Mental disabilities under the ADA: a management rights approach

While numerous sources have focused on employee rights and employer obligations under the Americans with Disabilities Act, this article will emphasize employer rights with respect to mental disabilities under the ADA. Specifically, it addresses the ADA's definition of "mental disability," the right of employers to screen job applicants in spite of the ADA, the conditions under which an employer may require an employee to undergo a "fitness for duty" examination, and the limits of the duty to "reasonably accommodate" an employee with a mental disability.     

Mergers and acquisitions: director and consultant liability exposure

Corporate directors and their consultants must make decisions in an uncertain and changing health care environment. The losses each may face as a result of an incomplete analysis of the true value of the entities involved in mergers or acquisitions may extend beyond the failure of the transaction to the creation of personal liability as well. Accordingly, objective, careful, detailed, and fair decision-making based upon adequate information is more critical than ever for directors if they are to be able to take advantage of the business judgment rule, and also for consultants to avoid their own liability when transactions fail to deliver the values they have estimated.     

Commissioner v. Schleier: back to the drawing board on the taxation of employment dispute recoveries

The Court's decision in Schleier leaves the taxation of recoveries arising out of employment disputes, as well as many other types of disputes, in a state of confusion. To be sure, employers and employees now know with certainty that recoveries under the ADEA are not excludable from income under Section 104(a)(2). Recoveries under other statutes, however, including the Fair Labor Standards Act and the 1991 version of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, are altogether unclear after Schleier. In the absence of further guidance, employers should consider adopting a more conservative approach to employment dispute settlements by treating settlement payments as taxable income, subject to withholding and employment taxes.     

Proposed regulations to govern private business use of tax-exempt bond financed facilities

For the most part, owners of tax-exempt hospitals and other health care facilities should welcome the issuance of the proposed regulations because they generally clarify and liberalize former law. As pointed out, however, in certain instances the proposed regulations do impose additional requirements not found in current law. Accordingly, in those instances in which exempt facility owners may elect to apply the proposed regulations prior to their finalization, a careful analysis needs to be made of whether the old or new regime would be most beneficial.     

Special report on taxation. New IRS revenue procedure clarifies tax classification of limited liability companies

Although its rules are complex, the publication of Revenue Procedure 95-10 will substantially facilitate the use of LLCs in those states with statutes that permit significant flexibility in the structuring of LLCs. Previously, the only way to assure that LLCs in those states would be classified as partnerships for income tax purposes was to obtain a private letter ruling from the IRS, often resulting in lengthy delays. The new revenue procedure should provide sufficient guidance in the vast majority of cases to allow tax counsel to determine the appropriate treatment for tax purposes without having to seek an IRS private letter ruling.     

Special report on reimbursement. HCFA enacts new enforcement remedies covering nursing facilities

While the regulations are revolutionary in their use of "substantial compliance," the interpretation and application of HCFA's new remedial scheme are still uncertain, as states are given broad discretion in defining important terms and in applying and interpreting the criteria to select remedies. Further complicating the issue is the fact that some states, including California, intend to seek waivers from HCFA to substitute their own state enforcement systems for most, if not all, of the new federal system. Based upon these uncertainties, the enforcement of nursing facility standards will likely be in a state of flux for some time to come.