Inflation Rose 3.5% in March, More Than Expected The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that the consumer price index (CPI) rose 3.5% year over year in March, accelerating from 3.2% in February. The month’s gain exceeded the Dow Jones forecast of a 3.4% year-over-year level. The “core” CPI, which strips out the [...]
Court Ruling Expected Soon on Free Preventive Care The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is expected to issue a decision within the next few months regarding the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) preventive care mandate. The ACA requires non-grandfathered health plans and health insurance issuers to cover a set of recommended [...]
Report Shows Majority of Workers Are Dissatisfied With Health Benefits More than half of Americans under the age of 65 receive health insurance through their employer. Still, employers, in general,should consider diversifying their health benefits to improve employee satisfaction and retention, according to a new report from SureCo, an Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangement [...]
President Biden Signs Executive Order Expanding Women’s Health Research President Joe Biden hinted at a women’s health initiative during his third State of the Union (SOTU) address in early March and, on March 18, 2024, signed an executive order promoting women’s health research. This announcement comes as many Americans celebrate Women’s History Month. The [...]
Employers Should Start Preparing for 2024 RxDC Reporting Group health plans and health insurance issuers must annually submit detailed information on prescription drug and healthcare spending to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). This reporting is referred to as the “prescription drug data collection” (or “RxDC report”). The next RxDC report is [...]
On Feb. 21, 2024, President Joe Biden approved $1.2 billion in student debt cancellation for almost 153,000 borrowers currently enrolled in Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) repayment plans, an income-driven repayment program that bases a borrower’s monthly payment on their income, lowering their financial burden. Originally planned for July, this approval relieves borrowers almost [...]
The Pregnancy Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) is a federal law that requires employers with 15 or more employees to provide reasonable accommodations for the known limitations of a qualified individual related to pregnancy, childbirth or related conditions, unless it would cause undue hardship. complies with all applicable laws requiring accommodating individuals with known limitations related [...]
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) found in its June jobs report that U.S. employers added 209,000 nonfarm jobs in June,below the Dow Jones’ estimate of a net gain of 225,000 jobs. This is the first time in 15 months that reported nonfarm jobs have not met or exceeded Wall Street’s expectations. June’s number [...]
The EEO-1 Report is a federally mandated survey that collects workforce data categorized by race, ethnicity, sex and job category. Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act (Title VII), employers with 100 or more employees and certain federal contractors must report this data to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) by March 31 every [...]
In April 2023, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) released an updated version of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) minimum wage poster. The DOL has indicated on its website that the previous version of the FLSA poster “no longer fulfills the posting requirement and should be replaced.” Poster Updates The DOL has aligned [...]
