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California employers already have a myriad of employment laws to comply with, so what’s one more? California Gov. Jerry Brown recently signed into state law the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014. Effective July 1, 2015, all employers — no matter the size — must provide paid sick time to their employees, including part-time and seasonal workers who have worked at least 30 days in a year.

Released concurrently with Feb. 10’s changes to the employer mandate, the Affordable Care Act’s shared-responsibility regulations offer guidance to employers in two areas: non-assessment periods and transitional relief. The non-assessment portion allows for specific periods of time when employers will not be held accountable for fines levied for failure to offer qualifying health insurance to a full-time employee. Additionally, employers entering their first year as an applicable large employer (ALE) were given details on a transition rule, giving them a specific time frame to comply fully with ACA mandates without being penalized.

While many portions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) have been delayed, postponed or a mixture of the two, the IRS recently released two rules for employer reporting requirements.These rules are seen in Section 6055 and 6056 and will be reported via forms 1095-B and 1095-C, respectively. Both employers and insurers may voluntarily report for 2014, but reporting will not be required until 2015.

The prospect of boosting wages can ruffle the feathers of businesses that believe such a hike would force them to cut jobs. Their theory may be put to the test, as President Barack Obama has issued a proposal to the U.S. Department of Labor to expand the eligibility requirements for overtime workers. This expansion would raise the minimum salary an employee must receive in order to qualify for overtime pay by more than double what it is today.

Owning a restaurant seems like a glamorous idea, or at least it did to me, but there’s more to running a restaurant than cooking good food and mingling with customers. In order to be a successful restaurateur you have to have a good grasp on the fundamentals on running your establishment. You have to meet customer demands, maintain inventory as well as staff and manage expenses.

In the scope of basic math, the difference between 30 and 40 isn’t much. The continuing battle over the Affordable Care Act (ACA), however, is anything but basic. Currently at stake in the U.S. House of Representatives is the definition of a full-time employee. Whereas most federal labor laws equate a 40-hour workweek to full-time employment, the ACA definition lowers that to 30.

Offering employees health insurance is not enough to avoid the penalties associated with the shared responsibility requirements of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). While many large employers already provide what they believe to be a good health plan for employees, the ACA has set the standard for what is considered adequate and affordable coverage as well as the penalties for non-compliance.