A crucial part of the church’s training program should include the prevention of sexual harassment.  Many churches overlook this area of risk because they do not think that it will happen in a church context. Unfortunately, the church is not immune from episodes of sexual harassment from taking place within its walls.  It is crucial [...]

The Obama administration, trying to defuse one of the most contentious issues in its healthcare law, proposed a new way to shield religiously affiliated organizations, such as hospitals and universities, from having to provide contraceptive coverage directly to their employees. Instead, the employees would obtain coverage through a separate, private insurance policy at no cost. [...]

Allegheny County in Pennsylvania puts nonprofits on notice: Facing rising public pressure in a region dominated by tax-exempt giants, Allegheny County soon will require all nonprofits with property to prove they deserve their tax breaks. At Tuesday’s county council meeting, Executive Rich Fitzgerald announced plans to send letters to all 9,000 non-government tax-exempt properties in [...]

Congressman Dave Camp (R-MI), Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, today announced that the Committee will hold a hearing to examine the itemized deduction for charitable contributions as part of the Committee’s work on comprehensive tax reform. The hearing will begin on Thursday, February 14, 2013, in Room 1100 of the Longworth House [...]

The Los Angeles Times reported that its analysis of Boy Scouts of America’s “perversion” files showed that the Boy Scouts of America fought the trend of adopting criminal background checks for volunteers and staff, unknowingly allowing convicted child sex offenders to join.  Amid reports of widespread sexual abuse of children in the late 1980s, several [...]

The Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation, which aims to “protect the constitutional principle of separation between state and church,” recently sent a letter to the superintendent of Walker County Schools requesting that the school board look into the activities of the Ridgeland High School football coach Mark Mariakis.  “Taking public school football teams to church, [...]

For years the IRS has refused to rule on whether contributions to a single-member limited liability company (SMLLC) that is wholly owned and controlled by a U.S. charity and otherwise disregarded for federal income tax purposes are deductible as charitable contributions.  In Notice 2012-52 the Service provides the following: If all other requirements of § [...]

A second hearing on tax-exempt organizations will occur on July 25, 2012.  Per the Ways and Means Committee website: “The hearing will focus on organizational and compliance issues related to public charities, including the increased complexity of public charity organizational structures, the rules governing profit-generating activities giving rise to unrelated business income tax, and whether [...]

As part of the Department of Labor’s continuing effort to spread the word about the Family Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) and make the FMLA more accessible, the Wage & Hour Division (WHD) of the DOL released an Employee Guide to the FMLA, a 16-page, plain language booklet designed to answer common FMLA questions and clarify [...]

The New York Times recently reported the highlights of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s budget and reform plan.  Part of Cuomo’s plan is to improve the monitoring and spending controls of nonprofit organization who provide services for the state of New York.  The governor plans to limit the annual state reimbursement for executive salaries at state-subsidized nonprofit [...]