Winter is the season of preparation, and that makes it the perfect time to spotlight comprehensive health plan notices. These notices – covering areas like COBRA, CHIPRA, Medicare Part D, and HIPAA-are critical for employers and their employees, but the rules around timing and responsibility can be overwhelming.

Staying on Top of Compliance Requirements

This month’s article highlights the compliance responsibilities for small fully insured employers and handling Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) rebates.

Compliance Requirements for Small Fully Insured Employers (<50 FTEs)

Even smaller employers with fewer than 50 full-time employees aren’t exempt from health plan compliance obligations. Fully insured groups must meet key federal requirements, including ERISA, ACA, COBRA (when applicable), and other notice and reporting rules. These responsibilities may not be as extensive as those for larger employers, but they still carry risk if overlooked. Staying compliant helps avoid penalties and ensures your plan runs smoothly.

On August 2, 2024 USCIS announced Form I-9’s new expiration date.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has extended the expiration date of the current Form 1-9 (Rev. 08/01/23) to May 31, 2027. 

Links to the formal announcement and the Form 1-9 with the updated expiration date can be found at the links below:

USCIS Announcement: https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-related-news/uscis-extends-form-i-9-expiration-date

UCSIS Website for Form I-9: https://www.uscis.gov/i-9

Sometimes you hire the wrong person. It happens. Maybe they aren’t as qualified as they claimed, and you’re forced to give them extra training or let them go. Maybe they seemed like a great fit, but quit shortly after starting. Maybe the employee’s work is fine, all things considered, but you can’t help but wonder whether you should have chosen a different candidate.

Nothing you can do will prevent every regrettable hire, but you can reduce the likelihood of one—and all the stress and cost that comes with it—by fine-tuning your processes for writing job postings, interviewing candidates, and making your final decision.

Bad management puts organizations at risk. It can result in costly inefficiencies and is often to blame for employees feeling pressure to look busy or, conversely, overworking. On the flip side, great managers elevate their teams, inspiring and empowering good workers to be even better. Great managers know that excellence is a moving target—there’s always room to improve, more to learn, and skills to develop.

Let’s go over how to gather and communicate feedback to managers effectively.

Question: A remote employee told us they were injured at home during the workday. What are our responsibilities?

Answer: When an employee informs you that they were injured while working from home, take the claim seriously and follow your usual procedure for a workplace injury. Here are the steps we recommend.

No matter the circumstances, the death of an employee will come as a shock. As those who knew or worked with the deceased grieve and process the loss, they’ll need empathy, understanding, and support from leadership. You also have to keep operations going at a time when your people feel overburdened with emotional work and aren’t necessarily able to perform to their usual standards.

The final rule for the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), which applies to employers with 15 or more employees, has been published and takes effect June 18, 2024.

Are you finding it difficult to fill job openings because not enough people are applying? You wouldn’t be alone. One avenue organizations are taking to expand their applicant pool is to forgo the college degree requirement and instead adopt a more inclusive, skills-based approach to hiring.

According to a Glassdoor report, in the year after the launch of ChatGPT, usage of that tool or those like it by professionals in the workplace more than doubled! Are you using an AI tool to help you with your work tasks? Have you considered doing so? If so, read on. There are advantages to be had and risks to note.