HR Tip: Staying compliant: Free speech, Medicare penalties, and DOL agenda

What employers should know about free speech and social media

Recent high-profile controversies about the recent assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk where social media posts have resulted in employment action, have led to widespread confusion, fear, and a sense of chaos. In the blog Free Speech and Social Media: What Employers Need to Know, a member organization, East Coast Risk Management, provides several legal and practical considerations for employers.

CMS begins enforcing CMP penalties October 11

Starting October 11, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will begin enforcing Civil Monetary Penalties (CMPs) for late or inaccurate reporting under Section 111 of the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Extension Act (MMSEA). This enforcement aims to prevent Medicare from making duplicate payments. Penalties can range from $357 to $1,428 or more per day, depending on the delay, and are subject to annual inflation adjustments, with a cap of $365,000 per instance.

Key DOL proposals on latest regulatory agenda

• Joint Employer Status Under the FLSA
  The DOL will again revisit the standard for determining joint employer liability under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and plans to issue a proposed rule in December. It's expected this will mirror the short-lived, business-friendly rule issued during the first Trump administration, which narrowed the scope of joint employment liability for wage and hour matters by requiring businesses to exercise "actual" control.
• Independent Contractor Classification Under the FLSA
  In May, the DOL announced that it would no longer enforce a Biden administration rule that made it more difficult to classify workers as independent contractors, instead relying on earlier enforcement guidelines. It's expected that this will be formalized with a rule soon.
• FLSA Exemption for Domestic Service Workers
  A proposed rule, issued in July, would restore the ability of third-party employers to claim the FLSA's "companionship services" exemption and the exemption for "live-in" domestic service workers. The comment period ended on Sept. 3, and a final rule is expected soon.
• Overtime Salary Threshold Under the FLSA
  The proposals related to the overtime rule are on the list of long-term actions. The Biden administration's overtime rule was blocked nationwide by a federal judge, and the DOL is enforcing the salary threshold set in its 2019 rule (around $35,000).