Tag: benefits

Fidelity® Study Finds Older Higher Ed Faculty Confident in their Retirement Savings, but Few Have Taken Action to Plan Income Strategy

By HR Daily Advisor Staff Oct 9, 2013 Benefits and Compensation

Updated: Oct 9, 2013

BOSTON, October 9, 2013 — Fidelity Investments®, a leading provider of workplace retirement plans in the not-for-profit higher education market, today released the latest findings from its Higher Education Faculty Study(i), revealing that while eight in 10 (82 percent) pre-retiree faculty members (age 55+) are confident they will have enough money to live comfortably in […]

Corporate Pension Funding Highest in Five Years, Above 90 Percent for September

By Jane Meacham, Contributing Editor Oct 9, 2013 Benefits and Compensation

Updated: Oct 9, 2013

Two indicators of U.S. corporate pension health topped 90-percent funding ratios for September, a significant sign of improvement in the vitality of defined benefit plans. Mercer’s S&P 1500 Indicator Rises Funding levels of DB plans sponsored by Standard & Poor’s 1500 companies monitored monthly by human resources consultant Mercer improved in the latest month, reaching […]

IRS: Bike-share Is Not a Qualified Transport Fringe Benefit

By Dan Macy Oct 8, 2013 Benefits and Compensation

Updated: Oct 8, 2013

Bicycle share expenses — incurred, for example, when one dips a credit card into a pay kiosk on the street in order to rent a bicycle from a public bike rack — do not qualify as payment for transportation on “mass transit facilities,” as some have argued, nor do they constitute a “qualified bicycle commuting […]

Employee Leave Survey Results In—How Do You Compare?

By HR Daily Advisor Staff Oct 4, 2013 Benefits and Compensation

Updated: Oct 4, 2013

  Personal or “small necessities” leave is offered by 30% of respondents. 99.6% offer 6 or more paid holidays. 29.4% allow some form of leave donation or leave sharing. Scheduling workloads around leave is the biggest challenge.   Leave Types Leave offered Percent offering 6 or more paid holidays per year 99.6% Paid vacation time, […]

Calif. Law Restricting Stop-loss Approved

By Todd Leeuwenburgh Oct 3, 2013 Benefits and Compensation

Updated: Oct 3, 2013

Legislation designed to make it more difficult for smaller employers to self-insure by restricting their ability to obtain stop-loss insurance with very low attachment points was signed into law on Oct. 1 by California Gov. Jerry Brown. S.B. 161, which takes effect Jan. 1, 2014, will prohibit stop-loss insurers in California from issuing policies with specific […]

Fidelity® Tax-Exempt Defined Contribution Business Doubles since 2008; Participant Growth Up 30 Percent

By HR Daily Advisor Staff Oct 2, 2013 Benefits and Compensation

Updated: Oct 2, 2013

BOSTON, October 2, 2013 – Fidelity Investments®, a leading provider of workplace retirement plans in tax-exempt markets, today announced that Assets Under Administration (AUA) have doubled since the start of the financial crisis five years ago. Through the first half of 2013, Fidelity’s AUA has reached $204 billion, a 102 percent increase from 2008(i). Additionally, […]

USERRA Leave Hassles—‘I’m Bewildered’

By HR Daily Advisor Staff Oct 2, 2013 Benefits and Compensation

Updated: Oct 2, 2013

Effland, a shareholder at the Indianapolis office of Ogletree Deakins PC, says that USERRA (Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act) offers two essential rights, the right to take leave, and the right to return. The basics of the law are: Coverage: Virtually all employers, regardless of the number of employees. Eligibility: Virtually all employees […]

Health Care Reform Spurs Government Shutdown

By Todd Leeuwenburgh Oct 1, 2013 Benefits and Compensation

Updated: Oct 1, 2013

House Republican efforts to postpone, block and repeal Obamacare were key reasons for the federal government-shutdown crisis, under which 800,000 federal employees stayed home beginning Oct. 1. The House Republicans, whose opposition to Obamacare paralyzed spending bills, demanded that the administration acquiesce on two demands: postpone the “individual mandate” that individuals have federally approved minimum […]

Target-date Funds’ Popularity Heightens Transparency’s Importance

By Jane Meacham, Contributing Editor Oct 1, 2013 Benefits and Compensation

Updated: Oct 1, 2013

Nearly every defined contribution plan sponsor now offers target-date funds in its participant investment menu, as these funds, often named for the year a participant expects to retire, eliminate the need for employees to construct their own investment portfolio. A recently released white paper about TDFs examines plan fiduciaries’ uncertainly regarding what TDFs should contain […]

More Delays in Health-reform Implementation; Oct. 1 Start for Exchanges Compromised

By Todd Leeuwenburgh Oct 1, 2013 Benefits and Compensation

Updated: Oct 1, 2013

The federal agencies implementing health reform continue to delay aspects of roll-out, especially as they relate to state-based health insurance marketplaces (also called “exchanges”), which are supposed to be up and running on Oct. 1. The Obama White House announced on Sept. 27 that federally run health-insurance exchanges, required by health care reform, will not […]