Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Dear Readers, Please take a few minutes to complete this survey and help us (and you) find out what’s happening in the real world of HR management. The survey takes only a few minutes to complete. Complete the Survey Now Compensation.BLR.com, now thoroughly revved with easier navigation and more complete compensation information, will tell you […]
By Robert Toth Jr. Lifetime income for 401(k) plans have been getting a lot of press, driven in large part by efforts by the U.S. Departments of Labor and Treasury to find ways to promote retirement security. IRS took a substantial step in making these defined contribution lifetime income efforts become a reality […]
The Self-Insurance Institute of America has lost a round in its battle against a state-imposed tax on ERISA health plans. In a new ruling, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that Michigan’s health care claims tax withstood SIIA’s preemption arguments, because the law doesn’t interfere with the parts of plan administration reserved exclusively […]
A former employee left with more than $13,000 in unpaid medical bills after his employer retroactively terminated his employment and health benefits can sue for state-law claims, a federal district court ruled. The individual alleged that while he was hospitalized, the employer said his expenses would be covered. Thus, he did not elect COBRA coverage. […]
Please participate in our brief survey and see how what you are doing stacks up against what other successful companies are doing. We’ll get answers to these questions and more: Who’s providing what incentive pay types for which employee groups? How effective is each type of variable pay at motivating employees? What are the three […]
Which is worst for a participant’s 401(k) savings: (a) plan loan defaults; (b) hardship withdrawals; or (c) cashouts upon job change? It turns out to be (c), especially for young employees and about one-fifth of those in the lowest income quartile, the Employee Benefit Research Institute concluded in a new analysis. The effect from the […]
By Karin A. Vernazza, SPHR, as told to Archana Mehta Three years ago, President Obama announced a challenge to the U.S. private sector — hire or train 100,000 unemployed veterans or their spouses by the end of 2013. Many companies nationwide took on that challenge and started veteran-hiring job fairs to attract military talent but […]
The IRS has issued final/temporary and proposed rules, and a raft of guidance and draft forms related to reporting requirements for employers and individuals under health care reform. The rules and guidance are designed to help individuals and businesses calculate both their penalties if they don’t have health coverage, and subsidies, if they are eligible, […]
A single individual who failed to get health insurance will face a tax penalty of no more than $204 for each month he or she lacked coverage in 2014, the IRS announced on July 25. The maximum amount for a family with five or more members is $1,020 in 2014, the agency says in Rev. […]
Two appeals court rulings with differing views on the availability of premium subsidies for policies purchased through state-based health insurance exchanges establish a circuit split that sets the stage for the U.S. Supreme Court to step in. One court ruled that federal subsidies should be available only in states that run their own exchanges; another […]