Hey Compliance Warriors! The Internal Revenue Service today issued Notice 2021-63 to make clear how the temporary 100% business deduction for food or beverages from restaurants applies to taxpayers properly applying the rules of Revenue Procedure 2019-48 for using per diem rates. Previously, the IRS issued Notice 2021-25 providing guidance under the Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Relief Act […]
Hey Compliance Warriors! Recently, EEOC Commissioner Andrea Lucas posted on LinkedIn and said: “The White House’s Safer Federal Workforce Task Force substantially overhauled its recommended “template” for federal agencies to use for religious accommodation requests. Some private employers may have looked to the prior version of the Task Force template as a model […]
Hey Compliance Warriors! On Saturday morning, a Federal Appeals Court reaffirmed the stay on the OSHA ETS adding that it “grossly exceeds OSHA’s statutory authority.” You can read the 22-page opinion here https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/21/21-60845-CV0.pdf So, what next? Tomorrow, Tuesday, November 16th, 2021, a lottery is slated to be held that will choose a […]
Hey Compliance Warriors! Company owners held personally liable after US Department of Labor investigation A Las Vegas telemarketing enterprise that shortchanged more than 1,328 call center workers has been ordered to pay more than $1.4 million in back wages and liquidated damages by a federal court in San Francisco. The judgement follows a […]
Hey Compliance Warriors! The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the newly redesigned Employer Assistance and Resource Network on Disability Inclusion web site. Supported cooperatively by the department’s Office of Disability Employment Policy and Cornell University, the EARN site offers resources to help employers of all sizes and industries recruit, hire, retain and advance people […]
Hey Compliance Warriors! Employer Declared Employee Was a ‘Liability’ Due to Pregnancy, Federal Agency Charges Awon Phie LLC, doing business as Holiday Inn Express North Padre Island, will pay $30,000 and furnish comprehensive injunctive relief to settle a pregnancy discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency […]
Hey Compliance Warriors! Increases protections for 84M private-sector workers The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration today announced a new emergency temporary standard to protect more than 84 million workers from the spread of the coronavirus on the job. The nation’s unvaccinated workers face grave danger from workplace exposure to coronavirus, […]
Attorney Harrison Oldham The EEOC has updated its technical guidance and answers related to COVID-19 and requests for religious accommodations. The updated guidance adds six religious accommodation-based questions and answers. The updated guidance mostly reinforces several preexisting concepts, including (i) how employers should analyze the religious nature and sincerity of an employee’s belief; (ii) […]
Hey Compliance Warriors! The Internal Revenue Service announced today that the amount individuals can contribute to their 401(k) plans in 2022 has increased to $20,500, up from $19,500 for 2021 and 2020. The IRS today also issued technical guidance regarding all of the cost of living adjustments affecting dollar limitations for pension plans […]
Hey Compliance Warriors! This morning, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued an emergency temporary standard (ETS) to minimize the risk of COVID-19 transmission in the workplace. The ETS establishes binding requirements to protect unvaccinated employees of large employers (100 or more employees) from the risk of contracting COVID-19 in the workplace. […]