Congress Extends Payroll Tax Cut

The Tax Relief Act of 2012 now extends the 4.2% social security tax rate for employees through the end of 2012, per Congress. The bill will now go to President Obama for his signature.

Top 10 OSHA Violations for Medical Clinics

For doctors' offices and clinics, the most frequent citations are listed here. Your take-away is create your policies and plans and train your employees to those. Don't forget to document that training!

1. failure to implement and maintain an Exposure Control Plan under the BBP standard;
2. failure to train under the BBP standard;
3. failure to engineer out hazards/ensure hand washing under BBP standard;
4. poor housekeeping under the BBP standard;
5. failure to implement and maintain a written Hazard Communication Program;
6. failure to make the Hepatitis B vaccination available under the BBP standard;
7. failure to prepare Exposure Determinations under the BBP standard;
8. failure to use personal protective equipment under the BBP standard;
9. failure to provide post exposure Hepatitis B vaccination under the BBP standard; and
10. failure to train employees under the Hazard Communication standard.
    
    

OFCCP Disability Requirements

The OFCCP extended the comment period on the proposed Section 503 NPRM to February 21, 2012, in response to pressure from Congress and the contractor and disability communities. 

The Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor announced a proposal to extend the Fair Labor Standards Act’s (FLSA) minimum wage and overtime regulations to most home care aides. The FLSA currently exempts workers who provide “companionship services” from the minimum wage and overtime requirements. Its proposal would narrow this exemption to cover only workers providing “fellowship” and “protections” duties. Aides providing medically-related, personal care-related or household work would not be exempt.

The deadline for comments is February 27 and you may submit comments at http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=WHD-2011-0003-0001.

IRS Mileage Reimbursements for 2012

If you haven't seen this info from your accountant yet, the IRS standard mileage reimbursement rates for 2012 are:

$0.555 per mile for the use of a car for business miles driven
$0.23 per mile driven for medical or moving purposes
$0.14 per mile driven in service for a charitable organization

EEOC and High School Diplomas

Employers are facing yet more uncertainty following the release of an “informal discussion letter” from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), posted on the Commission's website on December 2, 2011. The letter states an employer’s requirement of a high school diploma, long a standard criterion for screening potential employees, must be “job-related for the position in question and consistent with business necessity" and requiring same might violate the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

The development also has some wondering whether the agency’s advice will result in an educational backlash by creating less of an incentive for some high school students to graduate.

Employers could run afoul of the ADA if their requirement of a high school diploma “ ‘screens out’ an individual who is unable to graduate because of a learning disability that meets the ADA’s definition of ‘disability,’ ” the EEOC explained.

The Commission's advice, which does not carry the force of law, is raising alarms among employment-law professionals, who say it could carry far-reaching implications for businesses.

Maria Greco Danaher, a lawyer with the labor and employment law firm Ogletree Deakins, said the EEOC letter means that employers must determine whether job applicants whose learning disabilities kept them from obtaining diplomas can perform the essential job functions, with or without reasonable accommodation. She said the development is “worthy of notice” for employers.

“While an employer is not required to ‘prefer’ a learning-disabled applicant over other applicants with more extensive qualifications, it is clear that the EEOC is informing employers that disabled individuals cannot be excluded from consideration for employment based upon artificial barriers in the form of inflexible qualification standards,” she wrote in a blog post.

7th Circuit Determination on Retaliation

On December 15, 2011, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit issued a blow to corporate defendants by determining that retaliation against an employee for reporting alleged criminal activity to law enforcement can constitute a racketeering “predicate act,” resulting in liability under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”). DeGuelle v. Camilli, No. 10-2172 (7th Cir. Dec. 15, 2011). This unprecedented decision provides whistleblowers with yet another possible cause of action and expanded remedies.


Under RICO, it is unlawful for an employee of an enterprise engaged in interstate commerce to “conduct or participate, directly or indirectly, in the conduct of such enterprise’s affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity,” which requires the commission of at least two “predicate acts” of racketeering within a span of ten years. In enacting the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (“SOX”) in 2002, Congress added retaliation for “providing to a law enforcement officer any truthful information relating to the commission or possible commission of any Federal offense” to the list of statutorily-defined predicate acts. To prove that predicate acts are part of a pattern under RICO, a plaintiff must demonstrate a relationship between the predicate acts and a threat of continuing activity - known as the “continuity plus relationship” test.