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Early Retirement Program’s Launch Date Moved Up

A part of the massive health care reform law aimed at encouraging employers to offer health insurance to early retirees is set to launch June 1. Regulations for the Early Retirement Reinsurance Program were issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on May 4. The program will provide $5 billion for […]

Want to Avoid Workplace Legal Troubles? Try ‘Preventive Law’

If you can avoid medical problems through preventive medicine, can you do the same for legal problems? There’s a whole community of lawyers who think so. These days, businesses are spending millions of dollars on wellness initiatives, in an effort to cut healthcare costs by stopping medical troubles before they happen. Another term for this […]

American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month

American Indians and Alaska Natives is one of the six major race categories. Each November, the United States celebrates American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month. Here are some facts from the U.S. Census Bureau on the group: As of the 2010 Census, the population of American Indians and Alaska Natives in the United States […]

Workers’ Comp: New Notices Required

Late last year, the California Division of Workers’ Compensation finalized its amendments to regulations on medical provider networks (MPNs) and the information employers must provide employees.

Mega-Mistakes Managers Make

Yesterday’s Advisor covered hiring mistakes Today we look at other common goofs managers make and a BLR program uniquely designed to help smaller HR departments avoid them. Yesterday, we described major hiring mistakes companies make, per the research of top consultancy, Gevity HR. These include relying exclusively on traditional sources, failing to market your organization […]

Mishandling 401(k) Accounts Can Lead to Expensive Claims

The U.S. Supreme Court has handed down an important new ruling that could open the floodgates for claims by employees charging that their employers mishandled retirement accounts. The new case involved James LaRue, who filed a lawsuit under ERISA—the federal law that governs employee benefits—claiming that his employer’s failure to follow his investment directions under […]

Getting Started with Succession Planning

Question and answer session with Hal Adler Q: Why is succession planning so important in a tough economy? Hal: Look at it this way. We’ve seen dramatic rebounds in the stock market. This thing could turn around as fast as it got here, but regardless of how long it takes, employers don’t want to be […]

New EFT Standards Issued for Health Plans Paying Claims

A mandatory uniform standard for health plans to pay claims electronically was adopted in rules issued Jan. 5 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The rules are designed to help health care providers match payments received with the “remittance advice” transactions that plans are already sending them under an existing HHS […]

Supreme Court Expands ERISA Remedies

In a case that could have far-reaching consequences for employers and employees alike, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday, February 20, 2008, that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) allows an employee to sue his employer because of a fiduciary breach that resulted in individual losses to his 401(k) plan. James LaRue says […]