This past month the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Labor, and Treasury issued final rules on employment-based wellness programs. These final rules bolster the promotion of workplace health to decrease chronic illness, improve health, and limit increase the expenses of health care.  The rules will also ensure that individuals are guarded against unfair insurance underwriting tactics that could possibly reduce an employee’s benefits based on their health status.Continue Reading White House Continues Roll-out of Obamacare with Final Rules on Employment-based Wellness Programs

Did you know that the health reform legislation signed by President Obama includes a Small Business Health Care Tax Credit?  This credit is designed to assist small businesses with the cost of covering their employees.

If you are a small employer here on the U.S. Virgin Islands with less than 25 full-time equivalent employees, pay an average wage of less than $50,000 a year, and pay at least half of employee health insurance premiums, then this tax credit may help your company.Continue Reading Does Your Business Qualify for a Small Business Health Care Tax Credit?

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) allows eligible employees of covered employers to take unpaid, job-protected leave for specified family and medical reasons. Employees that are eligible under the Act can take up to 12 workweeks of FMLA leave in a 12-month period for the birth, adoption or placement of a child, to care for a family member with a serious health condition, or because they are unable to work due to their own serious health condition.Continue Reading Changes Proposed for The Family and Medical Leave Act to Affect Veterans

There is new information on the definition of “son or daughter” as it applies to an employee that wants to take leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) to care for a child with a disability who is 18 years of age or older.

Continue Reading FMLA Expands the Definition of “Son” or “Daughter”

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals recently decided that the recess appointments made by President Obama for openings on the National Labor Relations Board were unconstitutional. The President appointed Sharon Block, Terence F. Flynn, and Richard F. Griffin on January 4, 2012 pursuant to the authority granted to him by the Recess Appointments Clause of the Constitution.  This section of the Constitution allows the president to fill “vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate.”Continue Reading Recess Appointment to NLRB Run Afoul of Constitutional Guidelines

On March 8, 2013, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”), a subdivision of the Department of Homeland Security, introduced a revised Form I-9, the form that all employers must use to verify the employment authorization and identity of each new hire.Continue Reading Homeland Security Introduces New I-9 Form

The National Labor Relations Board (the "NLRB" or the “Board”) has ruled that a mandatory arbitration agreement preventing employees from pursuing class or collective claims against their employer is unlawful under the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA” or the “Act”). 

In D. R. Horton, Inc., the Board held that merely maintaining such agreements with nonsupervisory employees constitutes an unfair labor practice by interfering with nonsupervisory employees’ right, under Section 7 of the Act, to engage in “concerted activities” to affect wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment. The Board further ruled that an arbitration agreement requiring nonsupervisory employees to submit all employment-related claims to arbitration violates the NLRA by leading employees to believe that they may not file unfair labor practice charges with the Board. While the Board sought to downplay the scope of its ruling, the decision not only may increase the number of class and collective actions filed, but also means that both unionized and non-unionized employers throughout most of the private sector should review, and potentially rewrite, the arbitration provisions contained in their employment agreements, handbooks, and policies.

 Continue Reading NLRB Decision Impacts Unionized and Non-unionized Employers

As we begin the new year – 2012, it is especially important for U.S. Virgin Islands employers to review their employee handbooks to ensure that they are both legally compliant and up to date with current practices.  A number of  changes in federal and territorial employment laws have taken place over the past year and are slated to become effective in 2012, requiring employers to act now. Continue Reading New Year Provides Opportunity to Review and Update Employment Policies