This morning, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) announced the implementation of the long awaited “Ambush Election” regulation. The rule is scheduled to take effect on April 14, 2015. The regulation will overhaul the election process through which labor unions are certified by the NLRB to represent workers.

On December 11, 2014 the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) issued its decision finding that employees had a statutory right to use employer owned e-mail systems for protected communications during non-working periods. The decision overrules a 2007 decision of the NLRB finding that employers may issue and enforce policies prohibiting non-work related e-mail transmissions. See, Purple Communications, Inc. and CWA, 361 NLRB No. 126 (2014).

On October 23, 2014, the Internal Revenue Service issued Notice 2014-99, which applies cost of living adjustments (“COLAs”) to various limits applicable to qualified retirement plans and individual retirement accounts for the 2015 year. The Notice will impact a variety of retirement plans for their upcoming plan year.

An issue we often overlook and many are unaware of relates to the payment of the terminated employee’s final wages. The applicable law is West Virginia Code 21-5-4. The law provides that a board of education/employer must pay a terminated employee’s wages no later than the next regular payday or within four business days. If payment is not made accordingly, the board of education/employer is liable to the employee for three times that unpaid amount as liquidated damages.

Effective October 27, 2014, the Medicare Program Integrity Manual (“Manual”) will require Medicare Administrative Contractors (“MACs”) to participate in administrative hearings concerning medical review decisions.

The October 31st deadline to review and revise your tax allocation agreement is rapidly approaching. Banks and their holding companies need to ensure their agreements are in compliance with new regulatory guidance that, amongst other things, expressly acknowledges an agency relationship exists between the entities.

Citing that “most teens who abuse pain relievers say they get them from family and friends,” the use of prescription pain drugs continues to take center stage and has spurred an Ohio law requiring new procedures when prescribing opioids to minors.

On October 9, 2014, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a Proposed Rule revising current conditions of participation (CoPs) that home health agencies (HHAs) must meet in order to participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. This is the first time the home health regulations have been significantly revised since 1989.

The Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) new regulations, aimed to cut down on prescription drug abuse, will soon allow patients to return unused pharmaceuticals to authorized locations. The new rules go into effect October 9, 2014.

On October 3, 2014, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services of the Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued a Proposed Rule amending both the safe harbors to the anti-kickback statute and the civil monetary penalty (CMP) rules. The Proposed Rule would add new safe harbors, codify revisions to the definition of “remuneration,” and add new regulatory text interpreting the Gainsharing CMP provisions. Taking note of Congress’ intention that the safe harbor regulations be updated periodically to reflect changing business practices and technologies in the health care industry, the Proposed Rule reflects OIG’s desire to protect certain arrangements that it believes enhance effective delivery of health care and provide low risk to the Federal health care programs.

On September 26, 2014, President Obama signed into law House Resolution 2600 that adds the sales of condominium units to the list of “partial” exemptions under the Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act (ILSA).

Nearly $2.5 billion dollars in overpayments were made to Skilled Nursing Facilities (“SNFs”) as a result of billing errors last year. The billing error rate for SNFs jumped to 7.7 percent, virtually doubling in 2013. According to CMS, the majority of these billing errors arise from the SNF’s repeated failures to obtain necessary certification and re-certification statements from physicians and non-physician providers (collectively “Providers”).

On September 18, 2014, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration ("OSHA") published a Final Rule relating to injury and illness reporting, that includes significant changes to the reporting requirements. The revisions represent the first modifications to reporting rules for Federal jurisdiction states since 2001. Some state-authorized OSHA programs already have reporting requirements in place that are similar to the new Final Rule, which becomes effective January 1, 2015 in Federal jurisdiction states.

Fresh off a presentation on retaliation claims and defense at The American Conference Institute Employment Discrimination Litigation Conference in New York City, Dinsmore employment attorney Mike Hawkins shared 12 key trends that employers would do well to heed in the years ahead.

Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ”) David Simonton recently held that a miner’s demand for “temporary economic reinstatement,” instead of accepting actual reinstatement, is not an available remedy under the Mine Act during the Section 105(c) preliminary temporary reinstatement stage of a miner’s discrimination case. The ALJ’s Order provides persuasive authority for mine operators where a miner refuses temporary reinstatement and instead desires to be paid his or her wages without working during the pendency of the discrimination complaint. The ruling also will undoubtedly impact how mine operators analyze their defense strategy for discrimination cases going forward.

On August 27, 2014, the Ohio Supreme court issued its unanimous opinion in State, ex rel. Floyd v. Formica Corp., 2014-Ohio-3614, ruling that where a claimant voluntarily retires from the workforce following an injury, he or she becomes ineligible for a new period of temporary total disability while recovering from a post-retirement surgery. Formica was represented in this case by Dinsmore Partner Joan Verchot.