Quietly just before the Thanksgiving holiday, federal agencies released their upcoming regulatory agendas as required by law. Among the highlights:
- The Department of Labor (DOL) has issued or will issue in the next few months 24 regulations that will help implement its Plan/Prevent/Protect program, which shifts "the burden of ensuring compliance from the Department – which cannot and does not want to inspect every workplace – to the regulated entity itself."
- The DOL's Wage and Hour Division (WHD) by March 2014 plans to issue a regulation regarding the definition of spouse for the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) in light of the Supreme Court's June Windsor decision.
- By September 2014, the DOL's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) plans to issue its Injury and Illness Prevention Program (I2P2) regulation.
- The Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) is working on a regulation to be issued in February regarding the 90-day waiting period in the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
- The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is looking for a September regulation adjusting its fines for posting requirements to accord with inflation (that is, it will raise the fines).
- The Health and Human Services Administration (HHS) will be busy implementing the ACA, and plans to issue a health care nondiscrimination ruling by August.