Updating Your Employee Handbook in 2014

In Business Law, Employment Law by Coolidge Wall

Has it been more than a year or two since you reviewed and revised your company’s employee handbook? If so, now may be a good time to do so. The following are a few policies on which you may want to concentrate in light of recent employment law developments: Healthcare and benefit policies. Given the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in U.S. v. Windsor and subsequent guidance from the IRS and the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”), employers need to update their retirement and healthcare plans even if the employers are located in a state whose laws do not permit …

Federal Government Delays ACA Employer Mandate

In Healthcare Reform, Tax by Coolidge Wall

The federal government recently issued final regulations that apply to the “employer mandate” or “play or pay” provisions under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). These provisions require employers with 50 or more employees to offer full-time employees (and their dependents) the opportunity to enroll in an adequate and affordable employer-sponsored health plan or pay a penalty. Last year, the government postponed enforcement of the new mandate until 2015. Now, the government has provided a further delay for employers with 50 to 99 employees and modified for one-year the coverage requirement that applies to employers with 100 or more employees: Employers …

When Settlement Isn’t the End: the EEOC’s War on Certainty in Severance Agreements

In Business Law, Litigation by Coolidge Wall

Imagine this scenario faced by many employers with exiting employees: the employer gives the exiting employee the option to contractually waive any future right to sue the employer in exchange for a lump sum, a golden (or silver) parachute. The employee has signed the severance agreement, cashed the check, and that chapter of the company’s life is closed. Or is it? Recently, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) has sued national pharmacy chain CVS for provisions CVS included in severance agreements with employees. The EEOC claims that the severance agreements condition severance benefits on a variety of “fine print” clauses …