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A Michigan company has developed a way to audit ineligible dependents out of healthcare plans, saving millions for its large employer clients. But smaller companies may also benefit from the concept. They say that every cloud has a silver lining. A Michigan company has found that silver, actually more like gold, in the endless overcast […]
A number of workplace-related bills considered last year in Sacramento and Washington have cropped up again—and could have a big impact on employers—from workers’ comp reform to a ban on secret e-mail monitoring.
The interagency task-force working to develop an updated definition of who is a job applicant for federal EEO recordkeeping and reporting purposes will have until Sept. 30 to complete its task. The existing definition, which has been under review for two years, fails to address the number of unsolicited job applications that employers receive over […]
The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), which enforces laws requiring certain federal contractors and subcontractors to prepare and maintain affirmative action programs, has launched a new program to give contractors advance warning that they’ve been targeted for a compliance audit.
Heads of federal agencies would have the authority to reimburse employees for the taxes imposed on reimbursements of travel or transportation expenses their domestic partners incur when accompanying them on a business trip, under a bill introduced in the U.S. House on Nov. 18 — the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act (H.R. 3485). The […]
Plan participants’ shortfalls and worries about retirement preparedness can provide an opportunity for plan sponsors to fill the void with participant education, tools and financial advisory services. Less than half of Americans are taking basic steps to prepare for retirement, and their confidence about how much they need to put away to be financially comfortable […]
A federal appeals court agreed with a retirement plan plaintiff that he did not have to show “actual harm” to seek a retirement plan reformation after alleged inadequate communication about a change in his former employer’s defined benefit plan. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Geoffrey Osberg and other plaintiffs in Osberg […]
Closely held corporations with religious objections cannot be required to provide contraception coverage under health care reform regulations because that would violate the owners’ rights under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the U.S. Supreme Court today ruled in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, No. 13-354 (Sup. Ct., June 30, 2014). The ruling could force the Obama administration […]
St. Louis employers aren’t facing a phased-in $11 minimum wage now that a state judge has struck down a local ordinance that would have given the city a higher minimum wage than the rest of Missouri. The current minimum wage in Missouri is $7.65 per hour, 40 cents higher than the federal minimum wage of […]
Two new surveys reveal that while workers report spending an average of 36 minutes per day—or about three hours a week—attending to personal tasks during the workday, executives believe the actual number is much higher. The surveys were conducted by staffing firm OfficeTeam.