"Horseplay" can be a matter of Occupational Safety and Health
In a recent letter of interpretation, OSHA stated that injuries to employees sustained at a worksite as a result of “horseplay” or workplace violence are recordable on OSHA Logs, so long as the injuries also meet other general recording criteria, such as requiring medical treatment beyond first aid.
The interpretation was OSHA’s response to an inquiry based upon an incident described as “horseplay gone badly.” At the end of a work day, two supervisors got into a physical confrontation while changing to go home. One supervisor pulled a knife and stuck the other in the arm, resulting in several sutures.
OSHA concluded that the injury was recordable. First, because the injury resulted from an event occurring in the work environment, it was presumed to be work-related and none of the exceptions to this “geographic presumption” applied. The exceptions include, among other things, injuries such as those resulting from an employee eating, drinking, or preparing food for personal consumption, those involving signs or symptoms that surface at work but result solely from a non-work-related event, and those caused by a motor vehicle accident occurring on a company parking lot while the employee is commuting to or from work. Second, because the injury required medical treatment beyond first aid, OSHA concluded that it satisfied the severity criteria of recordability.
OSHA dismissed the issue of whether the injury resulted from activities that were “not directly productive” to the employer’s work as irrelevant.
Employers are encouraged to review their recordkeeping practices to ensure that they are complying with this new interpretation of OSHA’s recordkeeping rule.
New CHIP Legislation Requires New Enrollment Options
The Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (“CHIPRA”), enacted February 4, 2009, requires group health plans to provide two new special enrollment rights beginning April 1, 2009.
Current Special Enrollment Rights
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act ("HIPAA") already requires group health plans to allow individuals to enroll upon the occurrence of specified events instead of having to wait until the plans’ next open enrollment period. Generally, the special enrollment rights are triggered when an individual with other health coverage loses that coverage or when a person becomes a new dependent through marriage, birth, adoption or placement for adoption.
When Are New Enrollment Rights Triggered?
The new special enrollment events occur when an employee or dependent child:
loses eligibility for coverage under Medicaid or a State Children's Health Insurance Program (acronym "CHIP", for children whose families do not qualify for Medicaid); or
becomes eligible for premium assistance from Medicaid or CHIP allowing him or her to enroll in a group health plan.
What Must the Health Plan Do?
The group health plan must provide a special enrollment period of at least 60 days for these events. The minimum period required for special enrollment events is 30 days. The 60-day CHIPRA special enrollment period is measured from the date of coverage loss or eligibility for premium assistance, whichever applies.
Are Cafeteria Plans Affected?
If an employer sponsors a cafeteria plan that permits election changes to be made that correspond to special enrollment rights, the new CHIPRA special enrollment rights also could prompt election changes.
What Do Employers/Administrators Have to Do Now?
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Review/Amend Plans |
Notify Employees of Enrollment Rights |
Does CHIPRA Impose Other Requirements on Sponsors and Administrators?
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Notices to Employees-State Premium Subsidies These notices can be provided as part of a plan’s enrollment materials and other disclosure materials. |
Disclosure to States |
Is There a Penalty for Failure to Comply?
The law imposes civil penalties and excise taxes of up to $100 a day for failure to comply with the notice of state premium subsidies and disclosure of plan benefit requirements and the special enrollment rights.
EFCA Watch – Employee Free Choice Act Update
On March 11, 2009, the Employee Free Choice Act was introduced into the 111th Congress (H.R. 1409, S. 560). The real fight on this bill will be in the Senate, where Senate Republicans and moderate Democrats will likely attempt to filibuster the bill and attempt to hold on to 41 Senators to prevent "cloture," which requires 60 votes to cut off debate and thereby kill the filibuster and move the bill to final passage by a majority of senators.
The fight on EFCA will probably be in the summer, but could be brought to the floor at any time. Organized labor will likely not push the bill to the Senate floor until after the challenge over the second senator from Minnesota is resolved by seating either Coleman (R-MN) or Franken (D-MN). A former backer of the legislation, Sen. Arlen Spector (R-PA), has publicly withdrawn his support.
In the meantime, employers should become familiar with the requirements and ramifications of the new law or any of the compromise bills pending. They may also wish to contact their representatives in Congress to express their views against EFCA and cloture. If you wish to begin taking lawful steps to prevent unionization, which will help regardless of whether EFCA becomes law, contact our Labor & Employment Law Group for help.
For more details on the EFCA and how it could affect your business, contact Thomas McChesney at tmcchesney@huddlestonbolen.com for a copy of our EFCA Information Sheet.
Contact your Huddleston Bolen Labor & Employment Attorney for more information
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