GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
Welcome to our Governmental Affairs web page for the Western North
Carolina Human Resources Association, a Chapter of the Society for
Human Resource Management.
Have a question or want
to share information for this page?
Contact Gail Baylor, Our Governmental
Affairs Representative:
govtaffairs@wnchra.info
gbaylor@warren-wilson.edu
The Western
North Carolina Human Resources Association makes no warranties as
to the accuracy of the contents of the information provided in
this site and the corresponding links. These links are for
informational purposes only. Visitors are strongly encouraged to
consult legal counsel on any specific issues.
5/1/08 4:00 PM
House Approves Genetic
Non-Discrimination Act
By Bill Leonard, senior writer for /SHRM Online
The House of Representatives on May 1, 2008, approved the
Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (H.R. 493)
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:h.r.00493: by
the lopsided vote of 414-1. The legislation will prohibit
employers and health insurance companies from discriminating
against or refusing coverage to individuals based on the results
of genetic testing.
The House action follows the Senate’s
unanimous approval of the bill on April 24, 2008. With final
approval from both houses of Congress, the measure will now move
to the White House for President Bush’s signature. The president
has already indicated that he will sign the bill into law.
“This legislation not only will stamp out a
form of discrimination, but will allow us to realize the
tremendous life-saving and life-altering potential of genetic
research,” said Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-NY, chief sponsor of
H.R. 493. “Passage of this bill will usher in a whole new era of
health care. These important protections will enable the
scientific and medical communities to make the critical medical
breakthroughs of the twenty-first century.”
The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination in
Employment Coalition, which is led by business groups such as
the Society for Human Resource Management, has long supported
protections for employees from genetic discrimination. However,
the coalition took care to work closely with members of the
House and Senate to ensure that final legislation was fair to
employers and employees.
The House first passed H.R. 493 in April 2007
by the wide bipartisan margin of 420-3. However, the bill
hit a snag in the Senate when Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., voiced
concerns with the measure. Senate Democrats worked out a
compromise with Coburn and made several changes to address the
issues he raised.
One of the central issues stalling the bill
was the potential that “double jeopardy” complaints could be
made against both health insurers and employers. Legislative
changes, made by the Senate and approved by the House, establish
a “firewall” and create several liability protections for
employers and health insurance providers.
In addition, the version passed by the House
in 2007 would have required employers to offer health plans that
cover treatments for genetic-related conditions; however, the
Senate’s recent compromise removed this provision.
It remained unclear when the measure would be
sent to the White House and when the president would sign it
into law. However, sources familiar with the issue said that the
bill could become law in early May 2008.
Express Request: NORTH CAROLINA Employment Law Resources
SHRM's
Information Center has compiled a variety of online employment
law resources applicable to your state. In this SHRM
member-only, FREE benefit you'll receive employment law
resources from SHRM Online as well as other online sources; a
spotlight on a workplace issue impacting your state; directories
for locating employment lawyers and more! To receive these
resources in one e-mail, select your state's name, complete and
submit the form at:
http://www.shrm.org/hrresources/expressrequestSTATE.asp
(SHRM members only)
Revisions to the EEO-1 Report
Page 2-3 of the
July 2006 Newsletter
FREE TOOLS FOR HR
PROFESSIONALS
Constangy,
Brooks & Smith, LLC offers the following free tools that may
be of interest to our members. Click here:
HR Free Tools.
-
Federal
Record Retention Guide 2004
-
OSHA
Recordkeeping: Model Calendar for Tracking Days Away from Work
and Work Activity Days
-
Key Changes
Document: Old vs. New OSHA Recordkeeping Standards
-
Hearing Loss
OSHA Decision Tree
-
OSHA
Materials Checklist
-
Social
Security "NO-Match" Letters and I-9: Employers Decision Trees
-
Model
No-Harassment Policy
-
Model
No-Harassment Policy - Spanish
EMPLOYMENT LAW
CORNER
Our member, Jon Yarbrough, writes an "Employment Law
Corner" column for the
Asheville Citizen-Times. The following articles
are online for your reading thanks to the newspaper:
Click on date to read article
April 2007:
"Cintas Corp. Learned the Hard Way about Limits of
Confidentiality Rules"
January 15, 2007: "How
will Democrats' agenda and control of Congress affect the
workplace?"
April
19, 2006: "Neither
Confederate Identity nor its Symbols Protected in Workplace Law"
April
13, 2006: "Follow
Letter of the Law When Investigating Employees, Interviewing Witnesses"
March 27, 2006:
"Employers:
An Employee Handbook is Your 1st Line of Defense"
January
16, 2006:
"Employers Can
Place Limitations on Worker Lawsuits"
2005
November 7, 2005:
"Amendments affect employers’ right to
deduct from wages"
Click
here to read this interesting article.
October 24, 2005:
"Don't Trip on the Tarmac; Be
Sure I-9 Forms Comply"
Click
here to read this interesting article.
August 6, 2005:
"Get Those Paper Shredders
Ready;
Consumer Information Disposal Rule is in Effect"
Click
here to read this interesting article.
March 28, 2005:
"Want to Get Sued by your
Employees?Here are Seven Easy Steps to Achieve Your Goal."
Click
here to read this interesting article.
NORTH CAROLINA STATE SPECIFIC
RESOURCES
State Government
North Carolina Official State Site:
http://www.ncgov.com/
North Carolina Administrative Code:
http://ncrules.state.nc.us/ncadministrativ_/default.htm
Title 13: Labor:
http://ncrules.state.nc.us/ncadministrativ_/title13labor_/default.htm
North Carolina General Assembly:
http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/
North Carolina General Statutes:
http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/Statutes/Statutes.html
Ch. 95: Department of Labor and Labor
Regulations:
http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/gascripts/Statutes/StatutesTOC.pl?0095
Ch. 96: Employment Security:
http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/gascripts/Statutes/StatutesTOC.pl?0096
Ch. 97: Workers’ Compensation:
http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/gascripts/Statutes/StatutesTOC.pl?0097
