Quick Takeaways From the 2024 Proposed Hospice Wage Index Rule
Below is Part II of our New Jersey Statutory update. As you can see from the below, several statutes were passed imposing requirements on health insurance payers, including new requirements for prior authorization request and...more
Travel time cases that center around what is/is not home-to-work travel can be very tricky and nuanced. This is especially so when employees have to first meet at a staging point or meeting place and then be transported to...more
Check out our summary of significant Internal Revenue Service (IRS) guidance and relevant tax matters for the week of October 9, 2023 – October 13, 2023. ...more
Addressing an issue of first impression, the Second Circuit held recently that bankruptcy courts have inherent authority to impose non-nominal civil contempt sanctions, including per diem sanctions and attorneys’ fees,...more
Earlier this spring, as part of its annual rulemaking process for hospices, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued several important regulatory proposals. In addition to the yearly update in hospice per...more
Presented below is our summary of significant Internal Revenue Service (IRS) guidance and relevant tax matters for the week of October 10, 2022 – October 14, 2022...more
During the 2022 Regular Session of the General Assembly of Georgia, the Legislature enacted several pieces of legislation that impact development authorities in our state. The following is a summary: PER DIEM CAP - ...more
Presented below is our summary of significant Internal Revenue Service (IRS) guidance and relevant tax matters for the week of September 26, 2022 – September 30, 2022....more
Last week, OIG released a report analyzing trends in the last decade relating to Medicare payments for hospice beneficiaries outside of the hospice per diem. In the report, OIG notes that CMS has taken the position that...more
The issue of whether expense reimbursements should be included as “wages” when computing the regular rate for overtime has been around for many years. Sometimes, an employer will seek to “disguise” wages as expenses in order...more
Presented below is our summary of significant Internal Revenue Service (IRS) guidance and relevant tax matters for the week of August 30, 2021 – September 3, 2021... August 30, 2021: With September being National...more
While the focus of the Department of Labor ebbs and flows based on the administration, the DOL remains committed to enforcing the Fair Labor Standards Act. Now that we know that Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh is in place, we...more
As a general rule, employee expense reimbursements are not includible in the regular rate for purposes of overtime computation. When the reimbursements, however, are unreasonable or out of whack (i.e. too high) as regards...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Ninth Circuit has held that a weekly per diem benefit paid by a healthcare staffing agency to its traveling clinicians is a wage that increases the employee’s regular rate used to calculate overtime...more
This week, we take a look at the Court’s decision attempting to navigate the fine line between employer payments that reimburse employees for expenses—and thus need not be considered in calculating the employees’ overtime...more
This week, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that an employer’s per diem expense reimbursement payments functioned as compensation for work rather than business expense reimbursements. As a result, the employer was...more
It’s common knowledge that an employee’s overtime rate is “time and a half” the regular rate of pay. But that truism begs the question: what exactly is the regular rate of pay? Earlier this week, the Ninth Circuit analyzed...more
In a case involving two certified classes, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals concluded this week that an employer’s per diem paid to traveling employees to reimburse for the cost of meals, incidentals and housing while...more
On April 16, 2020, the Fifth Circuit held that an employee is entitled to arbitrate his federal labor law claims as a collective action on behalf of his coworkers against their employer, Sun Coast Resources, Inc. (“Sun...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: “Per diem” (or per day) employment may seem like a simple way to maintain a flexible workforce enabling employers to respond to last-minute changes in staffing needs. But certain legal and practical issues...more
Over the past few years, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has investigated the misuse of per diem payments as a substitute for compensation in a number of industries. At a recent event for employment lawyers in Pittsburgh,...more
As a litigation consultant with an academic background, I am in a unique position: I stay abreast of the social science research (the blog schedule makes sure of that), but I also spend my days working with trial lawyers on...more
Employers who adhere to certain IRS guidelines may face much lower indemnity payments for employees who traveled for work pre-injury - Myres v. Strom Aviation, Inc. (16-558) - In companies where employees regularly...more
The California Department of Business Oversight (DBO) reached a $1.4 million deal with a mortgage lender after taking action based on alleged overcharges of per diem interest to California borrowers....more
Recently, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals – the federal court of appeals that covers Oklahoma – ruled that employers do not have to include reimbursement payments for daily meals for traveling employees as part of the...more