Tag: benefits

Feds Team Up With States to Increase Heat on Employee Misclassification

Using independent contractors is a way to avoid paying unemployment, Social Security and Medicare taxes, overtime and  benefits. However, if an employer is found liable of misclassifying an employee in tandem with committing wage and hour violations, DOL may fine the employer, and the employer may be assessed back wages and taxes. The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) […]

Help the Government Figure If Your Health Coverage is ‘Unaffordable’

Jan. 1, 2014, sounds far away, but some plan sponsors may be hoping that day never comes. That’s the day the “shared responsibility provisions” of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) kick in; and it’s the time plan sponsors become subject to health reform’s “unaffordable coverage trigger.” Under the law, if an employee’s […]

Get Analytical to Manage Comp Says Combearsation Manager

Compbearsation Manager? Tanis is Manager, Compbearsation and HRIS for Build-a-Bear Workshop in Saint Louis, Missouri. His “Top 9” came at the recent SHRM Annual Convention and Exhibition in Las Vegas. [Go here for tips 1 to 5.] 6. Get Analytical Identify the indicators and drivers you’ll use to analyze your department’s work, Tanis says.   […]

Finetuning ‘Fiduciary’ — DOL taking Another Stab at Definition

Thanks to President Obama’s executive order on revisiting federal regulations, and likely a flood of comments from the employee benefits community, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is scratching its proposed rule on the definition of fiduciary and will be issuing a revised one in early 2012. In what likely could be considered an understatement, […]

Workers’ Comp Payout After Telecommuting Worker Trips Over Dog

The warning “Beware of the Dog” is making employers fearful in a new way. One downside of offering telecommuting privileges is injuries that occur while an employee is working from home. If an employee is injured at home while he or she is on a work-related task, he or she may be entitled to workers’ comp benefits. This raises […]

Survey: 70% Allow Sick Leave for Family Illness, But Few Offer Paid Leave

Additional Findings:   Over half of all companies (56%) offer child care assistance to employees, most commonly flex time or leaves of absence. However, few companies offer paid leave (14%) or unpaid leave (29%) for childcare, conducted with readers of the HR Daily Advisor. 20% of companies offer paid leave (excluding sick leave) for spouse […]

IRS Eases Cell Phone Substantiation for Employers

Bad news for people who think cell phones cause brain cancer, but good news for employers who think IRS’ old substantiation rules on cell phones were causing brain damage and stomach ulcers. The IRS provided some long-anticipated relief to employers that provide cell phones to their employees for business use, as well as to the employees who once […]

The 4-Page Mini-SPD: Coming to a Plan Near You

Health care reform is still alive and kicking. Employer-sponsored health plans have implemented many of its thorny provisions, but one provision now looks like the biggest thorn of all. We are talking about Section 2715 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). You must, of course, know all about this section … no? […]

Promises, Promises: IRS Clarifications on Cafeteria Plans, FSAs, HSAs

Benefits administrators can be forgiven if their response to the IRS’ latest plan to issue guidance on cafeteria plans is “Promises, Promises!” Finalizing cafeteria plan regulations is the most far-reaching benefits-related item on the IRS 2011-2012 Priority Guidance Plan. The agency proposed café plan regs in 2007 and has been saying that it will finalize […]

Who’s Offering What for Holidays and PTO? Survey Results Reveal All

What holidays are offered to employees in 2011? Number Percent Saturday January 1, 2011 (New Year’s Day) 777 88% Martin Luther King, Jr. Day 235 27% Lincoln‘s Birthday 9 1% Washington’s Birthday/President’s Day 267 30% Good Friday 212 24% Memorial Day 836 95% Independence Day 840 95% Labor Day 825 94% Rosh Hashana 7 1% […]