June 20th – June 24th, 2022
Each week, you’ll find specially curated news articles to keep you up to date on the ever-evolving world of insurance and risk management. The articles are divided out between items relevant to Property & Casualty, Employee Benefits/Human Resources, and Compliance. We’ve included brief summaries of each item as well as a link to the original articles.
PROPERTY & CASUALTY
California Railroad Testing Use of Quake Alerts to Halt Trains
“A Southern California regional passenger rail service announced that it is testing technology that will use the West Coast’s earthquake early warning system to automatically slow or stop trains before shaking begins. The five-county Metrolink system said the technology is an advancement of a previous version deployed in September 2021 that sends automated messages instructing train crews to slow or stop but does not have automated braking.” Full Article
– Insurance Journal
EMPLOYEE BENEFITS, HUMAN RESOURCES, & COMPLIANCE
Biden Administration Signals Mental Health Parity Enforcement a Priority with Fiscal 2023 Budget “The proposed budget reflects a substantial and sustained commitment to ramp up enforcement efforts, with specific funding for MHPAEA audit activity, including $275 million for the DOL over a 10-year period and $125 million for state grants to support their MHPAEA enforcement efforts.” Full Article – Akerman
Can Our DCAP Reimburse a ‘Hold-the-Spot’ Fee? “Although the regulations do not specifically address hold-the-spot fees of the type your participant has asked about, an IRS official has informally commented that a hold-the-spot fee may qualify as an indirect expense if it must be paid to obtain care when the leave is over.” Full Article – Thomson Reuters / EBIA
Preventive Care May Be Free, But Follow-Up Diagnostic Tests Can Bring Big Bills “Under the ACA, many preventive services — such as breast and colorectal cancer screening — are covered at no cost. But if a screening returns an abnormal result and a health care provider orders more testing to figure out what’s wrong, patients may be on the hook for hundreds or even thousands of dollars for diagnostic services.” Full Article – Kaiser Health News
TPA’s Administrative Activities and Handling of Plan-Related Funds Did Not Make It a Plan Fiduciary “The Hi-Lex decision likely made many TPAs uneasy, so they will appreciate that this court has called the Sixth Circuit’s reasoning into question. Plans and TPAs will want to keep an eye on this case. The plan has appealed to the First Circuit, which may reach a different conclusion, potentially leading to a circuit split and consideration of the issue by the U.S. Supreme Court.” Full Article – Thomson Reuters / EBIA
CMS Imposes First Price Transparency Rule Penalties “On June 7, 2022, CMS fined Northside Hospital Atlanta, in Atlanta, Ga., $883,180, and Northside Hospital Cherokee, in Canton, Ga., $214,320. CMS has stated that these fines are due to the hospitals’ failure to have a consumer-friendly, searchable list of standard charges posted in a prominent manner that clearly identified the location of the hospital. CMS further noted that the hospitals failed to include all required services in a machine-readable file, and services weren’t included in a single file, as required by the Rule.” Full Article – Husch Blackwell
When Will the Pandemic Be Over for Employer Health Plans? “As of June 15, 2022: [1] The National Emergency will end on February 28, 2023; [2] The Public Health Emergency will end on October 12, 2022; and – Foley & Lardner LLP
[3] The HDHP/telehealth provision expires on December 31, 2022. HHS has indicated that they will give the public at least 60 days’ notice before the formal end to the Public Health Emergency.” Full Article
STATE & INTERNATIONAL COMPLIANCE
In addition to the RISQ Review, RISQ Consulting also provides a resource that features changes and updates to State and International Compliance measures. We’ve included brief summaries of each item below, and also provided links to the original articles if you’d like to read further.
California
Local Minimum Wage Set to Increase July 1
“A statewide minimum of $15.00 for all businesses was scheduled to go into effect on January 1, 2023. However, as a result of rates of inflation of over 7%, a further statutory increase has been triggered and the
statewide minimum wage will now increase to $15.50 on January 1, 2023.” Full Article
– Jackson Lewis
New Jersey
New Jersey Employers: Plan Ahead for the Long-Delayed Overhaul of the State’s WARN Act
“On January 21, 2020, months before the COVID-19 pandemic emerged in the United States, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed into law New Jersey Senate Bill 3170, ushering into law significant amendments to the Millville Dallas Airmotive Plant Job Loss Notification Act (NJ WARN Act), New Jersey’s state law counterpart to the federal WARN Act. Originally set to take effect in July 2020, the pandemic set into motion a series of postponements. ” Full Article
– Duane Morris
New York
New York City Wage Transparency Law Guidance Issued
“On May 12, 2022, the New York City Commission on Human Rights released a fact sheet providing guidance on the amended NYC salary transparency law, which is currently set to take effect on November 1, 2022. The amended salary transparency law requires NYC employers to include minimum and maximum salary information in job postings for any position located within New York City.” Full Article
– Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler
Michigan
Wage and Hour Law 101 for Employers
“Effective on January 1, 2022, the statewide minimum wage in Michigan was increased to $9.87/hour for regular hourly workers, a 22-cent raise over 2021. Exceptions to the law are for tipped workers, the rate is $3.75, as long as reported tips average $6.12, 17 and 17-year-olds, whose rate was increased to $8.39, and training wages for 16-19-year-olds for the first 90 days of their employment, which stands at $4.25/hour.” Full Article
– Foster Swift
Illinois
Amendments To Illinois’ One Day Rest in Seven Act Mitigates Against Hunger Pangs and Rest Deprivation
“Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed into law SB3146, amending the provisions of the Illinois One Day Rest in Seven Act (ODRISA), which addresses both day of rest and meal break requirements for employees in the state. Fortunately for employers, the amendments do not take effect until January 1, 2023, so there is plenty of time for Illinois employers to make sure their policies and process conform to these changes, which are significant.” Full Article
– Seyfarth Shaw
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