Day: September 6, 2013

How Sponsors Can Change Retirement Plans in Wake of DOMA Decision

By Austen K. Townsend The Supreme Court’s decision on Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act in U.S. v. Windsor No. 12-307 (June 26, 2013) raises many issues for employers and other plan sponsors to consider about their qualified retirement plans. Section 3 of DOMA provided that the term “marriage” meant only a legal […]

IRS Streamlines Employer Health Coverage Reporting in Proposed Rules

Self-insured employers may not have to report the portion of the premium they pay, because that is not needed to determine if an individual is covered by “minimum essential coverage.” That’s one of a number of reporting items removed or reduced in IRS proposed health care reform rules detailing and streamlining reports on coverage offered […]

Exempt Employees and PTO: Special Considerations

How do you handle exempt employees and PTO together? Why does an employee’s exempt status matter for the purposes of taking time off? It comes down to the decisions employers make when exempt employees do not work a full day. Can an employer require an exempt employee to take PTO for the hours not worked […]

Train Supervisors on These 4 Steps to Recognize Alcohol Abuse Problems

CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden called the effect of excessive alcohol consumption devastating. He added, “In addition to injury, illness, disease, and death, it costs our society billions of dollars through reduced work productivity, increased criminal justice expenses, and higher healthcare costs.” The study says the economic burden on states is huge—an average of $3 […]

HR Department Survey Results Are In; How Do You Compare?

The most common HR-to-employee ratios are between 1 to 101 and 1 to 200. While 1% of respondents earned over $200,000 per year, the most commonly reported salary was between $51,000 and $70,000 per year. The most commonly outsourced function was background checks Thanks to all 1,839 companies that participated in the survey! Here are […]

HITECH Act compliance deadline is September 23

by Elizabeth A. Diller and James P. McElligott Jr. Employer-sponsored health plans subject to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) must be in compliance with the final rule under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act) and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA) by September 23. […]

Friendly crowd or adolescent bullies: Assessing cliques in the workplace

Think the cool kids’ lunch table is confined to high school cafeterias and that grownups in the workplace don’t resort to such cliquish behavior? Think again. A survey from CareerBuilder shows that close to half of the workers polled (43 percent) reported the presence of cliques in their workplaces. What’s more concerning is that a […]