Compliance Stuff

New Jersey employers whose workers are on Medicaid health coverage instead of workplace insurance will soon have to pay a new fee. Other states are considering it, too. Democratic lawmakers and governors see it as a way to help pay for the joint federal and state insurance program that covers low-income residents as federal policy changes are expected to make the program more expensive for states and may lead to a reduction in the number of people with coverage. New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill signed a measure Tuesday night to charge employers that have at least 50 workers covered by Medicaid , and the state budget she approved earlier in the week counts on raising $145 million this year from the program. Under the plan, companies will be billed for each employee and employee's dependents receiving Medicaid, the joint state-federal insurance program . The fees per person would start at $325 a year for companies with 50 to 249 Medicaid beneficiaries and top out at $725 annually for ...

  Managing conflicts of interest is a big part of any corporate compliance officer’s job. Today we have a fascinating glimpse of how complicated that work can be, courtesy of the Wall Street Journal and its detailed account of how the now-former Kohl’s CEO Ashley Buchanan sent company business to his girlfriend. You probably remember the original story, which first hit the headlines on May 1. That was the day the  $16 billion retail chain fired Buchanan , who had arrived as CEO only four months earlier, because Buchanan had “directed the company to engage in vendor transactions that involved undisclosed conflicts of interest.” It soon became clear that the conflict  was Buchanan steering consulting and business contracts to Chandra Holt  — a former colleague from Walmart, an accomplished business executive in her own right, and Buchanan’s romantic partner for years. Lots of people in the ethics and compliance community have praised Kohl’s board for its commitment to ...