Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
With flu season upon us, employers may be tempted to require that employees receive a flu shot. After all, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that the flu costs employers about $10 billion each year in healthcare costs. And receiving the shot can drastically reduce an individual’s risk of contracting the flu, […]
Premiums for employer-sponsored coverage increased at a lower rate this year, but this could be largely ascribed to a growing rate of enrollment in high-deductible plans, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation’s (KFF) annual health benefits survey.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act’s (HIPAA’s) privacy rule does not exempt the sharing of information on cyber threat indicators, so HIPAA-covered entities and their business associates may not share protected health information (PHI) for this purpose unless HIPAA otherwise allows it, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) warned recently.
by Tammy Binford New rules governing incentives offered as part of employee wellness programs are now the target of a lawsuit from a large advocacy group representing older Americans.
By Gwen Cofield Governmental employers and the benefit plans they sponsor are generally exempt from the Employee Retirement Income Security Act’s (ERISA) Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) provisions but are still required to offer COBRA coverage to qualified beneficiaries under the Public Health Service Act (PHSA).
Most Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) enforcement has focused on the larger breaches of protected health information (PHI). But the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has not forgotten those incidents that fall below the “major” threshold of 500 individuals.
Want to retain working parents? According to a recent FlexJobs survey of nearly 1,200 parents with children 18 and younger living at home, work flexibility (84%) and work/life balance (80%) are the most important factors when parents consider a job opportunity. Parents placed these ahead of other factors, such as salary (75%), health insurance (42%), […]
By David Slaughter, JD, Senior Legal Editor Enforcement of mental health parity requirements is on the upswing, so plan sponsors and administrators need to be reexamining their plan documents and claims review processes for signs that mental health and substance use disorder (MH/SUD) benefits are being handled differently from other coverage.
We have an employee who was on an approved FMLA for child bonding for about 2 ½ months. During this time, he worked about 10 hours. His occupation is IT, so he was “on call” while he was off so he could work whenever he was needed. I am reluctant to ding his vacation accrual […]
Employers are increasingly offering paid time off for adoptions, according to a new report from consulting group Mercer. The benefit is likely an attempt to meet the needs of a workforce in which the definition of “family” now includes same-sex parents, the firm said. While employees in the U.S. have access to 12 weeks’ unpaid […]