Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
By Jane Meacham Many employers match a percentage of employees’ contributions to their retirement funds. But what impact does that match have? A new academic study found that participation and contributions in U.S. employer-sponsored retirement plans increase when a matching contribution is offered but that the match’s impact on savings is less significant than other […]
Employers that own corporate jets and pay a management company to fly them were not pleased by a recent IRS memo on tax treatment of such arrangements, and two private aviation trade associations have been working with IRS on relief. Chief Counsel Advice Memorandum 20120026 , although not binding (see note at end of this […]
The Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act passed its last congressional hurdle February 28 when the House voted 286-138 in favor of the Senate-approved version of the bill. President Barack Obama has promised to sign the measure. The original Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) passed in 1994. The most recent version expired in October 2011, and […]
As we reported last month, the California Legislature enacted a sweeping overhaul of the state’s 91-year-old system for compensating workers injured on the job—and Gov. Schwarzenegger quickly signed the workers’ compensation legislation, S.B. 899, which took effect immediately. Employers should soon see savings from the new reforms. The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau has proposed […]
By Mary Jo Larson Nearly every 401(k) plan offers its participants some investment options that include revenue-sharing fee payments. For many years, employers were not even aware that their participants’ investments were generating these payments. Today, in the wake of new U.S. Department of Labor disclosure and reporting rules and well-publicized cases attacking employers for […]
Congress removed health care reform’s $2,000/$4,000 deductible limits as part of the annual Medicare physician payment bill that President Obama signed on April 1. Section 213 of the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 removes deductible limits for small-business health insurance policies from the reform law. Under the original law, small employer health plans […]
When Tanuj Gupta joined AstraZeneca in 2006, he didn’t know many of his coworkers. “When I found out there were Employee Network Groups, I thought it was a great way to meet more people within the company,” says the executive director of external medical relations. And it was: “I met a fantastic group of people […]
A bipartisan accord to fund the federal government until Jan. 15 and raise the government’s debt ceiling until Feb. 7, was reached by leaders in the U.S. Senate on Oct. 16, but the final agreement did virtually nothing to change the health care reform law. The only part of the compromise affecting health care reform […]
On Saturday, a friend and I were returning home from a hunting trip with our two sons. About halfway home, on our four-hour-plus trip, we stopped for gas and to grab a sandwich. After filling up the truck with gas, I sat outside the sandwich shop waiting for my friend and the two boys to […]
In the September 2005 issue of the California Employer Advisor, we reported that several powerful unions had broken ties with the AFL-CIO, the nation’s main labor federation. Last week, the defecting unions formally founded a new AFL-CIO rival, called the Change to Win Federation. The new federation represents 5.4 million American workers and comprises the […]