Workforce Bulletin

The IRS Office of Chief Counsel recently issued a memo which, in a surprise to many, concluded that the filing of the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) Forms 1094-C and 1095-C (“C Forms”) does not start the statute of limitations on the Employer Shared Responsibility Payments (“ESRP”) under Internal Revenue Code (“Code”) § 4980H and, in fact, that there is no statute of limitations with respect to ESRP assessments.

In short, the ESRP is a penalty that may be assessed against “applicable large employers” (“ALEs”)[1] when, in certain circumstances, a full-time ...

Following are the top stories featured in this week's #WorkforceWednesday, from Employment Law This Week:

Employee Travel and the Coronavirus

The threat of COVID-19 is growing, and U.S. companies are on high alert. International travel by employees is an area of particular concern to employers. For more, check out our resource center at https://www.ebglaw.com/coronavirus.

NLRB Joint-Employment Rule to Take Effect

The National Labor Relations Board ...

We are pleased to present Workforce Bulletin, the newest blog from law firm Epstein Becker Green (EBG).

We've combined a decade of posts from five of the firm's well-regarded blogs, spanning employment law topics impacting employers in a range of industries and areas, including financial services, hospitality, OSHA, retail, technology, and more.

Workforce Bulletin will feature thought leadership from EBG attorneys on cutting-edge issues, such as sexual harassment, diversity and inclusion, pay equity, artificial intelligence in the workplace, cybersecurity, and the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on human resources.  While individual posts will often address such issues in industry-specific contexts, this broader resource will give employers in all industries the benefit of discussions and information that might not have come to their attention through previous single-industry platforms.

In our new Advisory, "Responding to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Outbreak: Update on Best Practices for Employers," we review significant developments since our January 30th Advisory.

Following is the "What Employers Should Do Now" section of the new Advisory:

• Appoint a single individual or department as the point of contact within your organization for questions about Coronavirus and to ensure a coordinated and consistent response to all inquiries.
• Provide updated information to employees about the symptoms of COVID-19 and affected areas.
• Educate supervisors on the ...

A Trending News video featured in #WorkforceWednesday: Last week, government agencies released several different coronavirus guidance documents for employers:

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released general guidance as well as separate guidance for health care employers.
• The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has released general guidance and additional industry-specific guidance for health care, death care, laboratories, airline operations, border protection, and waste management.
• California’s ...

A Trending News interview with our colleague Michael Ferrell of Epstein Becker Green, as featured in #WorkforceWednesday. As Mike discusses, Kickstarter employees voted to unionize last week. This is the first big unionization in the technology industry, and it could signal more union activity to come.

On January 29, 2020, the House of Representatives passed the Comprehensive CREDIT Act of 2020 (the “Act”), which would change federal laws pertaining to consumer reporting agencies and credit checks in a number of ways. Significantly for employers, the Act includes an amendment (originally H.R. 3614 - “Restricting Credit Checks for Employment Decisions Act”) to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”), which would restrict the use of credit information for most employment decisions.

Currently, the FCRA does not expressly prohibit employers from using credit checks ...

A Trending News video featured in #WorkforceWednesday:  According to The New York Times, over 200 executives have been ousted since 2017, leaving some wondering – is #MeToo over? Far from it.

This dynamic, macro-equity movement has led to numerous workplace regulations that encompass broader pay equity and diversity and inclusion efforts. Privileged pay equity audits are one proactive tool.

The Massachusetts Department of Family and Medical Leave (“DFML”) continues to provide ongoing substantive and procedural guidance regarding the implementation of the state’s Paid Family and Medical Leave Program (“PFML”). As previously reported, prior guidance has addressed how to determine if an employer meets the 25-covered individual threshold for reporting purposes, whether to count visa holders as part of the workforce for PFML purposes. Last week, the DFML provided clarification as to the requirements for an employer to qualify for reimbursement for ...

Time is running out. The effective date of New York’s cybersecurity law mandating that organizations implement an information security program to protect “private information” of New York State residents, including employee and consumer data, is now only 45 days away. New York’s law requires the implementation of a cybersecurity program, including reasonable protective measures such as risk assessments, workforce training and incident response planning and testing. Businesses should immediately take steps to comply with the Act’s requirements effective March ...