Articles and Blogs

Under the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”), prior to implementing changes to wages, hours or other terms and conditions of employment, employers are required to give the union notice and an opportunity for bargaining. Once the union has received notice of a potential change, it is required to request bargaining in order to preserve its…Read More

Cures Bill Unanimously Passes Energy and Commerce Committee On May 7, the House Energy and Commerce Committee passed the 21st Century Cures bill by a unanimous vote of 51-0. The legislation is designed to streamline clinical research and make more flexible industry pathways to approve medical devices and drugs to speed up the discovery, development…Read More

On May 19, 2015, the Subcommittee on Health of the House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means, chaired by Kevin Brady (R-TX), held a hearing titled Improving Competition in Medicare: Removing Moratoria and Expanding Access. The hearing was the first in a series for the summer that is intended to identify solutions to improve…Read More

Health Bill Clears House Subcommittee On May 14, the House Energy and Commerce Health subcommittee passed the 21st Century Cures legislation by a unanimous vote.  A day earlier, the full committee released an updated draft of the Cures legislation. The legislation now heads to the full committee level, where a markup is expected next week….Read More

Employers and the EEOC faced off again recently, this time over the EEOC’s obligation to engage in conciliation before commencing litigation against an employer. In Mach Mining, LLC v. EEOC, the employer prevailed in claiming that a federal court may decide whether the EEOC met that obligation but made the EEOC’s burden in establishing that…Read More

Senate Adopts Republican Budget On Tuesday, May 5, the Senate voted 51-48 to pass a Republican-led budget adopted by the House last week. The vote follows nearly two months of negotiations between Republicans in the House and Senate and comes almost three weeks after the budget committee chairmen in both chambers had hoped to reach…Read More

Committee Releases Discussion Draft of 21st Century Cures Legislation On April 29, the House Energy and Commerce Committee released the 21st Century Cures draft bill to accelerate the development and marketing of drugs and medical devices. The draft bill comes after eight committee hearings on the 21st Century Cures initiative since it was launched in 2014….Read More

On April 27, 2015, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) announced that it entered into a settlement with a Colorado pharmacy (“Pharmacy”) arising from alleged violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”) Privacy Rule.  Under the settlement, the Pharmacy agreed to pay $125,000 in fines…Read More

The NLRB has again decided that using profanity-laced Facebook postings specifically aimed at management is legally protected.  This decision  by two members of the NLRB, despite one strong dissent, continues the pattern of granting legal protections to employees who use profanity in exercising their protected rights in support of a union or other group gripe….Read More

On April 20, 2015, the Office of Inspector General (“OIG”), in collaboration with the American Health Law Association, the Association of Healthcare Internal Auditors and the Health Care Compliance Association, released Practical Guidance for Health Care Governing Boards on Compliance Oversight (the “Board Guidance”). The Board Guidance offers practical tips for governing boards of health…Read More