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ACA Means Business in 2015; Other New Laws Bring Changes

The California Legislature had an active year, adding 930 new laws that will come into effect in 2015 – many of which aim to reform the state’s health care industry. These come as the federal health care reform hits businesses in a big way this year.

The state and federal changes bring a strong focus on the improvement of health care facilities, expanded health care coverage for employees and new requirements for employers. Some of the most-talked-about new laws include the following:

Employer Mandate

On Jan. 1, after a one-year delay, the Affordable Care Act employer mandate went into effect for employers with 100 or more full-time equivalent employees. As of last year, “full time” is defined as employees working 30 hours per week on average.

Jim Morrison, president and founder of James M. Morrison Insurance Services Inc. and a member of the San Diego Association of Health Underwriters, said that it is likely employers of this size already offer insurance benefits.

“However, this isn’t just 100 full-time employees we’re talking about,” Morrison said. “This is 100 ‘full-time equivalent’ employees. That means highly blue collar businesses or restaurants that may have lots of part-time workers could fall into this category.”

If an employer does not offer health insurance, it will be penalized with a $2,000 fine per employee per year. In some cases, experts say paying the fine may cost less than paying for health benefits.

Assisted Living Penalties for Abuse

Care facilities licensed by the state can now be slapped with bigger fines for major violations under a new law that arose out of several failures at care facilities around the state, several of which occurred in San Diego County.

UT-San Diego reported the following incidents in 2013:

Wesley Palms in San Diego, where a man died after he fell and spent two days on the floor of his room, undetected, bruised and soiled with feces.

Merrill Gardens in Oceanside, where the staff showering and caring for a resident overlooked six deepening bedsores on his hip, heel, and coccyx before he died.

Mission Home IV in San Diego, which failed to act after finding a woman on the floor at 7 a.m. “with wet clothing and bedding, soiled underpants and unable to articulate,” records state. She died, too.

Before this new law, the maximum fine levied against care facilities for serious incidents (including the death of a patient due to neglect) was $150. The new law has raised the maximum fine to $10,000 in cases of physical abuse and $15,000 for violations that lead to a death. Facility operators can appeal the fines.

Another law bans residential care facilities for the elderly from accepting new residents if they have not corrected serious health and safety violations or have failed to pay a state-issued fine.

Mandatory Paid Sick Leave

Although it doesn’t go into effect until July 1, offering paid sick leave is another requirement for California employers this year. The new law requires employers to provide paid sick leave to any employee who worked in California for 30 days at an accrual rate of one hour for every 30 hours worked.

Employers are allowed to limit an employee’s use of paid sick leave to 24 hours or three days in each year of employment and may put a maximum cap on total accrual of 48 hours or six days.

The law contains many nuances, such as detailed recordkeeping and notice requirements, including a new poster requirement. The law also contains penalties for noncompliance.

According to Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, a firm with a focus in employment law, the new statute can be enforced either by the Labor Commissioner or by private litigation under the Private Attorney General Act. If pursued in court, employees can be granted reinstatement, back pay and extra cash to cover attorney’s fees. All of this will come out of the employer’s pocket, who also will be liable for civil penalties of up to $4,000 per employee.

Earthquake Retrofits

The Seismic Safety Act, passed over 20 years ago, required every hospital in the state to be assessed for structural integrity and renovated or rebuilt to withstand earthquakes. The greatest concern was around buildings deemed most at risk of collapse.

The vast majority of those buildings, rated SPC 1, are now compliant. However, five hospitals statewide were edging into the Jan. 1, 2015 deadline with incomplete construction projects.

Therefore, Assemblyman Richard Pan (D-Sacramento) introduced a bill that gives these hospitals a nine-month extension. The bill became law effective Jan. 1.

None of the hospitals are in San Diego County.

“These hospitals are making a good-faith effort to build the facilities, and they just need a little more time,” Pan told The California Report last summer.

Send news to Brittany Meiling at Bmeiling@sdbj.com.

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