Employers Brace For Boycotts

Leon Patricios was quoted in the National Law Journal's article on employment attorneys "getting swamped with calls from businesses that are unclear on how to discipline workers who skip or boycott work to attend immigration rallies popping up across the United States." The article outlined a number of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaints that have been filed by workers who were fired for missing work to attend protests for immigrant rights. Mr. Patricios was quoted as saying that employers "be careful to apply workplace rules uniformly." Patricios noted that "a company runs the risk of getting hit with a discrimination lawsuit if employees are allowed to skip work in one situation, but not another."

Desnick Weighs in on Stark Advisory Opinions

The Florida Medical Business published Lori C. Desnick's article on the Stark Law advisory opinion process in the August focus issue on Anti-Kickback and Stark Laws. In the article, Ms. Desnick discussed the types of requests that will be considered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the type of information that must be submitted with a request, and the costs to be incurred by the requestor. In the article, Ms. Desnick recommended that health care providers seeking to establish a relationship or enter into a transaction that may implicate the Stark Law consider engaging legal counsel to guide them through the advisory opinion process. According to Ms. Desnick, "[i]t would be difficult to overstate the importance of obtaining clarity regarding the government's position in a highly regulated environment.

Adventist Health System/Sunbelt Inc. v. Blue Cross and Blue Shield Case Discussed in BNA

The Bureau of National Affairs Health Plan & Provider Report outlined ZP&W's significant appellate victory in the Adventist Health System/Sunbelt Inc. v. Blue Cross and Blue Shield case. The article outlined the Florida 5th District Court of Appeal's decision to allow Florida Hospital to proceed with its lawsuit for reimbursement of emergency health care services rendered to an enrollee of a Blue Cross and Blue Shield plan that was not under contract with the hospital.