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Employers have three business days after hiring someone to collect information and complete the I-9 employment eligibility verification form, whether on paper or using the E-Verify electronic system. This has long been known as the "three-day rule," but it has–according to a recent United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) statement–often been misinterpreted.

According to the USCIS clarification, the first day of work is not included in the three days. Therefore, if an employee starts work on Monday, the I-9 is not due until Thursday.

However, if the new hire’s employer is using the E-Verify electronic database system, the date that the employer enters the new hire’s name into E-Verify counts as the first day even if the person isn’t on the job yet. Perhaps because of this, the USCIS has also just added a drop-down menu so users can choose a reason for the delay if the verification takes place after three days. 

Personnel Concepts offers a complete I-9 Verification section on its Web site where customers can find a variety of products to help them with both the verification process and the use of E-Verify.

On Monday, July 26, 2010, which was the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), the Department of Justice (DOJ) issued new final regulations regarding service animals and the use of Segways (mobility devices). 

Dogs and miniature horses individually trained to mitigate the effects of a disability are now the only animals that qualify as service animals.

The rules also now require entities to allow individuals with disabilities to use Segways wherever pedestrians and wheelchairs are permitted, unless it would fundamentally alter the entity’s services or pose a threat to safety.

At the same time, Justice announced its intentions to regulate the Web, 911 services and movie captioning to make them more accessible to disabled individuals. Though it gave no date for publication, the department issued an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) concerning the new regulations. It also opened a public commentary period.

Entities that accept federal funding have long been required to make their Web sites accessible to the handicapped under Section 508 of the 1974 Rehabilitation Act; now the new rules will extend some form of those standards to all Web sites.

New rules implementing the ADA’s Title I employment provisions were also expected from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) this month but have been delayed.

Personnel Concepts will continue to monitor developments concerning the implementation of the ADA and keep you advised here and on the parent Web site, PersonnelConcepts.com.

Please visit our Web section on Harassment and Discrimination for our array of fine products for implementing the ADA and other such laws.

It was 20 years ago today (July 26, 2010, then 1990) that President George H.W. Bush signed into law the landmark Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA).

After court decisions had whittled down the scope of the ADA through the years, Congress sought to restore the robust ADA that the authors had envisioned and in 2008 passed the ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA), which is to this day awaiting the approval of final regulations (stuck in review at the Office of Management and Budget ((OMB)) since the fourth quarter of 2009). Ironically or otherwise, it was the first President Bush’s son, George W. Bush, who signed the ADAAA into law.

“The EEOC is proud of its enforcement efforts under the ADA for the past 20 years, moving forward to fulfill the nation’s promise to give all Americans opportunity, dignity and respect in the workplace,” said EEOC [Equal Employment Opportunity Commission] Chair Jacqueline A. Berrien during a ceremony this past Thursday. “The ADA did not erase all of our challenges, but we have learned over the years, as we also celebrate the 45th anniversary of the EEOC’s founding this month, that the American workplace has changed for the better.”

President Obama is expected to host a commemorative event at the White House this evening.

Meanwhile, the Department of Justice (DOJ) is looking to expand the ADA to areas of high technology that didn’t exist when the ADA was inked, requiring Web sites  to adopt voice recognition and 911 call centers to add text and video messaging to 911 call centers.

The NPRM (Notice of Proposed Rule Making) issued by the EEOC in September 2009, which will become the basis of the ADAAA final regulations when finally released, created a rather broad and all-encompassing definition of disability that is already reverberating in the workplace.

Fortunately, Personnel Concepts has written and made available an important and all-encompassing ADA Amendments Act Compliance Kit that will guide employers through understanding and implementing provisions of the ADAAA. Get yours today to honor the letter and spirit of the original ADA. 

The Americans With Disabilities Amendments Act (ADAAA) of 2008 was written to restore the original ADA definition of disability that Congress felt had been whittled down by the courts, but in the process the definition has become so broad and all-encompassing that litigants are already testing the legal waters–even before ADAAA final regulations have taken effect.

ADA-based lawsuits jumped 40 percent in the first quarter of 2010 compared to the previous year, and in the second quarter of this year they grew by another 15 percent. In fact, ADA litigation is now the first recourse of former employees, according to recent statistics.

Part of this stems from wording by Congress in the ADAAA that the definition of disability should be construed to embrace "broad coverage." Lawyers were quick to jump on that window of opportunity and test the judicial waters.

Employers, be aware that it’s a much more employee-friendly environment for ADA complaints in wake of the Amendments Act. Fortunately, Personnel Concepts offers a comprehensive guide to help you comply and stay free of legal hassles with its ADA Amendments Act Compliance Kit. Get yours today.

N.B.: The ADAAA final regulations have been in the reviewing hands of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) since the third quarter of 2009. Approval has been consistently delayed from December 2009 to March 2010 to May 2010 to July 2010 to…you get the picture.

The Department of Labor (DOL) recently updated its regulations regarding child labor in the U.S.—calling them "the most ambitious and far-reaching revisions" in the past 30 years—and these new regs are set to go into effect this coming Monday, July 19, 2010.

The updated regulations effect a variety of changes to how DOL will interpret the child labor provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). 

Perhaps the most significant among these changes is the lifting of a decades-old restriction that limited the industries in which 14- and 15-year-olds were permitted to work.

Now, instead of being allowed to work only in retail, food service and gasoline service establishments, young workers may work in other environments such as state and local governments, banks, insurance companies, advertising agencies and information technology firms.

The new regs also increase penalties for violations, especially regarding the injury of death of a teenage worker, and create a new work-study regimen.

Child labor laws and regulations are covered briefly in the mandatory federal minimum wage poster, which is included on all Personnel Concepts Space Saver-1 All-On-One State and Federal Labor Law Posters.

Personnel Concepts is closely monitoring developments at the DOL regarding the minimum wage panel and will alert clients when and if any posting requirements change.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), to " help ensure that employees are, in fact, free to participate in safety and health activities," has created a dedicated Web site entitled Whistleblower.gov.

While those who wish to file complaints of retaliation for whistleblower acts must still do so in writing, the site provides detailed information and instructions on filing such grievances.

The site also rolls out details about new protections effective March 23, 2010, coincident with the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), the health care reform measure now being incrementally implemented.

Whistleblower rights are a mandatory notification and are included on all Personnel Concepts’ Space Saver-2 All-On-One OSHA Safety Posters under the panel entitled "OSHA Fact Sheet."

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) this morning (July 8, 2010) held a press conference to announce a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NRPM) concerning the privacy, security and enforcement provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996.

The proposed modifications would extend parts of the HIPAA Privacy Rule and virtually all of the Security Rule to the business associates of HIPAA-covered entities, impose new limits on the use and disclosure of protected health information (PHI) for marketing, prohibit the sale of protected health information without patient consent, expand individuals’ rights to access their information and permit patients to restrict the disclosure of certain information to health plans.  

In addition, the proposed rule will strengthen and expand HIPAA’s enforcement provisions. 

The NPRM is now subject to a 60-day public commentary period before becoming a Final Rule enforceable by the agency.

The modifications to HIPAA follow a strengthening of the act’s provisions contained in the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act of 2009, which elevated business associates to the same direct enforcement status as covered entities. (Business associates often perform the accounting, billing and record-keeping functions of primary health care providers, which are considered covered entities).

The NPRM introduced and entered into the Federal Register today further defines what constitutes a business associate and broadens the category significantly. It also proposes a 180-day grace period for the enforcement of any new HIPAA provisions.

Employers who maintain health insurance and/or health records for their employees will be affected, even if indirectly, by these and subsequent changes to HIPAA. However, you can easily keep abreast of changes and fulfill all compliance requirements with a subscription to Personnel Concepts’ HIPAA Compliance Poster and Newsletter.

On July 5, 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law the Wagner Act, which has come down through the ages as the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), the landmark legislation that codified workers’ rights to organize and collectively bargain with employers.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which is charged with enforcing provisions of the NLRA, is now celebrating the 75th anniversary of the law with a series of events and a special Web commemorative.

Prior to the NLRA, workers were largely at the mercy of their employers when it came to workplace rights and the freedom (or lack thereof) to organize into collective bargaining units.

“Both our country and our world have changed a great deal over the last eight decades, but the values reflected in the National Labor Relations Act – democracy in the workplace and fairness in the economy – are still vitally important,” said NLRB Chairman Wilma Liebman.

In fiscal year 2009 alone, the Agency conducted 1,690 representation elections, received 22,941 charges of unfair labor practices, recovered more than $77 million in back pay and ensured that more than 1,500 wrongfully discharged employees were offered reinstatement to their jobs.

How the NLRA has been enforced through the decades, of course, largely has been a reflection of the administration in charge of the White House. After eight years of Republican ascendancy, during which the NLRB generally favored employers’ over employees’ rights, the Obama administration is now swinging the pendulum in the other direction in favor of workers’ rights.

A good example is the current administration’s issuance of Executive Order 13496, which pretty much reverses a Bush-era order that mandated federal contractors to inform employees–through workplace posters–of their rights not to join unions or pay union dues. E.O. 13496, which is now in full force, mandates just the opposite–that contractors inform their employees of their right to organize and bargain collectively.

Personnel Concepts offers what we’re still calling the Beck Law Poster for federal contractors and subcontractors to inform their employees of Executive Order 13496 and their union rights. If you’re a contractor, get yours today.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on June 28 published a Final Rule in the Federal Register implementing provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). The provisions were dubbed "The Patient’s Bill of Rights" by the agency.

This Final Rule takes effect Sept. 23, but it breaks little ground from the sweeping PPACA legislation other than to clarify certain provisions and mandates.

The Bill of Rights establishes that children 19 and younger cannot be denied either coverage or treatment for pre-existing conditions; health coverage once in place cannot be rescinded except in cases of applicant fraud; no lifetime limit can be set on health insurance payments; annual caps on insurance expenditures will be phased out completely by 2014; patients are free to choose their primary-care physician without restriction; and extra fees for out-of-network emergency services are barred.

Though some provisions do not apply to grandfathered policies, most take effect on Sept. 23, or on Jan. 1, 2011, when annual plan policies commencing on that date kick in.

The acceptable annual limits on health insurance expenditures (aka "essential health benefits," a term that is yet to be defined) were clarified from PPACA as being $750,000 as of Sept. 23, 2010, $1.2 million as of Sept. 23, 2011, and $2 million as of Sept. 23, 2012, for both group and individual plans. After Jan. 1, 2014, the cap is dropped and outlays become open-ended.

As of 2014, all exclusions and pre-emptions based on pre-existing conditions are outlawed.

Employers, you can easily keep your workforces informed of these new benefits and protections by acquiring and posting Personnel Concepts’ Health Care Reform Employment Information Poster. Get your copy today.

While most states are staying pat and one–Colorado–has actually lowered its minimum wage rate in 2010, Nevada and Illinois are bucking the trend with upticks coming July 1.

Acting in accord with an amendment to the Nevada Constitution added in 2006, Labor Commissioner Michael Tanchek announced that his department is increasing the state minimum wage on July 1 by 70 cents.

Those with health insurance on the job will see their minimum wage rise from $6.55 an hour to $7.25; those without health benefits will receive a raise to $8.25 an hour.

Also on July 1, employees with health benefits earning less than $10.875 per hour and employees earning less than $12.375 per hour without health benefits must be paid overtime if they work more than eight hours in a 24-hour period.

The state minimum wage affects 100,000 Nevadans, or about 7.9 percent of the workforce.

Illinois will surpass California and Massachusetts and catch Connecticut on July 1 when its minimum wage rises from $8 to $8.25 an hour. Two states will have higher minimum wages: Washington is tops at $8.55 an hour, followed by Oregon at $8.40.

Some exemptions to the $8.25 rate in Illinois include tipped employees, who must be paid $4.95 an hour (up from $4.65) starting July 1; trainees during the first 90 days on the job, for whom the rate will be $7.75 an hour; and those under 18 years of age, who can be paid 50 cents less than the minimum wage.

Illinois’ minimum wage law is not indexed to inflation. The federal minimum wage stands at $7.25 but is already superceded by Illinois’ (and other states’) current rate. 

Personnel Concepts Space Saver-1 All-On-One State and Federal Labor Law Poster holders for those states who purchased update subscriptions will receive any necessary panel changes by mail. Others may inquire by calling Customer Service at (800) 333-3795.