The US House of Representatives on February 15, 2017 passed a resolution disallowing US DOL adopted regulations that limited drug testing of UI claimants. >> View H.J. Res 42 Background Attached is House Ways and Means background document on the Congressional Review Act and this issue. The House leadership believes that the Department of Labor did not respect [...]
UWC is currently accepting UI Recognition Award Nominations. Each year we accept nominations for awards to individuals who have had a profound impact on the Unemployment Insurance system as researchers, policy leaders and contributors to the integrity of the program. UWC accepts nominations for consideration and announces the awards at the annual National Unemployment Insurance Issues [...]
On January 4, 2017, as part of the wave of federal regulations filed late in the administration, the US DOL Office of Workers Compensation Programs released substantive rules for comment with respect to the payment of Black Lung medical benefits. The regulations generally set a new national method of determining approved medical reimbursement amounts. The changes in [...]
On November 23, 2016, the US DOL, Employment and Training Administration released its determination with respect to FUTA offset credits in the Federal Register. See https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2016-11-23/pdf/2016-28238.pdf Sections 3302(c)(2)(A) and 3302(d)(3) of the FUTA provide that employers in a State that has an outstanding balance of advances under Title XII of the Social Security Act at the [...]
Comments due by October 26 The US Department of Labor on August 26, 2016 filed proposed rules for comment on the definition of minimum and maximum compensation rate annual adjustments. See https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2016-08-26/pdf/2016-20467.pdf The main issue in contention is that the US DOL Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs is proposing to employ the average weekly wage of [...]
The US Department of Labor on October 5th released a report entitled “Does the Workers’ Compensation System Fulfill Its Obligations to Injured Workers?”. The release of the report was accompanied by statements from the Secretary of Labor, the Commissioner of the Social Security Administration, and the US DOL Assistant Secretary for OSHA. The report may be [...]
On September 28, 2016, The US Senate passed a continuing resolution (CR) to provide appropriation authority so that the federal government could pay its bills after September 30th. The President is expected to sign the CR. The legislation includes a number of permanent provisions including a provision that prohibits the Veterans Administration from paying for medical [...]
On October 5th the US Department of Labor in coordination with the National Academy of Social Insurance will release two reports reviewing state workers’ compensation. The Department of Labor’s State Workers’ Compensation Report, which addresses recent trends in state workers’ compensation systems and the effect of these trends on workers, employers, and communities; and The National [...]
On August 19, 2016 the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act; Joint Rule for Unified and Combined State Plans, Performance Accountability, and the One-Stop System Joint Provisions; Final Rule was released by the US Department of Labor and the US Department of Education. See https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2016-08-19/pdf/2016-15977.pdf The final rule responds to a number of comments, including comments submitted [...]
The impact of the Florida Supreme Court decision in the Castellanos case http://www.floridasupremecourt.org/decisions/2016/sc13-2082.pdf finding the statutory limitation on attorney fees to be unconstitutional prompted the NCCI rate fling with an increase of 15% associated with the decision. Most of the overall rate filing increase of 19.6% that would be effective for new and renewal business October [...]