Current COBRA Notice Forms
ARRA, as amended by the Department of Defense Appropriation Act passed in December 2010 (2010 DOD Act), mandates that group health insurance plans notify certain current and former participants and beneficiaries about the premium reduction. The U.S. Department of Labor created model notices to help plans and individuals comply with these requirements. Each model notice is designed for a particular group of qualified beneficiaries and contains information to help satisfy ARRA's notice provisions, including those added by the 2010 DOD Act.
Proposed Disability Regulations
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has proposed revised regulations on the Americans With Disabilities Act to reflect changes made by the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 , which took effect on January 1, 2009. The rule is expected to become final mid-2010. The proposed rule says that some impairments consistently will meet the definition of disability. This is a change from how ADA disabilities have been viewed in the past. The determination of which disabilities were covered by the law up to this point has been made on a case-by-case basis.
Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act
The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA), effective November 21, 2009, prohibits employment discrimination based on individuals' genetic information and severely restricts employers, unions, and other covered entities from collecting, acquiring, or publicizing such private medical data. If you are an employer, be sure your policies include genetic information as a protected characteristic if you have 15 or more employees.
E-Verify and Form I-9
As of September 8, 2009, federal government contractors with contracts signed on or after that date have to use the government's E-Verify system to compare the names and Social Security numbers of new employees against a government database. Companies that receive funds through the federal economic stimulus program will also have to use E-Verify.
On August 27, 2009, the Department of Homeland Security’s Citizenship and Immigration Services issued a minor revision to the Form I-9. The current Form I-9 is available online, and there's a wealth of related information in the Department of Homeland Security's "Handbook for Employers."
FMLA Regulations
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) posts the revised Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) poster and FMLA certification forms to its web site. The current poster reflects the revised FMLA regulations, which were effective January 16, 2009. And be sure you're using the current forms.
Your FMLA policy is not compliant if it hasn't been revised to reflect changes made by these regulations as well as a change in the law made as recently as November 2009. One clue: If the policy doesn't tell employees they can enforce their rights by bringing a private lawsuit or filing a complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor, the policy isn't current.
