On July 1, 2015, Governor Tom Wolf signed into law Act 15 (House Bill 1276), which amends Pennsylvania’s Child Protective Services Law (CPSL) to clarify the requirements of employers and volunteer-based organizations to provide for criminal background checks and child abuse clearances of their employees and volunteers who work directly with children.  Act 15 provides much-needed, and desired, clarification to a well-intentioned statute that had a very broad effect. Prior to the passage…

The United States Department of Labor (DOL) recently released new forms for employers to use when their employees are in need of leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).  These new forms can be viewed here.  So… what’s changed (besides the form expiration date), and why should your company use these forms? Read on to find out. The FMLA requires covered employers (i.e., those with 50 or more employees) to provide eligible…

This post was contributed by Eric N. Athey, Esq., a Member in McNees Wallace & Nurick LLC’s Labor and Employment Practice Group. As previously reported on this blog, employers are required to provide a notice to employees regarding coverage options under the new Health Insurance Marketplaces created by the Affordable Care Act that are scheduled to be up and running on October 1. The notice must be provided by October 1 to all employees,…

As we discussed with attendees at our most recent health care reform compliance seminar in June, we wanted to make the presentation available to the readers of our blog.  You can access the PowerPoint, “Countdown to 2014: PPACA Compliance Priorities for Employers,” by clicking here.  Readers of this blog will note that we recently reported on a one-year delay in the effective date for PPACA’s employer shared responsibility requirements.  Please keep in mind that the…

Many employers received a welcome, though temporary, reprieve yesterday, when the U.S. Department of the Treasury (“Department”) announced a one-year delay in the effective date of one of the key requirements of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“PPACA”) – the employer “shared responsibility” requirements (a.k.a. “pay or play”).  PPACA’s shared responsibility requirements were scheduled to become effective January 1, 2014, which has left countless employers scrambling to navigate complex regulations to determine what…

 This post was contributed by Joseph S. Sileo, Esq., a new addition to McNees Wallace & Nurick LLC’s Labor and Employment Law Practice Group.  McNees recently welcomed Joe, Jennifer LaPorta Baker and Jennifer J. Walsh in Scranton, Pennsylvania. As employers know all too well, an employee who is injured in connection with work can receive workers’ compensation benefits simply by establishing that the injury occurred in the course of employment and resulted in a loss of wages. Proof…