Articles and Blogs

A recent federal court opinioncourt opinion highlights the need for employers to evaluate employee requests for reasonable accommodation on an individualized basis – even where, at first glance, an effective accommodation may not be readily apparent.  The ADA is, after all, intended to overcome employment decisions based on stereotypes. A Deaf Applicant Seeks a Lifeguard Job…Read More

The U.S. Supreme Court has eliminated the possibility of a provider trying to claim additional Medicare cost report reimbursement under the legal theory of equitable tolling in its opinion published today: Sebelius v. Auburn Regional Medical Center (“Auburn”).  The result of this opinion places even more importance on ensuring providers adhere to the statutorily imposed…Read More

The FMLA requires employers with 50 or more employees to grant up to 12 weeks of leave for, among other things, time off that is needed to care for an adult son or daughter over the age of 18 who is “incapable of self-care because of a disability.”  Ever since the Americans with Disabilities Act…Read More

Over the past three years, we have reported on how the NLRB has focused on numerous employer policies and practices that it found to be unlawfully overbroad. The NLRB reasoned that the overbroad policies could lead an employee to reasonably conclude that the employer’s policy or practice interfered with the employee’s protected right to engage…Read More

MedPAC Clarifies Position on Payment Update Late last week, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (“MedPAC”) reiterated its support for a 1% hospital payment update in FY 2014.  The commission that advises Congress on Medicare payment issues had been considering proposals that, if adopted, would have resulted in a negative payment update for hospitals following the…Read More

On January 17, 2013, the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) announced the issuance of the final rule (the “Rule”) arising from the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (“HITECH”).  The Rule is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on January 25, 2013.

The recently passed American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 has potential implications for charitable giving.  The Act reinstitutes the so-called Pease Amendment (named after the late Ohio Congressman Donald Pease).  That Amendment, which was eliminated from the Internal Revenue Code in 2010, provides a floor for itemized deductions before any may count against adjusted gross income.  (This…Read More

Is Shared Lifting a “Reasonable” Accommodation? Employees who suffer from a bad back and have lifting restrictions always present a challenge to employers who attempt to accommodate those restrictions.  It’s discrimination under the ADA if the employer fails to make a reasonable accommodation to the known physical or mental limitations of an otherwise qualified individual with a disability. …Read More

On January 15, 2013, the Indiana Supreme Court issued a 5-0 opinion authored by Justice Robert Rucker in Plank vs. Community Hospital affirming the trial court’s denial of Plank’s request for an evidentiary hearing to challenge the constitutionality of the Medical Malpractice Act concluding that Plank had forfeited his opportunity to conduct such a hearing.

The NLRB Overrules 50 Years of Precedent Last month, the current NLRB once again left the labor relations world with its mouth agape when it decided that Dues Checkoff provisions will now survive the expiration of a collective bargaining agreement (“CBA”).  Nearly all CBAs have a provision that requires management to withhold from employee paychecks…Read More