OSSA Legislative Blog Fall 2010

Legislative Blog
Ohio Staffing and Search Association (OSSA)
Fall 2010
Welcome to the OSSA Legislative blog. I am Larry Kidd, the Legislative Director for the OSSA and hope to provide you information regarding legislative action in Columbus and Washington that my affect your staffing business. I hope to provide information periodically or as important legislative action or discussion occurs. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at lkidd@reliablestaffingservices.com.
Health Care Act
The Health Care Act was passed by the House and Senate and signed by President Obama in March of 2010. Since that time, employers, attorneys, human resource departments and of course staffing firms have scrambled to understand the impact of the Act to their businesses. Various agencies since March have been developing the outline for the rules and regulations of the Health Care Act.
Many states and attorney generals have joined together to challenge the federally mandated Health Care Act. Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray has chosen not to join those states who oppose the Health Care Act; Cordray’s challenger for Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine has said that he would join those states in opposing the legality of Health Care Act.
There are several key health care reform dates that you need to watch and the timelines are published on various online reports, e.g., http://www.kff.org/healthreform/8060.cfm In addition, grandfather rules were issued on June 14, 2010 the pros and cons of which you should discuss with your insurance representatives or benefits advisor. Under the rules, your plan will lose grandfather status if you do any of the following:
 Eliminate all or substantially all benefits relating to the diagnosis or treatment of a particular condition
 Increase the percentage of medical costs patients must pay as part of a cost-sharing requirement (i.e., coinsurance)
 Increase health insurance copayments by more than the greater of $5 adjusted for medical inflation or a percentage equal to the medical inflation rate plus 15 percentage points
 Increase fixed-price cost sharing requirements (i.e., deductibles) by more than the medical inflation rate plus 15 percentage points
 Reduce contributions to employees' health insurance premiums by more than five percentage points
 Adopt a new annual limit on benefits or lower an existing limit
 Change insurance companies (self-insured plans may change third-party administrators without losing grandfathered status)[1]
Hire Act
The Hire Act was designed to help employers receive payroll tax credit. If you have not participated in the Hire Act, do so soon. It will end in January 2011. There are substantial savings for employers that hire employees that meet specific requirements.

E-Verify
Two states just added E-Verify as a requirement for new employees. E-Verify is a free online federal search to verify the legality of a potential employee. There is talk that E-Verify will become a national mandate.
Workers Compensation
Ohio Courts recently upheld a 2005 law that restricted injured workers to sue employers for additional damages beyond the worker’s compensation benefits. In Ohio, employees cannot sue for additional benefits beyond what is outlined in the workers compensation benefits unless there are grounds for negligence.
If you have any questions regarding these issues or others, feel free to email at lkidd@reliablestaffingservices.com.

- Larry Kidd, Legislative Director OSSA