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
Dog-Related Injuries Cost Insurers More Than $1 Billion in 2022
“Insurers paid out more than $1 billion in dog-related injury claims in 2022, a 28% increase over 2021 even though the number of claims decreased last year, according to the Insurance Information Institute (Triple-I) and State Farm. There were 17,597 dog-related injury claims in the U.S. in 2022, down from 17,989 in 2021, according to a Triple-I analysis of homeowners insurance claims data. Despite a 2.2% decline in the number of claims, the total cost of claims increased significantly—from $882 million in 2021 to $1.13 billion in 2022.” Full Article
– Insurance Journal
EMPLOYEE BENEFITS, HUMAN RESOURCES, & COMPLIANCE
CMS Updates Could Help Employers on Second Round of Drug Cost Reporting “Employers facing a June 1, 2023, deadline for 2022 prescription drug cost reporting have important new clarification on issues such as plans that cover more than one employer, average monthly premium calculations, and medical plans that carve out prescription drug benefits. That clarification and more come in updated instructions recently released by CMS.” Full Article – Ogletree Deakins
States Step in as Telehealth and Clinic Patients Get Blindsided by Hospital Fees “Along with Colorado and Connecticut, other states that have implemented or are considering limits on facility fees are Indiana, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Ohio, Texas, and Washington. Those measures include collecting data on what facility fees hospitals charge, prohibiting add-on fees for telehealth, and requiring site-neutral payments for certain Medicaid services.” Full Article – Kaiser Health News
ACA Preventive Service Requirements Partially Vacated “The final judgment does not impact all of the ACA preventive service requirements. Specifically, the ACIP (immunizations/ vaccines) and the HRSA (women’s preventive care recommendations, including the contraceptive coverage requirements and preventive screenings for children) are not changed by this ruling.” Full Article – Groom Law Group
NLRB General Counsel Issues Guidance Memorandum Regarding Severance Agreements “Memorandum GC 23-05 seeks to clarify the scope of the McLaren Macomb decision, including: the types of provisions that may violate the NLRA; language that may be acceptable in light of the decision; whether the decision applies retroactively to previously executed severance agreements; and the potential applicability of the decision to supervisors.” Full Article – Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP
San Francisco Employers, Do You Need to Submit an Employer Annual Report Forms by May 1st? “The HCSO applies to private and non-profit employers who employ any individual in San Francisco, and twenty or more workers inside or outside of San Francisco.” Full Article – Jackson Lewis
FAQs Anticipate End of COVID-19 National Emergency, Address Outbreak Period Extensions for COBRA and HIPAA Special Enrollment “The FAQs leave some open questions — notably, no examples address how the outbreak period’s end will affect extended deadlines for filing benefit claims, appeals, and requests for external review; express guidance would be welcomed.” Full Article – Thomson Reuters/EBIA
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.
Michigan Rolls Back its “Right-to-Work” Law; NLRB’s Top Lawyer Provides Post-McLaren Macomb Guidance “Michigan becomes the first state in nearly 60 years to repeal its RTW law, which was implemented in 2013 under then-Governor Rick Snyder (R). The repeal is viewed as a major victory for union organization which reached an all-time low in 2022.” Full Article – Benesch Friedlander Coplan & Aronoff LLPMICHIGAN
Proposed FTC Ban on Non-Competes: What Texas Business Owners Need to Know “The proposed rule, announced by the FTC in January, would generally ban the practice of non-compete agreements by making it illegal for an employer to enter these agreements, maintain existing agreements, and/or represent to a worker that they are subject to a non-compete.” Full Article – Boyar MillerTEXAS
UPDATED: The City of Los Angeles’ Fair Work Week Ordinance Will Take Effect April 1, 2023 “The Ordinance, which was unanimously passed by the Los Angeles City Council in November 2022, requires retail employers in the City of Los Angeles to provide employees at least 14 days’ advance notice of their work schedules and to compensate employees in the event of certain schedule changes.” Full Article – Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLPCALIFORNIA
Illinois Supreme Court Finds Federal Law Labor Preempts Union Members’ BIPA Claims “Walton should stop unionized employees from bringing new BIPA claims in state and federal court. Walton also forecloses unionized employees from bringing BIPA claims on a class action basis. Companies on the receiving end of a BIPA lawsuit from a current or former union member should always explore a motion to dismiss the lawsuit on preemption grounds.” Full Article – Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLPILLINOIS
Delaware’s “Freedom of Contract” Approach to Non-Compete Agreements– Even Between Sophisticated Parties in the Sale-of-Business Context– Has its Limits “Non-compete agreements have recently gained a new round of attention with the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) proposed rule that would effectively ban employers from imposing non-competes (albeit not in certain sale-of-business scenarios).” Full Article – Gibbons PCDELAWARE
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