Washington D.C. Employment Law Update : Washington D.C. Employment Lawyer & Attorney : Littler Mendelson Law Firm : Virginia, Tyson's Corner

On Friday the House of Representatives narrowly approved (215-204) a scaled-back version of the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act (H.R. 4213), a bill that would extend a number of benefit programs, including emergency unemployment payments, and provide for pension funding relief and fee disclosures. Details of this joint legislation were first unveiled last week.  Due to the measure’s escalating cost estimate, however, members of Congress agreed to trim a number of benefit extensions to ensure enough votes for passage, including a last-minute decision to omit the COBRA premium subsidy extension entirely. Other provisions, such as the one providing for an extension of the emergency unemployment benefits program, was reduced by one month. Specifically, as outlined in a summary (pdf) of the revised bill, certain provisions would do the following:

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On Thursday, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee held a hearing to discuss the financial crisis facing many multiemployer pension plans, collectively bargained plans that are maintained by labor unions and more than one employer. Several witnesses, including Phyllis C. Borzi, Assistant Secretary of Labor of the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) and Representative to the Board of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), testified about the need to support such plans to ensure their viability for current and future retirees.

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As a result of yesterday’s status conference in the federal lawsuit filed by the Air Transport Association of America (ATA) to stop the National Mediation Board (NMB) from implementing the May 10, 2010 Final Rule (pdf) changing its 75-year-old election procedures, the NMB will delay the effective date of its new rule from June 10 to June 30. In the meantime, the court is expected to hear arguments on June 3 on ATA’s motion to take expedited discovery stemming from its request for a preliminary injunction against the NMB’s rule. The hearing on the injunction motion will then take place June 14. In addition, the court allowed the United States Chamber of Commerce, a group of Delta Airlines employees represented by the National Right to Work Foundation, and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters to intervene in the lawsuit. 

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The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to determine whether the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) preempts states from conditioning the enforceability of an arbitration agreement on the availability of class-wide arbitration when that procedure is not necessary to ensure that parties to the agreement are able to vindicate their claims. The case at issue – AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion (09-893) – concerns a consumer contract for wireless telephone services that contained both an agreement to arbitrate disputes and a class action waiver clause. While this matter deals with the viability of an arbitration provision in a consumer contract, the Supreme Court’s decision may impact such provisions in employment agreements as well.

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On Monday, the Department of Labor’s Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS) held a public meeting to discuss potential changes to employer and consultant reporting under section 203 of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA). Section 203 establishes reporting and disclosure requirements for employers and labor relations consultants who enter into agreements or arrangements “whereby the consultant (or other person) undertakes activities to persuade employees as to their rights to organize and bargain collectively or to obtain certain information concerning the activities of employees or a labor organization in connection with a labor dispute involving the employer.” The agency requires employers and consultants to annually fill out certain disclosure forms regarding these arrangements. As the law currently stands, Section 203(c) exempts employers and consultants from filing these reports by reason of the consultant’s giving or agreeing to give “advice” to the employer. During Monday’s hearing, the OLMS indicated that it believes the current interpretation of the advice exception was overbroad and seeks to narrow it through rulemaking, as outlined in its semiannual regulatory agenda. (pdf)

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The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday issued two decisions that impact employers. One decision will make employers more vulnerable to charges of disparate impact discrimination claims; the other makes it easier for fee claimants in ERISA actions to seek attorneys’ fees. In the first case, Lewis v. City of Chicago, (pdf) the Court held that a disparate impact employment discrimination charge filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) within 300 days of a discriminatory practice’s application – not merely the announcement of its adoption – will be deemed timely. The practical effect of this decision is that employers will now be subject to disparate impact lawsuits years after initially unchallenged policies are implemented.

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The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is set to issue a proposed rule (pdf) to revise the agency’s walking-working surfaces and personal protective equipment standards. According to a summary of the proposed rule to be published in Monday’s edition of the Federal Register, the proposed rule is intended to reduce the number of fall-related employee deaths and injuries by updating the rule to include new technology (including personal fall protection systems) and industry methods. The proposed rule: “reorganizes the rule in a clearer, more logical manner and provides greater compliance flexibility,” and “increases consistency between construction, maritime, and general industry standards, and eliminates duplication.”

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On Thursday, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Sander Levin (D-MI) and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) introduced a summary of the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act, (pdf) joint legislation that, among other things, extends emergency unemployment benefits and COBRA credits through the end of 2010, and provides pension funding relief for single- and multi-employer pension plans. The legislation will be introduced as a House Amendment to the American Workers, State, and Business Relief Act of 2010 (H.R. 4213), which the Senate passed in March as an amendment to the original Tax Extenders Act of 2009 that cleared the House in December.

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On Thursday evening, the Senate approved by a 59-39 margin the Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010, the massive financial reform bill commonly referred to as “Wall Street Reform” legislation. Earlier that day, the chamber was able to secure the 60 votes needed to limit debate on the measure, after failing to do so on Wednesday. Although the bulk of this legislation focuses on banking regulation and consumer financial protection, a handful of the bill’s provisions and amendments touch on employment-related issues.

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The Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has issued final regulations (pdf) governing the employment of children for non-agricultural jobs. According to a summary published in the Federal Register, the final rule revises the child labor regulations to incorporate statutory amendments to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), updates and clarifies the regulations that establish protections for youth employed in nonagricultural occupations, and implements specific recommendations made by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in its 2002 report to the DOL. Additionally, the regulations substantially increase the maximum permissible civil money penalty an employer may be assessed for child labor violations that cause the death or serious injury of a young worker. In a statement, the DOL claims that the final regulations “give employers clear notice that there are certain jobs children are simply not allowed to perform. They also expand opportunities for young workers to gain safe, positive work experience in fields such as advertising, teaching, banking and information technology, as well as through school-supervised work-study programs.”

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The Department of Labor’s Office of Labor Management Standards (OLMS) will publish in tomorrow’s Federal Register a final rule (pdf) implementing Executive Order (EO) 13496: Notification of Employee Rights Under Federal Labor Laws. (pdf)  This EO mandates that all government contracting departments and agencies include a provision in most government contracts stipulating that the contractor post a notice “in all places where notices to employees are customarily posted both physically and electronically,” informing them of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).

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The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has published in the Federal Register final regulations (pdf) relating to diversification requirements for certain defined contribution plans holding publicly traded employer securities. According to the IRS, these regulations “will affect administrators of, employers maintaining, participants in, and beneficiaries of defined contribution plans that are invested in employer securities."  Specifically, the regulations implement section 401(a)(35) of the Internal Revenue Code, which was added by section 901 of the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (P.L. 109-280). This section requires certain defined contribution plans to provide participants, alternate payees and beneficiaries the right to divest employer securities held in their pension plan accounts and to direct the reinvestment of these amounts among at least three alternative investment options. The final regulations include a summary of comments it received from the proposed regulations issued in January 2008, and an explanation of revisions the agency deems most significant. These final regulations apply for plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2011, and are effective as of May 19, 2010.

Photo credit:  Kirby Hamilton

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On May 17, 2010, the Air Transport Association of America (ATA) filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to prevent the National Mediation Board (NMB) from implementing a change to its 75-year-old election process that would make it easier for unions to organize airline and railroad employees. In the lawsuit, the ATA claims that NMB’s Final Rule should be set aside because it contravenes the clear and unambiguous language of the Railway Labor Act. The association also argues the NMB’s conduct was “arbitrary, capricious [or] an abuse of discretion” in that the NMB, among other actions, departed from its long-standing rule without legitimate justification, predetermined its course without regard to concerns raised by the industry, and selectively borrowed only pro-union provisions from the labor statute that applies to non-rail and non-airline employees.

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The Department of Defense (DoD) will publish in tomorrow’s edition of the Federal Register an interim rule (pdf) implementing section 8116 of the DoD Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2010, which restricts a contractor’s use of mandatory arbitration agreements in certain instances. Specifically, section 8116 bans contractors or subcontractors at any tier that receive funds in excess of $1 million from the appropriations bill from enforcing mandatory, pre-dispute agreements to arbitrate “any claim under title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or any tort related to or arising out of sexual assault or harassment, including assault and battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, false imprisonment, or negligent hiring, supervision, or retention.” The Secretary of Defense is permitted to waive the applicability of this prohibition to a particular contract or subcontract in the interest of national security. Additionally, the arbitration limitations do not apply to a contractor’s or subcontractor’s agreement with employees or independent contractors that cannot be enforced in the U.S.

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The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or “Board”) is inviting “all interested parties” to file amicus briefs in pending cases involving whether employers should be required to electronically post Board-ordered remedial notices, and whether the Board should routinely order compound interest on back pay and other monetary awards in unfair labor practice (ULP) cases. The NLRB considers these issues to be “significant” for employees, employers and unions.

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This week, the Senate approved by a 63-36 margin an amendment (S. Amdt. 3962) to the Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010 (S. 3217) – the financial reform bill currently under Senate consideration – that would prevent mortgage brokers from receiving bonuses for signing borrowers to high interest loans. Introduced by Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), this amendment would ban mortgage lenders and loan originators from accepting payments based on the interest rate or other terms of high-interest loans, and require lenders to document income and other underwriting standards to ensure that borrowers are able to repay their loans. According to a statement released from Sen. Merkley’s office, doing so would “end the damaging and deceptive practice of ‘no doc’ and ‘liar loans.’”

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The Department of Labor has issued interim final regulations (pdf) implementing the dependent coverage provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Healthcare and Education Reconciliation Act (PPACA) (the dependent coverage provisions are contained in ERISA section 715).

The new regulations provide that effective for plan years beginning on or after September 23, 2010 (effective date), any group health plan or group health insurance issuer (plan), which provides coverage to dependent children must make coverage available to dependent children until they have attained the age of 26. The regulation confirms that the last required coverage date is the day before the child's 26th birthday.  Continue reading this entry at Littler's Healthcare Employment Counsel blog.

Photo credit:  MBPHOTO, INC.

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The same day the National Mediation Board (NMB) published a final rule (pdf) amending its representation election procedure to make it easier for employees in the air and rail industries to unionize, Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA) introduced a measure in opposition to this change. Senate Joint Resolution 30 calls for Congressional disapproval of the agency’s action, which is the first step in allowing Congress to overturn the rule.

As reported in The Hill’s Blog Briefing Room, Isakson said that he “will have the signatures necessary to discharge my resolution of disapproval, to bring about a vote on the floor of the Senate.” The resolution was introduced with 25 co-sponsors. Thirty votes are needed to bring the measure to the Senate floor for a vote, and 51 are needed to pass the resolution in the Senate. There are currently 41 Republican senators, so in the event the resolution does make it to the floor, it will need to garner a level of bipartisan support to succeed. As Isakson stated during a news interview, “If it's a partisan vote, we'll lose. If it's a pragmatic, thoughtful vote, we'll win.” Isakson considered the rule to be a way of implementing the infamous “card check” provision of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) “by running around the back door, and that's not right.”

This measure has been referred to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP).

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The Department of Labor’s (DOL) Office of Labor Management Standards (OLMS) has launched the Union Elections Advisor, an interactive web site “intended to describe certain rights of union members and candidates in union officer elections, and the responsibilities of union officers and others involved in conducting union officer elections” under the terms of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA). Title IV of the LMRDA requires periodic election of union officers and prescribes minimum standards to ensure that such elections are fairly conducted.

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On Tuesday, the Senate Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety held a hearing to assess the need for safe patient handling and lifting standards. A number of panel members testified that health care workers experience a relatively excessive rate of musculoskeletal injuries due to manual patient handling and called for legislation and regulation to provide a “floor” for minimally acceptable working conditions. Legislation has already been introduced in both congressional chambers to accomplish this end. The Nurse and Health Care Worker Protection Act (S. 1788, H.R. 2381) was introduced in the Senate by Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) in October 2009, and in the House of Representatives by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) last May.  Continue reading this entry at Littler’s Healthcare Employment Counsel blog.

Photo credit:  AlexRaths

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The Department of Labor’s (DOL) Office of Labor Management Standards (OLMS) announced its intent to hold a public meeting to solicit input regarding employer and consultant reporting under section 203 of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA). Section 203 establishes reporting and disclosure requirements for employers and labor relations consultants who enter into agreements or arrangements “whereby the consultant (or other person) undertakes activities to persuade employees as to their rights to organize and bargain collectively or to obtain certain information concerning the activities of employees or a labor organization in connection with a labor dispute involving the employer.” Employers and consultants are required to annually fill out certain disclosure forms (LM-10, LM-20) regarding these arrangements.

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The Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) is set to publish a notice (pdf) in the Federal Register announcing the availability of model COBRA notices that group health plans and other entities are required to provide to individuals eligible for the premium reductions and additional health care coverage election periods provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), and extended for the third time by the Continuing Extension Act (CEA) of 2010. The CEA extends through May 31, 2010, the 65 % premium COBRA subsidy for eligible individuals who are involuntarily terminated from employment. In addition, the CEA provides retroactive eligibility for individuals who lost their jobs after the prior COBRA subsidy expired on March 31, 2010.

The EBSA has created a webpage that contains links to an updated Model Updated General Notice, Model Notice of New Election Period, Model Supplemental Information Notice, Model Notice of Extended Election Period, and a Model Updated Alternative Notice, in addition to instructions on which notice to provide and to whom.

Longer COBRA extensions are included in the American Workers, State, and Business Relief Act of 2010 (H.R. 4213), which the Senate passed in March. House and Senate negotiators are working to resolve differences so that both Chambers can approve final legislation before Memorial Day.

Photo credit:  MBPHOTO

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In tomorrow’s edition of the Federal Register, the National Mediation Board (NMB) is set to publish a final rule (pdf) amending its representation election procedure that has been in place for 75 years, making it easier for employees in the air and rail industries to unionize. Under the existing approach, a majority of employees eligible to vote in representation elections determines the outcome of the election. Therefore, employees who chose not to participate are counted as “no union” votes. Effective as of June 10, 2010, the NMB’s final rule upends this decades-old policy by basing the voting outcome on the majority of those who actually vote, as is the practice in non-NMB-governed industries.

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President Obama has named U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan as his pick to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens to the U.S. Supreme Court. If confirmed, Kagan will be the third woman to preside over the nine-justice Court, and only the fourth woman to ever serve on the bench. A Democrat, Kagan is considered to be more moderate than Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Obama’s last nominee to the Court. Additionally, because Kagan was never a judge, she has no judicial track record to scrutinize during future confirmation hearings, and thus could be considered a “safer” pick. Also, unlike Sotomayor, Kagan does not have a history of opinions in labor and employment matters, as her academic career and writings focused primarily on matters of administrative and constitutional law. Although Kagan’s confirmation is not a sure bet by any means, the Senate’s 61-31 confirmation of her as Solicitor General last year indicates that she enjoys some measure of bipartisan support.

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The newly enacted Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (collectively known as “PPACA”), has set in motion significant changes to this country’s health care system. Many of these changes have and will impose new responsibilities on employers, insurers, benefits administrators, and the health professional community in general. Navigating the legislation and understanding the obligations the new health care law has created is made more difficult by the fact that many of these requirements are to be phased in over the next eight years.

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Last week, the Department of Labor (DOL) announced a new regulatory and enforcement strategy that will require businesses to implement self-monitoring plans to ensure compliance with several labor laws. Under the “Plan/Prevent/Protect” initiative, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), and the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) will develop regulatory actions mandating that employers establish and enforce plans for identifying and remedying labor law violations. According to a DOL statement on this new program,

[e]mployers and others must 'find and fix' violations — that is, assure compliance — before a Labor Department investigator arrives at the workplace. Employers and others in the Department's regulated communities must understand that the burden is on them to obey the law, not on the Labor Department to catch them violating the law. This is the heart of the Labor Department's new strategy.

For more information on this DOL initiative and how it will impact employers, see Littler’s ASAP: "Plan/Prevent/Protect": The DOL’s Program to Transform Employment Law Compliance for Businesses by Jay Sumner, Van A. Goodwin, Mary E. Sharp, and Antonio D. Robinson.

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The day after the House Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions conducted a hearing on the Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act (POWADA) (H.R. 3721, S. 1756), the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee held its own hearing on the issue, highlighting the significant attention the bill is receiving on Capitol Hill.  The POWADA would, among other things, reverse last year’s U.S. Supreme Court decision in Gross v. FBL Financial Services, Inc. in which the Court toughened an employee’s burden of proof in bringing a mixed-motive discrimination claim under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). Specifically, in Gross, the Court held that a plaintiff bringing an ADEA claim must show by a preponderance of the evidence that age was the “but for” cause of the employer’s adverse employment decision. In contrast to Title VII discrimination cases, in ADEA cases an employer does not need to prove that it would have made the same decision regardless of age, even if the employee were to produce some evidence that age may have been a contributing factor in the decision.

Three of the five witnesses at the HELP Committee hearing – Jack Gross, plaintiff in the Supreme Court case at issue; Eric Dreiband, former General Counsel of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) currently in private practice; and Gail E. Aldrich, member of the AARP Board of Directors – also testified at yesterday’s House subcommittee hearing. A full list of the Senate committee’s witnesses, their testimony, and a video of the hearing can be found here.

Photo credit:  Skynesher

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The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) plans to conduct stakeholder meetings and solicit written comments on its current injury and illness recordkeeping collection methods in preparation for regulatory action to modernize the system. In a news release, OSHA’s Assistant Secretary of Labor David Michaels stated that the public meetings and written input “will help give OSHA direction to develop innovative ideas that will allow employers, workers and researchers to participate in improving occupational safety and health through the use of occupational injury and illness data.” As discussed in a summary of OSHA’s intent published in the Federal Register, these efforts will also support President Obama's Open Government initiative by increasing the ability of the public to easily find, download, and use the resulting dataset generated and held by the federal government.

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The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is seeking information and comment (pdf) on occupational exposure to infectious agents in health care and health care-related settings in order to determine whether it will take further regulatory action to limit the spread of occupationally acquired infectious diseases. According to a summary of this request published in the Federal Register, OSHA is interested in strategies that are being used in work settings where health care is provided (e.g., hospitals, outpatient clinics, clinics in schools and correctional facilities) and health care-related settings (e.g., laboratories that handle potentially infectious biological materials, medical examiner offices and mortuaries) to mitigate the risk of occupationally acquired infectious diseases. To that end, the agency seeks to collect “information and data on the facilities and the tasks potentially exposing workers to this risk; successful employee infection control programs; control methodologies being utilized (including engineering, work practice, and administrative controls and personal protective equipment); medical surveillance programs; and training.”

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The Department of Labor (DOL) has launched an interactive web tool to help employers comply with various disability-related employment discrimination laws. The Disability Nondiscrimination Law Advisor “is designed to help employers determine which federal disability nondiscrimination laws apply to their business or organization,” and “helps recipients of federal financial assistance understand their responsibilities under these laws.” The new Advisor, which is the newest in a series of Employment Laws Assistance for Workers and Small Businesses, or “elaws,” asks users to answer questions to help determine which federal disability nondiscrimination laws apply to them. Based on the responses given, the website generates an applicable list of federal disability laws that apply to that particular employer, along with information about the employer’s responsibilities under those laws.

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On Wednesday, the House Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions held a hearing on the Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act (POWADA) (H.R. 3721, S. 1756), legislation that would overturn the June 18, 2009 Supreme Court decision in Gross v. FBL Financials Services, Inc.  In Gross, the Court held that a plaintiff bringing a claim under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) must show by a preponderance of the evidence that age was the “but for” cause of the employer’s adverse employment decision. An employer does not have to prove that it would have made the same decision regardless of age, even if the employee produces some evidence that age may have been a contributing factor in the decision. Thus, the Court decided, the burden-shifting framework in mixed motive Title VII cases does not apply to age discrimination claims under the ADEA. In reversing Gross, POWADA would establish that when a victim shows discrimination was a “motivating factor” behind a decision, the burden would be on the employer to show it complied with the law, and clarify that the motivating factor framework applies to all anti-discrimination and anti-retaliation laws.

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The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has issued interim final regulations (pdf) to implement the provisions of the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program (ERRP), the temporary cost assistance program instituted as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). The ERRP provides $5 billion in temporary financial help for employer plans that continue to provide health coverage to “early retirees,” defined as individuals age 55 and older who are neither active employees nor eligible for Medicare, plus their spouses, surviving spouses and dependents. Under the ERRP, the Secretary will reimburse plans for certain claims between $15,000 and $90,000 (with those amounts being indexed for plan years starting on or after October 1, 2011). Funds will be available until the earlier of January 1, 2014 or until the $5 billion is depleted. These plans can receive reimbursement for a portion of medical, surgical, hospital, and prescription drug costs.  Continue reading about this development at Littler's Healthcare Employment Counsel blog.

Photo credit:  Andriy Solovyov

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The Graduate Student Organizing Committee (GSOC/UAW Local 2110) has filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) demanding union recognition for NYU graduate student teaching and research assistants. In a statement, members said:  “Like any other workers, we want a union so that we can bargain collectively around wage, benefit and workplace issues, and achieve security and stability in the workplace,” adding: “GSOC/UAW Local 2110 is the only union that can guarantee the full collective bargaining rights of NYU graduate employees and represent our interests in ALL of the work that we perform for the university, including teaching, research and administrative services.” Last week, the American Arbitration Association (AAA) verified that a majority of NYU graduate students who serve as teaching and research assistants chose to be represented by Local 2110 in collective bargaining with the NYU administration. If the graduate students’ petition is successful, it would be the first time since 2004 that graduate students at a private university would be deemed covered by federal labor law. That year the NLRB decided in Brown University (pdf) that graduate student assistants are not statutory employees subject to the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The NYU graduate students’ petition may present the opportunity for the newly-appointed members of the NLRB to revisit the Brown University decision.

A bill has already been introduced in both the House and Senate this term that would reverse the Board’s decision in Brown.  The Teaching and Research Assistant Collective Bargaining Rights Act (H.R. 1461, S. 813) would effectively allow private university students who serve as teaching and research assistants to form or join a union.

Photo credit: Joshua Hodge Photography

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The IRS has published notice 2010-38, providing guidance as to the application of the new rules permitting favorable tax treatment of health benefits provided to children of covered employees. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, signed into law on March 23 and 30, 2010 (the "PPACA") requires that group health plans and health insurance issuers provide coverage for children of covered until the child reaches age 26. The coverage requirement of the PPACA is effective for the first plan year beginning on or after September 23, 2010, but the new law effectively permits plans and issuers to provide coverage under the new rules, by providing for favorable tax treatment of coverage and health reimbursements for children under age 27, effective as of March 30, 2010.  Continue reading about this development at Littler's Healthcare Employment Counsel blog.

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