Legal Focus

IRS Notice 2015-87 was published recently stating that the IRS is considering new rules that will apply to school bus contractors. The new rules will change the methods of calculating which employees are “full time” and will result in more school bus contractors being required to comply with the Affordable Care Act by offering healthcare coverage to its employees. You should know about the proposed new rule and voice your opinion when the IRS seeks public comments.

There are several regulations that govern the transportation of students to and from school, including the general requirements of school buses (75 PA C S 4552), equipment and safety requirements for school buses (67 PA Code 171), and general requirements for other vehicles transporting school children (75 PA C S 4553). All school bus contractors must comply with these regulations as well as others. However, a recent case (CBM Ministries of S Cent Pa, Inc. v Pa DOT) implies that these requiremen...

A new statute, Pennsylvania (24 P.S. 14-1414.2) became effective in January 2015 addressing a school’s administration of EpiPens. As a result many schools are reviewing EpiPen handling expectations with their contractors. In some cases, there is confusion about exactly what the new statute means and how it interacts with an older Pennsylvania statute (42 Pa. C.S. 8337.1) that provides civil immunity in some situations to certain people who render emergency care. This article provides informatio...

As detailed in last month’s Legal Focus article, Act 168 goes into effect December 22, 2014. The new regulation requires employers to complete a previous employer inquiry with applicants who will work directly with children. Similar to the previous employer inquiry completed under the DOT Drug and Alcohol regulations, the Act requires the applicant to disclose to all current and prior employers where the applicant had direct contact with children. The applicant will also be required to sign an ...

All employers worry when they receive a call asking for information about a former employee. In fact, many employers will only give the dates of employment and position last held. But under Act 168, some employers are required to answer in more detail. Fortunately, Pennsylvania law protects employers who disclose truthful, documented information about a current or former employee’s job performance to a prospective employer. Important details follow.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a memorandum in March 2015 addressing lawful and unlawful policies, procedures, and handbook rules. Specifically, any rule or policy that has a “chilling effect” on an employee’s Section 7 rights to concerted activity may be deemed to be unlawful. These new guidelines provide challenges for many companies to modify and rewrite their Handbook policies and company practices to remain lawful under the National Labor Relations Act.

While a school bus operation can be audited by many regulatory agencies in regards to their employee files, Department of Transportation (DOT), Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMSCA), OSHA, EEOC, Department of Education (DPE), Department of Labor (DOL), and Department of Human Services (DHS), just to name a few; we are going to concentrate on the two major entities as it relates to school bus operations in this article, DOT and DPE. A driver’s qualification file review from DOT an...