Legislative Updates

The VETS-4212 Report is due on September 30 annually. Federal contractors and subcontractors are encouraged to complete and submit the reports online through the VETS-4212 Reporting Application website. 

Federal contractors have to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Dec. 8, the Biden administration announced today. The administration earlier this month had announced that federal employees must be vaccinated by Nov. 22. The anticipated emergency temporary standard for private-sector employers with at least 100 employees—requiring vaccination or testing—has not yet been released.

Following a summer with record heat waves in the western United States, the Biden administration announced that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will draft a rule governing heat exposure designed to protect those working outdoors as well as inside.

The U.S. Department of Labor today issued a Federal Register notice announcing an annual update to the current Executive Order 13658 minimum wage for workers performing work on or in connection with covered contracts.

In 2014, President Obama signed Executive Order 13658, “Establishing a Minimum Wage for Federal Contractors,” which established a minimum wage rate for certain federal contractors that is adjusted annually based on inflation. As announced in today’s Federal Register notice, the Executive Order 13658 minimum wage rate will increase from $10.95 to $11.25 per hour effective Jan.1, 2022. The new rate must generally be paid to workers performing work on or in connection with covered contracts.

The IRS announced that employer-sponsored health coverage will satisfy the Affordable Care Act (ACA) affordability requirement next year if the lowest-cost, self-only coverage option an employer offers does not exceed 9.61 percent of an employee's income.

The threshold in 2021 was 9.83 percent. It had risen from 9.78 percent in 2020.

The IRS annually adjusts the affordability threshold by considering the ratio of premium growth to income growth in the preceding calendar year. Because premiums for employer-sponsored health coverage increased at a lower rate than national income growth during 2021, due largely to a drop-off in the use of nonemergency health care services as cases of COVID-19 surged, the 2022 affordability percentage dropped below the 2021 level.

The agency announced the 2022 affordability threshold—also known as the shared-responsibility affordability percentage or cost-sharing limit—on Aug. 30 in Revenue Procedure 2021-36.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced an extension of the flexibilities in rules related to Form I-9 compliance that was initially granted last year. Due to the continued precautions related to COVID-19, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will extend this policy until Dec. 31, 2021.

This extension will continue to apply the guidance previously issued for employees hired on or after April 1, 2021, and work exclusively in a remote setting due to COVID-19-related precautions. Those employees are temporarily exempt from the physical inspection requirements associated with the Employment Eligibility Verification (Form I-9) until they undertake non-remote employment on a regular, consistent, or predictable basis, or the extension of the flexibilities related to such requirements is terminated, whichever is earlier.

Covered employers now have until Oct. 25 to file their 2019 and 2020 EEO-1 reports, according to a recent announcement from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Although the reporting deadline has been delayed several times during the COVID-19 pandemic, the agency said it will not authorize any more extensions.

On July 29, the Treasury Department and the IRS posted the new guidance on the paid-leave tax in updated FAQs on the IRS website. The new guidance "gives employers further opportunity to support the health and safety of their employees' families and communities without placing an undue burden on their business during the pandemic," according to a Treasury Department announcement.

The updates clarify that eligible employers can claim the tax credits for providing leave to employees:

• To accompany a family or household member or certain other individuals to obtain immunization relating to COVID-19.

• To care for a family or household member or certain other individuals recovering from the immunization.

Who are these "family or household member or certain other individuals"? 

• An immediate family member.
  

• Someone who regularly resides in the employee's home.
  

• A similar person with whom the employee has a relationship that creates an expectation that the employee would care for the person.

The FAQs also include information on how eligible employers may claim the paid sick and family leave credits, including how to file for and compute the applicable credit amounts and how to receive advance payments for and refunds of the credits.

On Dec. 27, 2020, the No Surprises Act was signed into law as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 (H.R. 133; Division BB – Private Health Insurance and Public Health Provisions). The No Surprises Act addresses surprise medical billing at the federal level. Most sections of the legislation go into effect on Jan. 1, 2022, and the Departments of Health and Human Services, Treasury, and Labor are tasked with issuing regulations and guidance to implement a number of the provisions. 

A detailed summary of the Act is available here. 

The interim rule is available here. 

The SECURE passed in 2020 requires sponsors of 401(k) and similar plans must annually disclose to plan participants an estimate of the monthly amount that their account balance would pay in the form of:

• A life annuity with equal payments over the participant's lifetime.
  

• A qualified joint and 100 percent survivor annuity with equal payments over the joint lives of the participants and a spouse.

The participant-disclosure requirement takes effect on Sept. 18, 2021, and applies to retirement plan statements sent to participants (typically on a quarterly basis) after that date.

The disclosure is intended to help employees determine their readiness to retire. It also is expected to encourage employees to consider annuitization of their retirement assets, meaning using some or all of their 401(k) funds to purchase a lifetime annuity. A lifetime income annuity is a contract with an insurance company that allows purchasers to convert a portion of their retirement savings into a predictable lifetime income stream.

Read Temporary Implementing FAQs from the DOL here.