Legislative Update

State/Local Updates

We anticipate a great deal of political news in the upcoming election year. However, the next Maryland session does not begin until January, 2011. The CHRA and Baltimore County Chamber of Commerce Fall Legislative Conference will be held at Hillendale Country Club on November the 16th. The most recent updates in compliance will be included; stay tuned for details.

Federal Updates

FMLA - Definition of Son/Daughter Clarified

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) on June 22, 2010, clarified the definition of “son and daughter” under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to ensure that an employee who assumes the role of caring for a child receives parental rights to family leave regardless of the legal or biological relationship. The DOL interpretation applies to nontraditional families, including unmarried partners and families in the lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender (LGBT) community. 

When an employer has questions about whether an employee’s relationship to a child is covered by the FMLA, the employer may require an employee to provide reasonable documentation or statement of the family relationship. “A simple statement asserting that the requisite family relationship exists is all that is needed in situations such as in loco parentis where there is no legal or biological relationship.”

Mental Health Parity - Interim Rules Upheld

Interim final rules issued by the U.S. departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the Treasury to enforce the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA) were upheld on June 21, 2010, by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

The plaintiff in the case, Coalition for Parity Inc., argued that the departments violated the Administrative Procedure Act’s notice and comment requirements by issuing interim final rules rather than a proposed rule.

The court disagreed, determining that the departments invoked the “good cause” exception to the notice and comment requirements properly. The court reached this conclusion based on congressional authorization for the issuance of interim final rules, the need for prompt regulatory guidance, the interim nature of the interim final rules and the lack of evidence of delay by the departments.

The MHPAEA was enacted Oct. 3, 2008, and generally took effect on a rolling plan year basis for insurance plan years beginning after Oct. 3, 2009. Because most group health insurance plan years start on Jan. 1 or July 1, the MHPAEA’s substantive provisions affect most group health plans as of Jan. 1, 2010, or July 1, 2010.

Healthcare Reform Grandfathered Plans - Interim Final Rules

Many were surprised to learn that two key areas in typical benefit plan operations remove grandfathering status in employer sponsored health care plans.

Changing insurance carriers will remove grandfathering status. Given many plans experience with healthcare premium increases, most do not feel it practical to remain with the same insurance carrier indefinitely. Further as provider networks continue to change, the needs of a plan sponsor may be to utilize the services of another carrier. However, doing so removes grandfathered status.
Another challenge to maintain grandfathered status is the inability to significantly alter co payments. Increases of no more then $5 or a percentage equal to medical inflation plus 15% will also revoke a plan's grandfathered status.

CHRA Volunteerism

Are you seeking an opportunity to spend more time networking with other Human Resources professionals in the Baltimore Metropolitan area? If so, the Chesapeake Human Resources Association (CHRA) has the opportunity for you. We are seeking CHRA members to join committees, and/or to work on some of our special project teams. We understand the lives of busy working professionals, thus we make committee participation convenient by limiting in-person meetings, and relying more on conference calls and other forms of electronic communication. As a bonus, you may earn recertification credit by volunteering.

Specifically, volunteers are needed now to assist on the following committees: Workforce Readiness, Member Services, Member Development, and Professional Development (programs). Interested in learning more? Please contact Jennifer Thornton at jenniferthornton@assnhqtrs.com or (410) 752-3318.

Details Announced for 2010 MD SHRM State Conference

The Maryland SHRM State Conference will be held at the Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace Hotel on Sunday, October 10 and Monday, October 11. Keynote speakers include Vicki Hess and Jeff Lanza. The event also features breakout education sessions, networking opportunities, and an exhibit hall.

In addition, the SHRM Business course is back this year and will be held for a half day on October 11 and for the full day on Tuesday, October 12. This year's business course is HR Strategy and HR Scorecards led by Steve McElfresh.

Visit http://md.shrm.org for more details. Registration is now open.

News from the CHRF

CHRF, the fund-raising arm for the Pathways to Success Program, would like to shout out a special "thank you" to all of the attendees of the Spring Conference who supported our raffles. The $500 we raised will go towards providing the students with their lunches during the programs. We are always in need of funding, so if your organization has a way to support us through donations, or a foundation, or if you would like to donate, please call Mark Ostrowski at 410-601-2333, or any member of the CHRF Board. Thanks!

CHRA Welcomes Disney Institute to Baltimore on August 11, 2010

Early Bird pricing available—see www.KeysBaltimore.com for details!
Limited Time Offer: Register and pay by 06/30/10 and be automatically entered to win a FREE 3-day Disney Institute class at the Walt Disney Resort in Orlando! Contact our Guest Services Manager at 877.544.2384 ext. 1 for details.

It doesn't take any training to recognize that the world's economy has taken a significant downturn. It does take effective and proven professional development training to guide impacted organizations back to the summit.

A one-day local workshop, Disney's Approach to Business Excellence program is a rare and affordable opportunity to learn best business practices from Disney insiders, and discover ways to easily and immediately adapt and apply those best practices to pick up the pace in these slow economic times.

Organizations from across the nation and around the world have learned proven philosophies, adapted critical lessons, and implemented effective processes to reap the rewards of improvements in leadership, management, service, and brand loyalty.

Professional development doesn't cost—it pays. It pays by creating a framework of focused energy in a vacuum of uncertainty. It pays by helping an organization gain share in a slow economy. It pays because it has been proven to strengthen employee morale and retention, which will be critical to emerge from tough times.

IMPORTANT: Please use the Chesapeake Human Resource Association promotional code CHRAMNE to receive $50 OFF PER GUEST when registering. Additional group discounts are available.

TO LEARN MORE AND REGISTER GO TO: www.KeysBaltimore.com.

No prerequisite training required.

Call for 2010-2011 Speakers

CHRA is now accepting speaker proposals for its 2010-2011 Education Programs. The CHRA Program Committee is looking for speakers who provide rich content in an engaging and highly interactive format. Click here for additional information on submitting your proposal.

Please submit your proposals to Susan Hahn (smhahn@swanconsulting.com) and copy Kristen Shoemaker (chra@assnhqtrs.com). The committee will review proposals and contact those whom we wish to schedule. If you have submitted proposals in the past that were not selected, please feel free to re-submit and/or submit a different proposal.

Professional Certification Committee

Eligibility requirements for sitting for the PHR/SPHR/GPHR exams will be changing beginning in 2011.  The final testing window for the current eligibility requirements will be December 1, 2010 through January 31, 2011. 

If you've been waiting to take the exam, please review the changes to the requirements to see if it might be to your benefit to take it during the upcoming testing window. 

CHRA is offering a PHR/SPHR Study Group utilizing the SHRM Learning System beginning September 14, 2010 (11 weeks).  We are also offering a GPHR Study Group utilizing the SHRM Global Learning System beginning September 15, 2010 (10 weeks).   A third program, a SPHR Study Group, is under consideration.  This program would be open to professionals currently holding a PHR credential with at least six years of exempt level experience, and would be a 12-15 hour program (3-4 evenings).  If you would be interested in this program, please send an e-mail to c_gosser@hotmail.com. 

For additional information and registration forms on the upcoming courses, click here.