New Federal Laws Employers Should Know About in 2014

Warning A number of new employment and business-related laws and regulations go into effect throughout 2014, as well as a plethora of changes to existing laws. Keeping track of all the changes that could impact your clients’ businesses can be a challenge.

Luckily, HRAnswerLink provides tools to help your clients stay on top of changes. Signing up for eAlerts will keep your clients informed, and the HR Support Center also provides a handy search option that lets your clients look up federal and state laws by category or by keyword.

Here are just a few of the major changes that will be important over the course of 2014:

Affordable Care Act (ACA) — employer mandate delayed: The Employer Mandate provision of the ACA has been delayed for medium-sized businesses until 2016. This means that businesses with 50-99 full-time employees will not face tax penalties for not providing healthcare coverage for employees in 2014 and 2015.
Small Business Health Care Tax Credit increase: The federal tax credit for small businesses that provide healthcare coverage for their full-time employees increases in 2014 from up to 35%of employer-paid eligible health insurance premiums to up to 50% of employer-paid eligible health insurance premiums.
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ruling: In February 2014, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth District ruled that an employee can opt out of using FMLA leave, even if the leave requested is for a reason that would be eligible for FMLA coverage.
Minimum wage increases: Fourteen states will increase minimum wage rates in 2014 or have already raised the minimum wage effective Jan. 1. For a full list of state-mandated minimum wage increases for this year, your clients can check the “Minimum Wage Chart 2014” resource in the Guides section of the Essentials tab in HR Support Center.
IRS Standard Mileage Reimbursement Rate decrease: Starting on Jan. 1, the optional IRS Standard Mileage Reimbursement Rate decreased half of a cent to 56 cents per mile driven for business purposes. If your clients use the IRS rate for mileage reimbursement, they’ll want to update their accounting systems to reflect this change.

Be sure your clients know about HRAnswerLink’s resources to help them stay up-to-date on the laws that could affect their businesses in 2014.

[cta]Are you confused about employment law changes? Have another question? Contact HRAnswerLink on our website, by phone at (877) 882-2237, or by email.[/cta]