In December 2020, I published a blog post titled May a Public Employer Require Vaccination Against COVID-19?. In that post I concluded that a public employer may require its employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of employment. … Read more

BACKGROUND: COBRA HEALTH INSURANCE CONTINUATION COVERAGE When an employee separates from service, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, or has work hours reduced to the extent that the employee no longer qualifies for participation in the employer’s group health plan, the Consolidated … Read more

On May 18, 2021, the Internal Revenue Service published Notice 2021-31, Premium Assistance for COBRA Benefits. This 41-page document makes clear that in the case of fully-insured health plans, the IRS will treat the employer as the entity providing the … Read more

In previous blog posts, I have written about whether North Carolina public employers may require employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 (here) and about North Carolina’s vaccine priority plans and how they have changed (here). If you are trying to … Read more

Local government employers are now eligible for credits against the social security and Medicare tax payments that they must make, if they voluntarily extend Emergency Paid Sick Leave (EPSL) and Emergency Family and Medical Leave (EFMLA leave) through September 30, … Read more

UPDATED MARCH 25, 2021 Starting now, many, but not all, local government employees are eligible for COVID-19 vaccinations.  In an earlier blog post, I outlined North Carolina’s vaccination priority plan. The state has made changes to the plan to align … Read more

The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, commonly called the stimulus bill and signed into law on December 27, 2020, let the leave requirements of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) expire.  No longer are employers obligated by law to grant … Read more

The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), passed in March as the federal government’s first response to the COVID-19 crisis, is a law with many parts. The Emergency Sick Leave Act and the Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act … Read more

UPDATED MARCH 25, 2021 Every year many employers choose to require employees to undergo vaccination against seasonal influenza (flu). This year, however, a different decision will confront employers: whether to require employees to undergo vaccination against COVID-19. The flu vaccine … Read more

On September 16, 2020, the United States Department of Labor (DOL) published revisions to its Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) regulations in the Federal Register. The revisions were made in response to an August 3, 2020 ruling by a … Read more