The state Department of Public Health has issued the “COVID-19 Employer Playbook,” which is designed to provide in-depth guidance for reopening business operations and on how to respond to outbreaks in the workplace. Among the topics covered in the guide are support for employers on: Returning to work, Outbreak identification preparedness, Communication of identified COVID-19…
The California Legislature is working on a number of new measures to protect workers in the state during the COVID-19 pandemic. The measures take aim at “holes” in the system that may leave employees who contract the coronavirus on the job without workers’ compensation benefits, footing higher utility bills because of working at home and…
New guidance from the Trump administration absolves insurers of the responsibility of paying for COVID-19 tests that are required for workers who are returning to the job. The guidance, released by the departments of Health and Human Services, Labor and Treasury, means that employers will likely either have to foot the bill themselves as they…
While Fed-OSHA has not issued specific regulations regarding personal protective equipment (PPE) for COVID-19, employers are still required under existing rules to conduct hazard assessments to determine PPE requirements for their worksite. Before employers consider PPEs though, they should follow workplace safety best practices by following the hierarchy of safety controls: Engineering controls Administrative controls…
Commercial property insurance rates are on the rise across the country as insurers continue wrestling with the toll of increasing natural disasters, rising social unrest around the world (including the U.S.) and the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, insurance companies have become more stringent in their underwriting by restricting some coverages and excluding risks that may have…
The COVID-19 crisis has brought to the fore a cost-saving approach to medical care for injured workers being treated through the workers’ compensation system: telemedicine. Telemedicine has in recent years only slowly been taking hold in workers’ compensation, as doctors and injured workers both value that hands-on time they have when they meet. But often…
In this era of connectedness, increased telecommuting, smartphones that keep staff connected to the office and cyber criminals constantly waging attacks on businesses, you need to do all you can to protect your firm’s, employees’ and customers’ data. It’s a heavy lift to try to set up protocols for the various areas where hackers and…
Employee theft and fraud is a perennial problem for businesses and one rogue employee can do serious damage to the finances of a company ― and in many cases put them out of business. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, about a third of all business failures each year trace back to employee theft…
The Department of Insurance has approved emergency workers’ compensation rules dealing with COVID-19 and California employers. The rules were recommended by the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau to bring fairness for employers’ experience rating during the COVID-19 pandemic amid shelter-at-home orders and for dealing with claims of workers who contract COVID-19 on the job. The…
Employment practices and employee benefit-related lawsuits are on the rise — and employers have to be eternally vigilant when it comes to meeting their compliance obligations as plan sponsors. Take the case of Visteon, a global automotive industry supplier, which outsourced its payroll and enrollment/disenrollment functions to outside plan administrators. But because of internal mistakes…