Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
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.
Employer sponsored health plans that set low annual limits on “essential” benefits have been able to apply to HHS for a waiver if they can demonstrate that compliance with June 28, 2010 interim final rules phasing out such caps would cause a “significant decrease in access to benefits or a significant increase in premiums.” Waivers […]
Employers in Illinois that have not done so may need to adjust their plan documents to reflect the new legality of civil unions in that state. Civil unions are legal in Illinois, Hawaii and New Jersey — and will be available in Delaware next year. The Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act went […]
Your wellness program is going well, with happier and healthier employees. But then, an employee sues the company alleging that the wellness program violates his rights. So your employees are healthier, but your company’s pocketbook is not in the best of condition, as it puts out money for legal fees. Do not let this happen […]
The White House felt it proper to refute McKinsey Co.’s health reform study (see yesterday’s post) finding that as many as 30 percent of employers will stop offering health insurance to their workers after reform takes full force in 2014. Deputy Chief of Staff Nancy-Anne DeParle cited three studies saying employers would continue covering workers unabated. […]
Workers’ enhanced ability under reform to get insurance apart from their employer reduces the importance of health insurance as a means to recruit, compensate and retain workers, a June 2011 study concludes. Researchers at McKinsey Quarterly also predicted that as many as 30 percent of employers could stop providing benefits to workers after health reform […]
Once, parents were not the only ones celebrating a child’s college graduation — employers were too. While parents were looking forward to kids finally getting out on their own, employers were anticipating getting them off of their group health plan. But health care reform means that employers have to wait a little longer to break […]
The HR Daily Advisor® announced today the results of the latest compensation survey conducted in April 2011. The survey, which garnered 560 responses, took a look at what’s “happening in the trenches” with Pay for Performance: how companies are implementing their performance compensation programs, what types of compensation structures are in use, and more. According […]
A dreaded accounting-of-disclosure rule for electronic protected health information (ePHI) will require action by many employers, in their roles of health plan sponsors. (Employers are not technically “covered entities” under HIPAA privacy but, in effect, must comply if they’re involved in plan administration.) The rule came out in proposed form on May 31. It would […]
It seems the voice of the retirement plan community has been heard — the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is proposing extending the applicability dates of two controversial fee disclosure regulations. “Extending these dates will more closely align the application of the two rules and ensure that parties have sufficient time to comply with the […]
According to Michael Smith, CEO of ConSova, the three areas of your health plan with the greatest potential for cost containment are: well-chosen provider networks; employee cost-sharing strategies like premiums, copays, coinsurance, and deductibles; and coverage for ineligibles. BLR spoke with him recently to address this last area. ConSova (www.consova.com) helps clients with dependent audits […]