When explaining benefits, keep it simple:  No acronyms.  Like most industries, benefits lean on its own kind of language and lingo — one that’s packed with acronyms that can leave the average employer or employee scratching their heads.   

Minimum wage increases for 2022: 22 States (including Michigan) are expected to increase their minimum wage in 2022.  For a list of these states and their new rates, click here.  ASE members receive a 15% discount at govdocs.com for posters.  The discount will appear automatically at check out.

USCIS looking at making remote I-9 review permanent:  The federal government wants to hear about employers' experiences with temporary permission to review Form I-9 documents remotely, it announced October 26. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services prompted employers to comment on several elements of remote I-9 procedures, including their experience with: internal and external technical interface; employee-provided images; apparently false documents; and challenges with the...

EEOC EEO-1 portal closes November 15^th:  Per EEOC: “If you still have not filed your 2019 and/or 2020 EEO-1 Component 1 Report(s), please do so no later than Monday, November 15, 2021 in order to comply with the EEOC’s mandatory filing requirements. 

OSHA ETS submitted to OIRA for review:  On October 12, 2021, OSHA submitted to the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (“OIRA”) an emergency temporary standard requiring private employers with more than 100 employees to implement vaccine mandates or testing. 

Daylight Savings Time ends November 7: When clocks are turned back an hour in the early morning on November 7th, workers on the midnight shift at that time will actually work an extra hour. Assuming that these workers are nonexempt employees, meaning that they are governed by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), they must be paid for all hours worked

Does fully vaccinated include booster shots?  No one knows yet.  "I think we're still in the no man's land in terms of if this will be a requirement," said Steve Bell, a partner at Dorsey & Whitney LLP.  On September 22, the Food and Drug Administration approved a third dose of Pfizer and BioNTech's coronavirus vaccine for older adults and people at high risk of severe COVID-19. The authorization does not cover individuals who received vaccines developed by Moderna or...

Employees lose case on vaccine mandate:  A federal judge last week ruled that a Cincinnati, Ohio-area healthcare provider could require its employees get vaccinated against COVID-19 or risk losing their job, in what appears to be the first ruling of its kind for a private employer in the United States.  

Will #vaccinated make you more likely to select a candidate from LinkedIn?  A growing trend in LinkedIn is identifying their vaccination status. 

Reminder – 2022 high deductible plans out-of-pocket maximums: Under IRS Rev. Proc. 2021-25, the following limits apply to high deductible plans in 2022:

Return to the office leads to pet anxiety: As millions of employees across the U.S. anticipate a potential return to in-person work, those who are pet parents—including many who participated in the more than 2 million adoptions of dogs and cats from shelters last year — have some additional concerns beyond missing their favorite furry colleague. 

DHS extends Form I-9 requirement flexibility (effective September 1, 2021): The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced an extension of the flexibility in complying with requirements related to Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, due to COVID-19.  This temporary guidance was set to expire August 31, 2021. 

Employees regret not saving more for retirement: Three-quarters of American workers have a financial concern about retirement, according to a recent survey.  The workers’ concerns are running out of money (40%), loss of income (18%), and being unable to afford medical expenses (18%), totaling 76%, according to the ninth annual American Century survey of retirement plan participants, compiled by Mathew Greenwald and Associates. 

Do I, or Don’t I?  More than a dozen large U.S. corporations, including Walmart, Google, Tyson Foods, and United Airlines, have recently announced vaccine mandates for some or all of their workers.“With rapidly rising COVID-19 case counts of contagious, dangerous variants leading to increasing rates of severe illness and hospitalization among the U.S. unvaccinated population, this is the right time to take the next step to ensure a fully vaccinated workforce,” Dr....

Noncompetes may become a thing of the past:  On July 9, 2021, President Biden issued his Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy. Earlier in the day, the White House issued a press release announcing that the anticipated order would, “[m]ake it easier to change jobs and help raise wages by banning or limiting non-compete agreements and unnecessary, cumbersome occupational licensing requirements that impede economic mobility.” Now that the executive...