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This topic provides guidance on how to handle compensation issues in a way that attracts and retains the best talent and advances the strategic goals of your business. You get news and tips on what’s going on nationally and in the states, and updates on changes in regulations, possible governmental action, and emerging compensation trends.
The IRS’ “to do” list includes writing up a notice on cell phone substantiation and finalizing guidance on debit cards used with qualified transportation fringe benefits (QTFBs), according to its 2011-2012 priority guidance plan published Sept. 2. Smart Cards The IRS lists 29 items under the heading, “executive compensation, health care and other benefits and […]
Retirement plan administrators do not have the authority to conclude that a domestic relations order (DRO) is not qualified because it is based on a “sham” divorce, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided July 18, 2011. The 5th Circuit stated that a key ERISA section “does not authorize an administrator to consider or […]
The sponsor of a self-funded health plan cannot escape its responsibility to ensure that only fully eligible people are enrolled. Illustrating this maxim is a self-funded plan’s sad quest to recover gigantic sums from health providers for services it paid on behalf of a non-beneficiary. The plan paid more than $1 million in claims for a […]
“We’ve looked at hundreds of companies’ plans,” Dolmat-Connell says “I guess if you could boil it down, there are three key pieces of advice.” (Dolmat-Connell is president and CEO of compensation experts DolmatConnell, & Partners in Boston, Massachusetts.) First of all, he says, make sure you don’t have uncapped plans. Second, make sure you balance […]
In spite of the old saying that a salesperson cannot be overpaid, it seems that one indeed can be. And they were, says Dolmat-Connell, president and CEO of compensation consultants DolmatConnell & Partners. He points to AIG as a prime example of where things went wrong. “They had traders whose pay was $100,000 a year, […]
Peer Group ‘Arms Race’ Boyd, a researcher at Boston-based compensation consultant Equilar, says that pay ratcheting is a concern when companies compare themselves to their peer group. “For instance, you decide to set your CEO’s pay above the median of the peer group. Then other companies see that figure and want to set their CEO […]
Who’s in Your Peer Group? The first thing to do is to decide which companies should make up your peer group, says Boyd. Should you compare to companies: Against whom you compete for business? Whose revenues are approximately the same as yours? With about the same number of employees? In the same industry? Isn’t there […]
Why should a recent tax court decision that caretaker services provided to a dementia patient are qualified long-term care (LTC) expenses be of interest to employers? Well, if you see employee benefits as a way to attract and retain good employees, and don’t yet offer LTC insurance, the ruling — which means those services could […]
Do you offer long-term care (LTC) insurance to your employees? If so, and the changes the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA) made to the tax and information reporting requirements affecting some LTC coverage apply, you can offer your two cents’ worth to the IRS. The PPA amended the tax rules for qualified LTC insurance, […]
Some people complain about “rheumatism,” backaches and other physical ills when the weather shifts. For a Southwest Airlines employee, his backaches — and resulting requests for Family and Medical Act (FMLA) leave — seemed to follow the same shift as holidays and vacation time. Southwest determined that this was not the whim of nature but […]