Category: Benefits and Compensation

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.

OFCCP Demands Detailed Compensation Analysis in Virtually

Remember, says Desmond, who is a partner in the New Orleans office of national employment law firm Jackson Lewis, OFCCP (Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs) does not enforce a law but an executive order. So, if you don’t want to do business with the government, you don’t have to comply. Desmond’s comments came at […]

HHS Touts the Progress of No More Limits Under Health Care Reform

Approximately 105 million Americans now have health coverage without lifetime limits on benefits — including 95 million individuals with employer-sponsored health coverage — due to health care reform requirements, according to a new report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The Affordable Care Act prohibits health plans renewing on or after […]

‘Reasonable Interest Rate’ Debate Continues

Employers and plan administrators will be better able to administer plan loans and meet the prohibited transaction exemption, since the IRS has given them a clearer picture of what constitutes a “reasonable rate of interest.” The IRS has provided this assistance in guidance it published in the Winter 2012 edition of its “Retirement News for […]

Ten Years Ago They Told Me, ‘Figure Out Compensation’

By Sharon McKnight SPHR, BLR Compensation Specialist If you’ve been assigned to “figure out compensation” then you probably feel like I did about a decade ago. I didn’t even know where to begin, much less what needed to be done. Luckily, I worked for a subsidiary of a large corporation with a very knowledgeable compensation […]

Can’t We Use the ‘Faltering Company’ Exception for Layoffs?

Well, we’re faltering, you may think, so we don’t have to worry about WARN, but it’s not as simple as that. Exceptions to the WARN Act Notice Requirements The WARN Act’s notice requirements do not apply if the conditions of one of the following exceptions are met: Temporary facility Completion of a particular project when […]

The Constant Battle of Collaboration vs. Control

Oswald, who is CEO of BLR, offered his thoughts on collaboration and control in a recent edition of The Oswald Letter. The definition of control is, “the power to influence or direct people’s behavior or the course of events.” Think about those words for a minute. Let’s start with the first four words of the […]

What Does Maryland’s Same-sex Marriage Law Mean for Employers?

Employers in Maryland have 10 months to adjust their employee benefit policies, plan documents and plan language regarding dependents before a law legalizing same-sex marriage goes into effect. But that comes with a couple of caveats: (1) the law may be repealed before it even goes into effect; and (2) if it does go into […]

Layoff, Furlough, or Pay Cut: Which Is Best?

When you’ve trimmed all the fat you can trim from operations and marketing and the budget still isn’t balanced, companies have to turn to labor costs. But what’s the best option? There are advantages and disadvantages to each. Hiring Freeze Instituting a hiring freeze is an almost knee-jerk reaction in many organizations. But there are […]

What to Expect When Health Plans Have to Cover the ‘Essentials’

Health reform has been strongly urging plans to cover the essential health benefits (EHB) package, and that means there will have to be coverage in 10 categories of health benefits. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) gave examples of what to expect under the state-based approach to defining EHB by giving examples and […]

Individual Mandate Repeal May Result in Millions Fewer Insured but No Major Premium Hike, RAND finds

Repealing the individual mandate would result in 12 million fewer adults with health insurance in 2014, but would bump up premiums for coverage only by 2.4 percent, researchers at the RAND Corporation say. No Death Spiral … Health insurance premiums would only be 2.4 percent higher than they would be with an individual mandate and […]