatives. While the Affordable Care Act specifically authorized employers to utilize and implement wellness program initiatives in order to encourage healthy lifestyle choices by its employees, the EEOC has reacted by suing employers contending that such initiatives violate the ADA prohibitions on medical inquiries or discrimination against individuals because of their disabilities.
FEDERAL
Executive Order 1365817: Government Contractors -- Minimum wage increases to $10.10 per hour for employees of certain government contractors; increases minimum wage of tipped employees to $4.90 per hour.
Affordable Care Act's Shared Responsibility Provision--- the ACA's employer "pay-or-play" mandate will apply to larger firms with 100 or more full-time employees. W