Problematic Legislation on the Horizon for HR Professionals Presented By: Craig Kwasniewski Ohio SHRM – Director, Governmental Affairs

Objectives  Federal Issues  State Issues

Federal Issues  Health Care Reform  1099 Reporting Requirement  Paycheck Fairness Act  Equal Employment for All Act

Health Care Reform  Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).  While PPACA is now law, many implementation details remain unanswered.  Effective dates of many provisions are several years down the road, but it is not too early to start preparing.

Health Care Reform Continued  Efforts to “repeal” are unlikely – technical corrections legislation is more likely.

1099 Reporting Requirement  Require an employer to file a 1099 tax form reporting any purchase it makes of any goods or services above $600 from any individual or business.  Currently, employers must only file a 1099 on the purchase of services and only when the entity is an unincorporated business.

1099 Reporting Requirement Continued  Amendments are pending in the Senate to either repeal the provision or exempt businesses with less than 25 people and apply the reporting requirement only to purchases above $5,000.  1099 requirement is projected to raise $17.1 billion dollars over ten years and was included in the health care bill to offset its costs.

1099 Reporting Requirement Continued  Efforts to repeal this provision, which becomes effective in 2012, failed in the Senate on September 16, 2010.

Paycheck Fairness Act  Reintroduced in the Senate on September 13,  Would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to increase remedies for violations of the Equal Pay Act (EPA) and make it more difficult to defend against such claims.

Paycheck Fairness Act Continued  Would expand damages under the EPA to include potentially unlimited compensatory and punitive awards.  Prevent employers from relying on the “factors other than sex” affirmative defense in wage discrimination cases.  Incorporate anti-retaliation provisions into the FLSA that would protect complainants.

Paycheck Fairness Act Continued  Eliminate the requirement that employees work in the same establishment for wage comparison purposes.  Reinstate the Equal Opportunity Survey.  SHRM plans to oppose

Equal Employment for All Act  H.R.3149  Would amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) to prohibit the use of credit checks in the employment process in most instances.  Define a credit report or consumer report as any information that reflects an individual’s credit worthiness, credit standing or credit capacity for employment purposes.

Equal Employment for All Act Continued  Certain credit checks permitted  Employers would still be required by the FCRA to obtain the permission of the employee to conduct a credit report for the permitted exceptions.

State Issues  HB 523 Employee Misclassification  SB 291 Background Checks  HB 571 Conceal/Carry

HB 523  Employee Misclassification  Changes definition of employee  Independent Contractor statuses  Ohio Chamber of Commerce opposes

HB 523 Continued  Seven exemptions  i.e. The individual has been and continues to be free from control and direction for performance of their service.  i.e. The work performed by the individual is outside of the usual course of business of the employer.

SB 291  People with arrest records having trouble with job searches.  Mandates when an employer can use a background check.  Offers offenders the opportunity to have their records sealed.  Ohio Chamber opposes

HB 571  Old HB 12  Modification to conceal/carry  Would allow employees to be able to keep a firearm in their locked car on company premises.  Bill would mandate that it’s allowed and override company policy.

Sources  SHRM Government Relations – SHRM.org  SHRM Advocacy Team – SHRM.org  Ohio Chamber of Commerce – OhioChamber.com  Littler Governmental Affairs Team  Ohio SHRM – OhioSHRM.org

Contact Information  Craig Kwasniewski  440/ (office) 