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Previous workers’ compensation laws in California created a situation where the costs associated with providing medical treatment and benefits to injured workers and administering workers’ compensation claims had begun to rise significantly. If costs were permitted to continue to rise, employers would be faced with increases in their workers’ compensation insurance rates, which would add […]
Employer group health plans must eliminate waiting periods of more than 90 days before enrolling otherwise eligible employees (or dependents) into health coverage, under proposed rules issued on March 18 by the federal agencies implementing health reform. For Clear Full-time Hires, It’s 90 Days Group health plans and health insurers in the group plan setting […]
Employers based outside Vermont will have to provide the health coverage to same-sex spouses of Vermont residents if a just-passed bill is enacted. The Vermont House of Representatives passed the measure on March 15; the state Senate followed suit on March 19. It now goes to Gov. Peter Shumlin (D). If he signs it, the […]
The Final FMLA rule makes four changes (or clarifications) to the listed qualifying exigencies, says Schoenfeld, Senior Legal Editor on BLR’s human resources team. Clarifies that, for the purposes of leave for childcare and school activities, the child must be the military member’s child or a child for whom the military member stands in loco […]
Data from late 2012 show women in the United States closing the gap in defined contribution plan balances and savings rates compared with their male counterparts, but gaps remain in women’s retirement funding strategies that plan sponsors can help address. Although female plan participants long have been known to save less than men for retirement, […]
With thousands of pages of new laws and rules, there must be thousands of new reasons for employees to sue for health benefits not delivered properly in the wake of near-complete enactment of health reform starting in 2014, one could be forgiven for thinking. Health reform certainly does appear to be somewhat of a litigation […]
Just what we were hoping for—more complicated regulations. The Final Rule, says Schoenfeld, which addresses family military leave and airline flight crew rules, will change the way in which covered employers administer family leave for servicemember caregivers and employees with family members in the military. Schoenfeld is a Senior Legal Editor on BLR’s human resources […]
Furthermore, Morris adds, your wellness program may get way more important under the Affordable Care Act. Morris, who specializes in benefits, is a member of the firm Epstein Becker Green in its Washington, D.C., office. Wellness Is Popular, But Hard to Define A recent survey found that 70.3 percent of 539 employer respondents reported offering […]
Only 33% of those who answered the question, however, automatically enroll employees, though 2.5% plan to implement auto-enrollment in the future. Other survey highlights: Most common match amount is up to 6% of salary (25% of respondents). Nearly half (48%) of employers offer more than 15 investment options. 26% plan to add a defined contribution […]
Employer-sponsored plans that are secondary to Medicare are not subject to health reform’s expensive transitional reinsurance fee, nor are health flexible spending arrangements, health savings accounts and most health reimbursement arrangements. On March 11, 2013, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services published its final regulation on the transitional reinsurance fee, which takes effect […]