In McAllen Hospitals LP et al. v. Lopez issued by the Texas Supreme Court, a group of nurses lost a case in which they claimed that they were intended to have been paid a yearly salary rather than hourly. A yearly salary would have meant more money. The Court found: The Court stated that “we hold there is no evidence that would have allowed reasonable, fair-minded people to find that the employer and its employees had a meeting of the minds on a fixed amount of pay. We … [Read more...]
Texas Biometric Privacy Law restricts certain “biometric identifiers.” Only three states have laws regulating the collection and storage of Biometric data.
Healthcare is rapidly expanding the use of biometric information with hospitals utilizing fingerprinting to secure patient electronic data. Employers are also using the technology which debaters argue could compromise an individual’s right to privacy. However, new laws continue to create protection and security through the use of biometric information. “Biometrics” are biological measurements that cannot be replicated of individual biological patterns or characteristics such as fingerprints, … [Read more...]
HHSC Requires Providers to Immediately Redo all Nurse Aide Registry Status Searches
Provider Letter No. 17-24 All Providers who used the Nurse Aide Registry(NAR) from June 14, 2017, through August 3, 2017 are now required by HHSC to recheck the status searches due to an error by contractor Pearson Vue which placed ineligible nurse aides on “Active” status and mailed these ineligible individuals an invalid certificate. This error also caused 50 inaccurate event-based emails to be sent to 19 individual candidates. If a search result now shows that a nurse aide is not in … [Read more...]
Don’t Forget Due Diligence for Identifying Immigration Issues When Merging or Buying a Business
When merging with or purchasing an already functioning business providing long term care, it is important that you address the immigration and employment issues in your due diligence checklist and process. Failure to do so, may cause legal problems for you after the purchase.You should determine whether the business has employees who are in the country by virtue of visas. In particular, HB1 visas can be an issue as these visas are only valid for a specified employer. Given that the employer will … [Read more...]
HHSC – Learning Collaborative Summit
HHSC has posted information on the August 27th - 28th Statewide Learning Collaborative Summit, including the livestream link and agenda, on the Dates and Deadlines page. Visit us at Garlo Ward, PC … [Read more...]
IRS Defers Requirement on Reporting Health Plan Coverage Costs
On October 12, 2010, the IRS released a draft Form W-2 for employers for 2011. Employers use Form W-2 to report wages and employee tax withholding. The IRS also announced that it will defer the requirement that employers report the cost of coverage under an employer-sponsored group health plan. Therefore, employer reporting of coverage costs is optional for 2011. The deferral allows employers additional time to make changes to their payroll systems or procedures in preparation for compliance … [Read more...]
Proposed Federal Law Targets Employee Misclassification
Correctly classifying employees and independent contractors is about to become even more important. On April 22, the Employee Misclassification Prevention Act (EMPA) was introduced in the United States Congress as an amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). If it becomes law, the EMPA will impose federal criminal penalties upon employers who categorize workers as independent contractors when they should be treated as employees. The bill (1) subjects employers to potential … [Read more...]
Moving Case Mgmt from the Provider to MRA
SB 1 Sect. 48 moved HCS case management to Mental Retardation Authorities (MRA). Currently, DADS does not plan on phasing in this shift, instead, DADS intends to ochestrate a mass move in June of 2010. DADS will hold a training for MRAs and providers in the spring before the change. The MRA will conduct enrollment and keep up with the PDP (person directed plan). The requirement for an interdiscplinary team has been removed and now a service team consisting of the individual, LAR, and … [Read more...]
Mental Health Parity Act Effective Date Delayed Until January 2010
New requirements for employee health care plans originally scheduled to go into effect next month now have been delayed for at least a few more months. Congress has deferred the effective date of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPA) until January 2010. The MHPA does not require health insurance plans to provide mental health or addiction disorder benefits if they do not do so already. However, for group health plans that do choose to provide mental health and/or substance use … [Read more...]
New FMLA Standards Applicable: Some Employees May Be Entitled to Up To 26 Unpaid Weeks Leave
On January 28, 2008, President Bush signed into law new FMLA leave entitlements for military families (“military family leave provisionsâ€). The National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2008 amended the FMLA to provide two new types of unpaid military family leave for FMLA-eligible employees: “qualifying exigency leave†and “military caregiver leave.†Both types of leave have been in effect since January 16, 2009, after the publication of new regulations by the Department of Labor. … [Read more...]
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