High Demand for EAP and Mental Health Services

As many employees are seeking out Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and mental health services, they are experiencing significant delays accessing providers. Employers can provide additional information and resources to meet their needs. This is particularly important for crisis situations.

For employers in the Springfield area, these resources may be helpful to communicate to their teams.
 
For crisis situations (all are free services) -

Call or Text 988 (the National Lifeline)

While not specific to Burrell, the National Lifeline is available 24/7 and routes to the
local Crisis Line in the caller’s geographic area which is Burrell’s Crisis Line. 

Call 800-494-7355

This is Burrell’s Direct Crisis Line for SW MO. It is available 24/7 and
you may call for your own situation or if you want guidance on a
situation involving a family member or friend.

Go in person to 800 S. Park Avenue, Springfield, MO 65802
(Near Grand & Kansas Expressway).

This is Burrell’s Behavioral Crisis Center. They are open 24/7 for intervention treatment, observation, and stabilization for anyone if they feel in crisis.

For non-crisis situations (charges apply) -

Go in person to 1300 E. Bradford Parkway, Springfield
(Near Bradford Parkway & Primrose)

This is Burrell’s Connection Center. They are open Mon – Th, 8:00 AM – 8:00 PM;
Fri 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM and provide onsite assessment typically that day and
referral to appropriate services. Verification of insurance will apply.


Two great downloadable resources can be found by clicking below:

EEOC Issues Proposed Rule To Implement The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act


WASHINGTON – The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) today issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to implement the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA). The NPRM was posted by the Federal Register for public inspection today and will be published for public comment in the Federal Register Aug. 11. Members of the public wishing to comment on the NPRM will have 60 days from the date of publication to do so through www.regulations.gov.

“The PWFA is a step forward for workers, families and the economy. This important new civil rights law promotes the economic security and health of pregnant and postpartum workers by providing them with access to support on the job to keep working, which helps employers retain critical talent,” said EEOC Chair Charlotte A. Burrows. “The EEOC’s bipartisan proposed regulation furthers the agency’s leadership role in fulfilling the promise of the PWFA’s protections. We encourage the public to provide meaningful feedback about how the proposal would impact workplaces and ways to assist employers and workers in understanding the law.”

The PWFA requires covered employers to provide reasonable accommodations to a worker’s known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, unless the accommodation will cause the employer an undue hardship. This law builds upon existing protections against pregnancy discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and access to reasonable accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act.



Supreme Court Debates Race & Ethnicity Categories

There has been a renewed focus on the government’s race and ethnicity categories over the past year. OMB’s working group and the Supreme Court’s most recent affirmative action decision shed more light on the debate over the potential benefits and shortcomings of the existing categories.

This debate may have real implications for employers that use these categories for compliance and recordkeeping purposes. Covered contractors with affirmative action obligations and employers with one hundred or more employees may want to closely monitor the working group for additional developments because the working group’s anticipated revisions will certainly impact the self-identification categories that employers use for compliance and recordkeeping purposes. In addition, employers may want to consider evaluating whether the government’s categories actually help them with their DEI initiatives, or if providing additional categories for self-identification purposes might be prudent.
Major Change to 2022
EEO-1 Data Collection

In a surprise move, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) posted an announcement to the EEO-1 landing page, stating that it was moving the tentative start date of the 2022 EEO-1 filing process to the fall of 2023.

In explaining this action, the EEOC stated, “The EEOC is currently completing a mandatory, 3-year renewal of the EEO-1 Component 1 data collection by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA).” The EEOC has pushed the opening date to an as yet unknown date in the fall of 2023.

While there had been some discussion about changes to the EEO-1 reporting structure designed to streamline the number of reports, this significant delay in opening the 2022 EEO-1 filing platform is unexpected. The change in the reporting schedule means that employers have more time to gather the data for these reports, but it could make the fall a much busier time for those who handle this reporting.


‘Ultimate Employment Decision’
Requirement for Discrimination Claims
On August 18, 2023, in Hamilton v. Dallas County, the full Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upended long-standing precedent, significantly broadening the types of adverse employment actions that could give rise to an actionable claim. Prior to this decision, and for nearly thirty years, Fifth Circuit precedent required a plaintiff under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to show he or she had been subjected to an “ultimate employment decision” to state a cognizable discrimination claim.

  • In an August 18, 2023, decision, the Fifth Circuit reasoned that to limit disparate treatment claims to those involving ultimate employment decisions ignored the “terms, conditions, or privileges of employment” language of the anti-discrimination provision.
  • The Fifth Circuit held that “[t]he days and hours one works are quintessential ‘terms or conditions’ of one’s employment.”
  • The Fifth Circuit held that Title VII “does not permit liability for de minimis workplace trifles,” but left open the question of the minimum level of harm that needs to be associated with any claim predicated on the “terms, conditions, or privileges of employment” language of Title VII’s anti-discrimination provision.
Eliminating Barriers to Lifesaving Care

The Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and the Treasury proposed rules that would ensure that people seeking coverage for mental health and substance use disorder care can access treatment as easily as people seeking coverage for medical treatments. “Mental health care is as important to the well-being of America’s workers as physical health care,” Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su said at a White House event highlighting the importance of mental health care.

The proposed rules announced today seek to fully protect the rights of people seeking mental health and substance use disorder benefits and provide clear guidance to plans and issuers on how to comply with the law’s requirements. In developing their proposals, the departments drew from their combined and individual experiences in enforcing the act and in working with plans and issuers, as well as state regulators.

The departments also released the second Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act’s Comparative Analysis Report to Congress, as required by federal law. At the same time, the Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration and Health and Human Services’ Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a joint fact sheet on the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act enforcement results for cases closed in fiscal year 2022.

With the proposed rules and technical release, the departments aim to promote changes in network composition and plans’ and issuers’ medical management techniques to make mental health and substance use disorder provider networks more accessible and create parity in treatment limitations, such as network composition standards and prior authorizations, for people seeking mental health and substance use disorder treatment.



What Employers Should Know
About the Updated Form I-9
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced July 21 a new Form I-9—which has been streamlined and shortened—that employers should use beginning Aug. 1, 2023.
 
Employers may continue to use the older Form I-9 (Rev. 10/21/19) through Oct. 31, 2023. After that date, they will be subject to penalties if they use the older form. The new version will not be available for downloading until Aug. 1.  

Additionally, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a final rule that allows the agency to create a framework under which employers can implement alternative document examination procedures, such as remote document examination. The new form subsequently has a checkbox to indicate when an employee's Form I-9 documentation was examined using a DHS-authorized alternative procedure.



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HR Hotline
800-256-7310

Karen Shannon
Vice President Business Consulting/CHRO
417-881-8333, ext. 133

Carolyn O'Kelley
Human Resources Consultant
417-881-8333, ext. 126

Kenya Pearman
Human Resources Consultant
417-881-8333, ext. 125


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