Affordable Care Act
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or colloquially as “Obamacare,” was signed into law in March of 2010 with the goal of increasing the quality and affordability of health insurance for millions of Americans.
While the Act’s employer shared responsibility payments will not apply until 2015, and in some cases, not until 2016, there are provisions and safe harbors to consider and decisions that can be made now that may help businesses, employees and a business’s bottom line. Further, there are many unintended consequences arising out of the ACA that business owners, both large and small, need to consider when administering health care arrangements.
We are carefully following the developments associated with the roll-out of ACA and are providing counsel to business owners and other professionals, helping them to address compliance issues, evaluate exposure to penalties and other tax issues as well as planning strategically for the future.
Affordable Care Act Articles
Federal Labor Laws Protect Group Activity through Social Media but not Individual Gripes
Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”) provides that “[e]mployees shall have the right to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, and to engage in other...
Statements about an Independent Third Party’s Future Acts do not Constitute Actionable Misrepresentation
On January 23, 2012, the Missouri Court of Appeals issued a decision reaffirming that a party cannot bring a claim for misrepresentation relating to statements, representations or predictions about an independent third party’s future acts. In Massie v. Colvin, et...
Quotable Quotes on the Law and Lawyers
On the east-facing, exterior wall of the City of St. Louis Circuit courthouse, it is written in stone, “Where law ends, Tyranny begins.” That worthy observation is attributed to William Pitt, the one-time Prime Minister of Great Britain in the 1780s. His words are...
Arbitration Agreements Preventing Employees from Joining Together to Pursue Employment Claims Violate Federal Labor Law
The National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) recently considered the issue of whether an employer is in violation of Section 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”) when it requires employees covered by the NLRA, as a condition of their employment, to sign...
