Compliance August 23, 2005

Taft Approves Buckeye State HSA Law

August 23, 2005 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - New Ohio legislation signed into law by Governor Bob Taft allows companies in the state offering group health insurance to start offering high-deductible health plans linked to health savings accounts (HSAs).
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Sub. HB 193 defines “health savings account” and “high deductible health plan” the same as in Section 223 of the Internal Revenue Code, according to Thompson.com. 

The usual limits on copayments allowed to be charged by health insuring corporations do not apply.

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According to the report, a separate bill permitting a state income tax deduction for HSA contributions is pending in the Ohio legislature (HB 46).

The HSA measure takes effect November 17.

Benefits August 22, 2005

Judge Rules For Lawyer Fired For Following Rules

August 22, 2005 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Judge Carmen Lopez of the Superior Court of New Haven, Connecticut has ruled that a lawyer can not be fired for trying to follow the Rules of Professional Conduct, saying that doing so is an "important public policy" exception to the employment-at-will doctrine, The Connecticut Law Tribune reports.
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“Because the legal profession is self-regulated and relies upon its members to police itself, no lawyer’s employment should be conditioned upon turning a blind eye to violations of the Rules which are applicable to all lawyers,” Lopez wrote, according to The Law Tribune.

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Associate Bruce Matzkin of the Guilford, Connecticut law firm ofDelaney, Zemetis, Donahue, Durham & Noonan was fired after seeking permission to report to bar authorities that a trial opponent had called witnesses he had subpoenaed and told them they didn’t need to come to court. Matzkin felt the act was witness tampering and he had a duty to report the violation under Rule 8.3(a).

But, Matzkin claims a partner told him, “We do not grieve other lawyers.”

The firm argued with the judge’s ruling, saying that the ethics rule “does not rise to the level of ‘an important public policy'” that would warrant making an exception to employers’ basic right to fire an employee without any grounds, the Law Tribune reports.

Lopez concluded in the ruling that firing a lawyer for following the self-policing requirement of the Rules of Professional Conduct “would compromise the autonomy of the profession.”

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