Maintaining an employee benefit plan subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 requires that people managing the plan or investing plan assets become fiduciaries. You need to know when they might become an ERISA plan fiduciary. You must understand your legal obligations to plan participants and beneficiaries. This teleconference will provide you with an overview of the ERISA rules governing plan fiduciary conduct and the basic duties of a plan fiduciary.

All United States employers must comply with employment authorization and verification laws, regardless of the size or composition of their workforce. This teleconference will supply you with the information you need to ensure your company is in compliance with employment authorization rules and regulations. Detailed guidance on employment verification procedures, Social Security number issues and immigration-related discrimination claims will be provided. Special attention will be given to Form I-9 rules, with emphasis on the new Form I-9 regulations. An overview of basic immigration categories and considerations that arise when dealing with foreign national employees will also be presented.

Managing employees with claimed mental conditions creates unique challenges for employers attempting to comply with the ADA. What mental impairments does the ADA protect? How does the employer know of these often invisible disabilities and of the employee’s need to accommodate the condition? How does an employer accommodate conditions that cause employees to violate work rules or request treatment? May an employer require a medical examination of an employee exhibiting signs of mental illness? This teleconference will assist you in addressing these issues and more within the boundaries of the ADA. This teleconference will highlight employee and employer rights and responsibilities, provide practical strategies for managing employees with mental illness, and explore the new rules in the ADA Amendments Act of 2008.

Get the training you need to avoid compliance confusion and expensive litigation.

Prevent the financially crippling employee claims and lawsuits that plague employers in hard financial times. Register for this seminar and get the money-saving employment savvy your company has been looking for.

Let local experts teach you how to create compliant practices and bulletproof policies. With a slew of responsibilities already on your plate, how can you keep up with all the new developments? Easy – enroll today and discover the latest techniques to keep your company out of trouble.

Benefits for You
• Avoid disability lawsuits by knowing exactly who the amended ADA covers
• Find out why retaliation is such a hot issue – and how to prevent it
• Stop pay claims before they start – keep your wage and hour policies in line with the law
• Prevent claims from the beginning – learn the right way to hire

As Congress looks at making significant changes to health insurance, wellness programs are playing a central role in the debate. Congress wants to encourage wellness programs and healthy lifestyles to help control the cost of health insurance and much of their interest is based on success stories from the private sector. But privacy advocates and some federal regulators take the position that wellness programs erode individual rights. Despite the regulatory uncertainties, more employers than ever are looking to wellness programs to control health insurance costs. Some employers are providing incentives to employees who participate in wellness programs, follow disease management protocols or choose to live healthy lifestyles. Other employers are imposing penalties on employees who smoke or refuse to participate in wellness initiatives. This teleconference explores the legal developments and requirements of wellness programs, including the design and taxation of incentives, laws that prohibit discrimination based on health factors, and exceptions for certain wellness and supplemental plans. Employers that link incentives or penalties to wellness initiatives face a number of risks, from ADA claims to tax penalties for failing to properly report and withhold income and employment taxes. This teleconference is a must for human resource professionals, attorneys and others who advise employers on wellness plans and policies designed to promote a healthier workplace.

New Mandates Under HIPAA and State Laws Create Obligations for Employers

Personal and company confidential data, exceedingly valuable assets, are under siege. Organizations across the country and locally have experienced significant data breaches resulting in unauthorized access to a vast amount of personal and company confidential information. At the same time, technology continues to advance rapidly, permitting larger and larger quantities of information to be maintained, accessed, and transmitted with the push of a button or downloading seeming harmless software. In this environment, with increasing demands for higher productivity and greater access to information, particularly in the legal field, companies continue to struggle to meet those demands while at the same time protecting confidential personal and company information.

You will gain a better understanding about the recent developments in federal and state privacy and data security laws, particularly the expansion of HIPAA under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and the recently issued Massachusetts privacy regulations that become effective January 1, 2010. In addition, this teleconference will include a discussion of some preventive strategies and steps companies can take to address this emerging issue affecting all of us.

Managing employees with claimed mental conditions creates unique challenges for employers attempting to comply with the ADA. What mental impairments does the ADA protect? How does the employer know of these often invisible disabilities and of the employee’s need to accommodate the condition? How does an employer accommodate conditions that cause employees to violate work rules or request treatment? May an employer require a medical examination of an employee exhibiting signs of mental illness? This teleconference will assist you in addressing these issues and more within the boundaries of the ADA. This teleconference will highlight employee and employer rights and responsibilities, provide practical strategies for managing employees with mental illness, and explore the new rules in the ADA Amendments Act of 2008.

Get the training you need to avoid compliance confusion and expensive litigation.

Prevent the financially crippling employee claims and lawsuits that plague employers in hard financial times. Register for this seminar and get the money-saving employment savvy your company has been looking for.

Let local experts teach you how to create compliant practices and bulletproof policies. With a slew of responsibilities already on your plate, how can you keep up with all the new developments? Easy – enroll today and discover the latest techniques to keep your company out of trouble.

Benefits for You

• Update your company’s FMLA policies in light of new regulations
• Stay safely in compliance with immigration regulations to avoid audits and fines
• Do your part to save the company money by learning how to terminate without causing claims
• Stop pay claims before they start – keep your wage and hour policies in line with the law

Managing absenteeism and tardiness can be a sticky issue – it is rarely a black and white issue. There are mandatory leave laws that have to be incorporated into your leave policies and some of those can create restrictions on how to administer your leave policies. There are also some restrictions on disciplining employees when they appear to abuse policies. This teleconference will help companies to sort out the do’s and don’ts for developing and managing an effective policy. The teleconference will also focus on how to manage the land mines, sort through the valid and invalid “excuses” employees come up with, and provide ways to improve absentee and tardiness rates through incentive programs.

The IRS recently issued new rules which replaced parts of the old regulations. These new rules are exciting but require you to review and act on your old documents. The information provided will assist you in decisions for the upcoming plan year and how to prepare for the changes.

Unemployment insurance disputes can be complex and involve many different factors.

Attend this seminar and learn how to achieve prompt and cost-efficient resolutions to your employee benefit claims. You will get expert advice on how to evaluate different situations and determine if a former employee is eligible for unemployment insurance benefits.

Learn how to address problems when they arise and navigate the legal and procedural process to achieve successful results in unemployment disputes.

Benefits for You
• Stay updated on general insurance coverage issues
• Find out what you need to know regarding employee eligibility issues and problems
• Determine which former employees are ineligible or disqualified for benefits
• Navigate the mechanics and process of an unemployment insurance claim
• Learn important information regarding litigating and appealing disputes

IACET Learning Objectives
• You will be able to discuss general unemployment insurance coverage issues.
• You will be able to describe types of employers.
• You will be able to review mechanics of a claim for UI benefits.

Pursuant to 42 USC Section 1395y(b)(2), commonly known as the Medicare Secondary Payer Act, Medicare may not make payment for medical benefits where “payment has been made or can reasonably be expected to be made under a workmen’s compensation law or plan of the United States or a state or under an automobile or liability insurance policy or plan (including a self-insured plan) or under no fault insurance.” By law, Medicare has a priority right of recovery from the primary payer as well as from parties in receipt of third-party payments, such as a beneficiary, provider, supplier, physician, attorney, state agency or private insurer (42 CFR 411.24(g)). Accordingly, it is essential that all parties to personal injury insurance settlements ensure that Medicare’s interests are protected and therefore of the utmost importance for all attorneys, insurance company personnel and medical billing professionals to fully understand how and when the MSP applies in any given personal injury situation.

You will benefit from an overview of all pertinent statutes and regulations, as well as CMS interpretation in its manuals and policies. We’ll address individual areas of law separately as to the manner in which the MSP applies in each. Most significantly, you’ll learn about workers’ compensation settlements, as CMS is most actively monitoring them and has established policies with respect to addressing past and future medical expenses in the settlement of claims. We’ll address liability settlements as a hot topic since there is no established CMS guidance as there is in workers’ compensation, yet it’s rumored to be CMS’ next target. You’ll walk away with valuable insight and a better understanding of Medicare’s role in insurance claims settlement.

An ever increasing number of employers are recognizing the benefits that can be derived from conducting background checks on both current and prospective employees. While background checks can be an effective tool for weeding out questionable employees, legal limitations on how such checks can be performed (and how the resulting data discovered can be used) must be understood or otherwise an employer will find themselves defending against their own illegal actions. This teleconference will discuss generally the kinds of background checks that can be conducted by employers and will likewise address the various legal restrictions imposed (primarily under federal law) for conducting background checks. Lastly, any applicable prohibitions on how acquired background information can be legally used for the benefit of the employer will be addressed.

With the ongoing economic crisis, employers across the country have undertaken unprecedented workforce reductions. However, eventually the economic pendulum will swing the other way and employers will be faced with the task of re-staffing their depleted workforce. Smart employers plan and prepare for that day so they can quickly identify and rehire the key talent necessary to meet their business needs moving forward.

This teleconference will discuss some of the key planning steps you should take from before the rehire process begins through actual rehiring and on-boarding. Topics to be covered include setting the stage for a successful rehire process, identifying which employees to rehire, dealing with employees who are not rehired, and logistical issues from communications to benefits issues and reintegrating employees back into the organization. We will also cover legal obligations and liabilities that can arise during the rehire process and tips to minimize those risks.