Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
This topic provides guidance on how to handle compensation issues in a way that attracts and retains the best talent and advances the strategic goals of your business. You get news and tips on what’s going on nationally and in the states, and updates on changes in regulations, possible governmental action, and emerging compensation trends.
Employee incentives can bring about improved wellness outcomes — if the goals are adequately tailored to the organization and the individual. Depending on the company culture, you could take the “little league” approach of “everybody wins,” or decide to “raise the bar,” said Brendan Kerrigan, senior vice president of PayFlex. But setting the bar too […]
Employers and plan administrators can have a better understanding of what a fiduciary is, courtesy of Phyllis C. Borzi, Department of Labor (DOL) assistant secretary for the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA). She shed some light on the department’s thought process on this matter at the March 13 ERISA Advisory Council meeting. The DOL’s efforts […]
Government efforts to bring 403(b) retirement plans up to regulatory par with 401(k) plans has resulted in a rough transition for 403(b) plan sponsors, and in recognition of that fact, an ERISA advisory council gave the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) five recommendations to help ease the compliance burden. Background Over the years, many 403(b) […]
A former employee’s failed attempt to call COBRA coverage a “privately paid” policy, rather than an ERISA plan, in order to maintain state-law claims against a group health insurer offers a chance to remind employers about importance of knowing the legal status of their benefit plans. In the case, the individual sued the insurer for […]
Employers can give employees up to 2½ months after the end of the plan year to spend unused money in their flexible spending accounts (FSAs). Since so many plans have a calendar-year basis for their plan years, many employers and plan administrators that chose to grant the grace period are handling claims from last year […]
What’s Taxmageddon? Taxmageddon comes at the end of 2012, when the payroll tax and unemployment benefits extension ends and at the same time we’re likely to need another debt limit increase. If no action is taken, there will be dramatic cuts in spending that are built into the federal budget process, Aitken says. Aitken offered […]
But surveys are only part of the compensation puzzle. I also needed practical tools to manage the compensation program. I juggled spreadsheets and text documents to cobble together a system for keeping up with compensation but it was always a struggle. If you’re in the same boat I was—and I suspect that’s the case or […]
Many employers provide some sort of benefits for employees’ dependents. These can take many forms. Some are benefits that do not require expenditure of much, or any, money and which are not taxed. Other benefits for dependents, however, may entail more significant expenditures and have to be provided under specific rules in order to not […]
Recent legal challenges have focused on constitutional issues, but health care reform is expected to create new reasons for benefits and employment-law litigation, according to a reform expert. Reform rules fraught with legal risk include: (1) pay-or-play requirements, (2) claims appeals and external review, (3) essential benefits; and (4) retiree medical rules. Another area of […]
Employers should take note: more of their employees are coming to and going from the office via public transportation. That’s more than an interesting statistic — it has implications for employers. Employees who take public transportation to work may benefit from a tax break, but only if their employer sponsors a qualified transportation fringe benefit […]