Employers should expect heighten scrutiny and enforcement in the labor law areas identified in the “2013 Top Management Challenges Facing the Department List” recently published by the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General. Employers can expect to see the Labor Department and its component agencies acting to tighten oversight and enforcement in these areas in response to the OIG list.
For 2013, the OIG identified the following as the most serious management and performance challenges facing the Department:
- Protecting the Safety and Health of Workers
- Protecting the Safety and Health of Miners
- Improving Performance Accountability of Workforce Investment Act Grants
- Ensuring the Effectiveness of the Job Corps Program
- Reducing Improper Payments
- Ensuring the Security of Employee Benefit Plan Assets
- Securing and Protecting Information Management Systems
- Ensuring the Effectiveness of Veterans’ Employment and Training Service Programs
In the report accompanying the OIG list, the OIG presents the challenge, the OIG’s assessment of the Department’s progress in addressing the challenge, and what remains to be done. These top management challenges are intended to identify and help resolve serious weaknesses in areas that involve substantial resources and provide critical services to the public. Typically, the identification of an area of concern by the OIG prompts tightening of processes and enforcement.
For Assistance or More Information
If you have questions or need help with these or employee benefit, human resources, insurance, health care matters or related documents or practices, please contact the author of this update, Cynthia Marcotte Stamer.
A Fellow in the American College of Employee Benefit Council, immediate past Chair of the American Bar Association (ABA) RPTE Employee Benefits & Other Compensation Group and current Co-Chair of its Welfare Benefit Committee, Vice-Chair of the ABA TIPS Employee Benefits Committee, a council member of the ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits, and past Chair of the ABA Health Law Section Managed Care & Insurance Interest Group, Ms. Stamer is recognized, internationally, nationally and locally for her more than 25 years of work, advocacy, education and publications on cutting edge health and managed care, employee benefit, human resources and related workforce, insurance and financial services, and health care matters.
A board certified labor and employment attorney widely known for her extensive and creative knowledge and experienced with these and other employment, employee benefit and compensation matters, Ms. Stamer continuously advises and assists employers, employee benefit plans, their sponsoring employers, fiduciaries, insurers, administrators, service providers, insurers and others to monitor and respond to evolving legal and operational requirements and to design, administer, document and defend medical and other welfare benefit, qualified and non-qualified deferred compensation and retirement, severance and other employee benefit, compensation, and human resources, management and other programs and practices tailored to the client’s human resources, employee benefits or other management goals. A primary drafter of the Bolivian Social Security pension privatization law, Ms. Stamer also works extensively with management, service provider and other clients to monitor legislative and regulatory developments and to deal with Congressional and state legislators, regulators, and enforcement officials about regulatory, investigatory or enforcement concerns.
Recognized in Who’s Who In American Professionals and both an American Bar Association (ABA) and a State Bar of Texas Fellow, Ms. Stamer serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of Employee Benefits News, HR.com, Insurance Thought Leadership, Solutions Law Press, Inc. and other publications, and active in a multitude of other employee benefits, human resources and other professional and civic organizations. She also is a widely published author and highly regarded speaker on these matters. Her insights on these and other matters appear in the Bureau of National Affairs, Spencer Publications, the Wall Street Journal, the Dallas Business Journal, the Houston Business Journal, Modern and many other national and local publications. Her widely respected publications and programs include more than 25 years of publications on health plan contracting, design, administration and risk management including a “Managed Care Contracting Guide” published by the American Health Lawyers Association and numerous other works on vendor contracting. You can learn more about Ms. Stamer and her experience, review some of her other training, speaking, publications and other resources, and register to receive future updates about developments on these and other concerns from Ms. Stamer here.
Other Helpful Resources & Other Information
We hope that this information is useful to you. If you found these updates of interest, you also be interested in one or more of the following other recent articles published on the Coalition for Responsible Health Care Reform electronic publication available here, our electronic Solutions Law Press Health Care Update publication available here, or our HR & Benefits Update electronic publication available here . You also can get access to information about how you can arrange for training on “Building Your Family’s Health Care Toolkit,” using the “PlayForLife” resources to organize low-cost wellness programs in your workplace, school, church or other communities, and other process improvement, compliance and other training and other resources for health care providers, employers, health plans, community leaders and others here. If you or someone else you know would like to receive future updates about developments on these and other concerns, please be sure that we have your current contact information – including your preferred e-mail by creating or updating your profile here. You can reach other recent updates and other informative publications and resources.
Recent examples of these publications include:
- US Labor Department Seeks $300K+ Whistleblower Recovery Against Employer For Firing Worker
- Careful Selection & Contracting With Vendors Critical Part of Health Plan Renewals
- Exchange Enrollment Kicks Off Plagued By Government Shutdown, Other Challenges
- Keeping Dementia Patients At Home: New Study Gives Tips
- PBGC Benefit Recipients Health Coverage Tax Credit Eligibility Expires 12/31/13
- HHS Announces $50M In Affordable Care Act Community Health Center Mental Health Services Funding
- Insist President & Congress Get Real About Health Care Reform
- Logon & Password Creation For Personal Accounts Lend Significance To Consumer Security Concerns About Using HHS Health Insurance Exchange Portal
- Affordable Care Act Requires Proper Integration of HRAs, HFSAs, & Certain Other Health Premium Reimbursement Arrangements
- Review Benefit Plan, FLMA & Other Family-Related Policies In Light Of Labor Department Same-Sex Marriage Guidance
- Bank Of American Ordered To Pay $2M+ For Race Discriminatory Hiring
- New Final FLSA Rule Gives Home Workers Minimum Wage, Overtime, Other FLSA Protections
- HHS Share Model HIPAA Notices 1 Week Before Deadline For Updating Business Associate Agreements
- CMS Hosts Webinar Celebrating National Health IT Week 9/16-20
- New DOL Guidance Makes Many Employers Rethink Giving FLSA 18B Exchange Notices
- Tell HHS What You Think About Obamacare & Other Rules
- Insist President & Congress Get Real About Health Care Reform
- Employers Beware! DOL-Model FLSA Section 18B Exchange Notice Requires Tailoring!
- IRS Publishes Final Health Reform Individual Shared Responsibility Rules
- Cascom Inc. Owner Must Pay Nearly $1.5 M After Company Misclassified Employees As Independent Contractors
- Government Contractors To Face Hiring “Targets” for Vets & Disabled Under Impending Rules.
- Impending 10/1 Exchange Notice & Other New Notice Deadlines Cut Time Short For Employers To Finalize 2014 Health Plan Terms & Contracts
- Businesses Urged To Strengthen Their Worker Classification Defenses As IRS, Other Agencies Step Up Audits & Enforcement
- 13 Employer Tips For Coping With Health Care Reform Now!
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©2013 Cynthia Marcotte Stamer. Nonexclusive right to republish granted to Solutions Law Press, Inc. All other rights reserved.
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