Everyone is now back to school for second semester, and 2018 is fully upon us (although we’ll still be writing “2017” on our checks until at least March). We want to welcome you to 2018 with a list of three sets of deadlines that should be on every school’s calendar early this semester:
Deadline Extended for Providing Employees their “Health Care W2.”
The IRS has announced a 30-day extension for the deadline employers have to provide form 1095-C to their employees. The deadline has been extended from January 31, 2018 to March 2, 2018. Unlike the prior year’s extensions, this delay does not extend the due date for filing forms 1094-C and 1095-C with the IRS. The complete text of Notice 2018-06 from the IRS is here.
New PPACA Employer Deadlines:
March 2, 2018 – forms 1095-B and 1095-C must be provided to employees by this date.
February 28, 2018 – last day for 2017 paper filing with the IRS.
April 2, 2018 – last day for 2017 electronic filing with the IRS.
We provided detailed information about the completion of 1094-C and 1095-C by Nebraska schools at a workshop in December of 2017. If you would like to purchase a copy of the workshop please contact Shari Russell (shari@ksbschoollaw.com). If you have no idea what any of this means, please pass it along to your business official.
Negotiations Deadline is February 8.
The Nebraska Industrial Relations Act sets a February 8 deadline for boards of education and the teacher’s union to reach agreement on the terms and conditions of employment for the 2018-19 school year. We have other blog posts here and here that explain the negotiations timelines in more detail. If you are a KSB client and you believe that you will not reach an agreement, please let us know immediately. If you are not a KSB client and you are not settled or close to being settled, you should contact your attorney soon to assess your options and obligations under the Act.
Superintendent Pay Transparency Act Notices Must Be Posted As Contracts Roll Over.
The last deadline which superintendents and school board members should check is contained in the Superintendent Pay Transparency Act. Any action on the superintendent’s contract – including automatic renewals – must comply with the posting requirements of the Act. That means if the board is negotiating a new salary package with the superintendent at the January meeting, the district should post the proposed contract at least 3 days before the January meeting (if it is not already posted). Then, within 2 days after the meeting the district must post a new copy of the contract which includes changes approved by the board. The district should also post a new Schedule D. These requirements are explained in more detail here. The board may need to comply with the Act multiple times if there are changes made to the superintendent’s contract in separate meetings. For example, the board may extend or renew the Superintendent’s contract in January and set the Superintendent’s salary in March. In that case, the board would have to comply with the Act both times. With all the attention that will be focused on administrator pay in light of the early bills being proposed in the Unicameral, we think it is crucial that districts scrupulously comply with the Pay Transparency Act so that the education community cannot be accused of refusing to share information about the cost of school administration.
Conclusion.
If you feel like the pace of keeping up with all of your legal obligations gets more frenetic each year, you are not alone. School districts have a myriad of obligations to juggle and even one dropped ball can lead to negative legal consequences. If you have questions about PPACA, negotiations or the Superintendent Pay Transparency Act, please feel free to contact Karen, Steve, Bobby, or Tim; or your school district's attorney.