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As discussed in our prior advisory, the American Rescue Plan Act
of 2021 (ARP) provides assistance eligible individuals temporary
premium assistance for COBRA continuation coverage and, where the
employer elects to offer the option, an opportunity to switch to a
different health plan option offered by the employer. The
Department of Labor (DOL) recently issued Model COBRA Notices and frequently asked questions (FAQs) to
assist employers and group health plans in implementing the new ARP
COBRA subsidy, which extends from April 1, 2021 through September
30, 2021.
What are the new ARP COBRA notice requirements?
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US OSHA currently has several well-established regulations that
apply to aspects of workplace protection that also apply to certain
workplaces operating during the pandemic. For example, OSHA s
PPE and respiratory standards would apply particularly to work in
hospitals and those in direct contact with people or bodies known
to be infected by COVID-19.
See, e.g., 29 CFR
1910.132, 1910.133, 1910.134. OSHA s illness recordkeeping
standard applies to workplaces otherwise required to do that
recordkeeping (29 CFR 1904.2(a)), and all workplaces are required
to report to OSHA work-related cases that result in hospitalization
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Marking the occasion of the 200 millionth COVID-19 vaccine shot
administered, President Joe Biden called on employers to provide
paid time off to employees to get vaccinated and touted the federal
government s tax credit for certain employers that do so.
The recently enacted American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) extended the
availability of tax credits to employers with fewer than 500
employees that provide paid leave to their workers for a variety of
COVID-related reasons. ARPA also expanded the availability of tax
credits for time spent obtaining a COVID vaccination.
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President Biden announced that his administration had reached
its goal of 200 million vaccine shots administered during his first
100 days in office. Not stopping there, the President also made a
special call to employers across the United States to use their
unique resources to help their employees and others get
vaccinated.
To encourage more people to get vaccinated, President Biden,
also announced a paid leave tax credit that will offset the cost
for employers with fewer than 500 employees to provide full pay for
any time their employees need to get a COVID-19 vaccination or
addressing whether employers need to record adverse vaccine
reactions on their 300 Logs.
Consistent with the OSHA regulations, OSHA s guidance
explains that an adverse reaction to the COVID-19 vaccine is
recordable if the reaction is: (1) work-related, (2) a new case,
and (3) meets one or more of the general recording criteria in 29
CFR 1904.7 (e.g., days away from work, restricted work or transfer
to another job, medical treatment beyond first aid). The FAQ
adds an additional requirement: (4) the vaccine is required for
employees.
Accordingly, adverse reactions are only potentially recordable
on the OSHA 300 log where the
employer
mandates the vaccine; where the vaccine