On August 2, 2022 the US DOL Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued an Alert Memo from the Assistant Inspector General for Audit indicating that many states had not submitted reports required under the CARES Act or had reported no activity for periods in which the programs were in operation. See FINAL ALERT MEMO STATES COMPLIANCE CARES ACT [...]
On June 9, 2022, US House Republican Leadership announced legislation to improve the financing and systems used to address UI fraud, benefit integrity and overpayment recovery. The “Chase COVID Unemployment Fraud Act of 2022” includes the following provisions. Incentivizes states to recover fraudulent unemployment payments. • Allows states to retain 25 percent of federal funds recovered from [...]
The first quarter state UI contributions have been received for the most part, enabling states to increase state UI trust fund account balances, and pay off or pay down unemployment trust fund account loan balances. For states with outstanding loan balances there remains an amount of interest to be paid that is due on September 30, [...]
On March 1, 2022, the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs released notice of its review of the CMS proposed rule that would “ensure that Medicare beneficiaries are making the best health care choices possible by providing them and their representatives with the opportunity to select an option for meeting future medical obligations that fits their [...]
On March 3, 2022, Representative Danny K. Davis (D-IL) introduced the Continued Waiver of Interest on State Unemployment Loans during the Pandemic Act. This legislation would extend the waiver of interest payments on federal unemployment loans. Congress previously waived the interest on unemployment loans under Section 4103 of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), https://www.congress.gov/116/plaws/publ127/PLAW-116publ127.pdf, and extended the waiver through September [...]
On February 7, 2022, the US Department of Labor released UI-PL 20-21, Change 1 To provide additional instructions for circumstances under which a state may waive recovery of overpayments under the CARES Act Unemployment Compensation (UC) programs, including elaborating on the criteria for waiving recovery of overpayments where an individual is without fault on an individual, [...]
Two US Supreme Court decisions recently addressed the question of whether federal agencies had authority to require that individuals be vaccinated. In one decision the court addressed the authority of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to require employers with 100 or more employees to require their employees to be vaccinated. In the second decision [...]
Two US Supreme Court decisions recently addressed the question of whether federal agencies had authority to require that individuals be vaccinated. In one decision the court addressed the authority of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to require employers with 100 or more employees to require their employees to be vaccinated. In the second decision [...]
The Texas Workforce Commission announced today (November 9, 2021), that Governor Abbott signed SB 8 making supplemental appropriations including appropriating approximately $7.2 billion to be used to retire Title XII Advances and replenish the UI Trust Fund to the statutory floor. The bill is effective immediately. Texas was among the list of 10 states and the [...]
On Friday, November 5, 2021 the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued an emergency temporary standard (ETS) to protect unvaccinated employees of large employers (100 or more employees) from the risk of contracting COVID–19 by strongly encouraging vaccination. Covered employers must develop, implement, and enforce a mandatory COVID–19 vaccination policy, with an exception for employers [...]
