News & Insights

On April 10, the President signed legislation effectively ending the national emergency, proclaimed in 2020 to address the COVID-19 pandemic. The Biden Administration had previously announced its intent to end both the public health emergency and the national emergency on May 11, 2023. The national...

Pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) are facing a spate of Congressional action and investigations as the nation struggles to contain rising pharmaceutical costs. A bipartisan senate committee recently passed the Pharmacy Benefit Manager Transparency Act of 2023, and the Senate Finance Committee held...

Many provisions within the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA), adopted in December 2022, are designed to bring greater cost transparency to the cost of medical care. A new CAA gag prohibition rule in effect today restricts health plans and carriers from entering into agreements with providers,...

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)released updated guidance outlining the proper treatment of hearing disabilities in the workplace. Employers covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) cannot ask job applicants if they have a hearing disability, and applicants have...

Each July 31, heath plans pay an IRS fee to support the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), a nonprofit research organization chartered by the Affordable Care Act to improve health care outcomes and experiences for patients. Self-funded plan sponsors pay the fee directly, while...

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is expected to release a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in May to update the salary threshold for overtime eligibility. Currently, non-exempt employees earning a salary of less than $684 a week, or $35,568 annually, are entitled to overtime pay for hours worked in...

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently proposed a rule to effectively wipe out noncompete contracts between employees and employers. This ban would render existing noncompetes void and new noncompetes illegal. According to the FTC, a noncompete clause is a contractual term between workers and...

The 2022 EE0-1 Component 1 data collection is tentatively slated to open mid-July. All private employers with at least 100 employees and certain under-100 employers must provide demographic workforce data, including data by race or ethnicity, sex and job categories. Updates, including the...

While April showers bring May flowers, spring storms can also cause a flurry of damage. Homeowners should take the time to review their insurance policies annually to ensure they are not underinsured and vulnerable to costly liabilities.

Employers with employees who operate personal vehicles for business use can adopt the IRS-established standard mileage rate to determine reimbursement. The rate for 2023 is 65.5 cents per mile and is determined based on a study of fixed and variable costs of operating a vehicle.