- HCSO’s Annual Employer Reporting Obligation
Employers subject to the San Francisco’s Health Care Security Ordinance (HCSO) are required to annually report their health care expenditures to the Office of Labor Standards Enforcement (OLSE). Both the 2016 Employer Annual Reporting Form and related instructions are now available on the OLSE’s website. The deadline for submitting the Annual Reporting Form is May 1, 2017. Employers who fail to submit an annual report on time may be subject to penalties of $500 for each quarter the violation occurs.
OLSE is hosting two webinars to assist employers in completing their 2016 Employer Annual Reporting Form on April 4th and April 12th at 10 am PST. While space is limited to 100 participants per webinar, the OLSE indicates that a recording of these webinars will be posted on OLSE’s website sometime after April 12, 2017.
As background, a business is subject to HCSO if it engages in business within the City of San Francisco and employs 20 or more employees per week. Nonprofit employers with fewer than 50 employees, and small employers with fewer than 20 employees, are exempt from the HCSO. For 2017, the applicable health care expenditure rate for large businesses employing 100+ employees is $2.64 per hour; the rate for businesses with 20-99 employees and nonprofits employing 50-99 employees is $1.76 per hour (see San Francisco HCSO Expenditure Rates for 2017, Benefit Beat, 9/12/16).
- Paid Parental Leave Reminders and Resources
Last year, Mayor Lee signed the Paid Parental Leave Ordinance requiring most employers with employees in San Francisco to begin bridging the gap between an employee's paid family leave benefit and the employee's regular compensation. This Ordinance provides for up to 6 weeks of supplemental compensation to employees receiving paid leave benefits under California’s Paid Family Leave program for purposes of newborn baby bonding. For a summary of the Ordinance, see San Francisco’s Paid Parental Leave Ordinance (Benefit Beat, 5/5/16).
As a reminder, the law is being implemented in 3 phases:
- Employers with 50 or more employees were required to comply beginning on January 1, 2017.
- Employers with 35 or more employees are required to comply beginning on July 1, 2017.
- Employers with 20 or more employees are required to comply beginning on January 1, 2018.
The OLSE provides more detailed information about the Ordinance on its website including a webinar slide deck, a step-by-step guide, the required workplace poster, the model form that can be used to request leave (in English, Spanish and Chinese), as well as an online calculator for determining amounts of supplemental compensation to be paid.
The information contained in this article is provided as general guidance and may be affected by changes in law or regulation. This article is not intended to replace or substitute for accounting or other professional advice. Please consult a CBIZ professional. This information is provided as-is with no warranties of any kind. CBIZ shall not be liable for any damages whatsoever in connection with its use and assumes no obligation to inform the reader of any changes in laws or other factors that could affect the information contained herein.