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.
New York State will become the sixth state where same-sex marriage is legal on July 24. Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) on June 24 signed the Marriage Equality Act (MEA) into law. Same-sex marriage already is legal in Massachusetts, Iowa, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut and the District of Columbia. The measure goes into effect one month […]
If you have not updated your plan documents to conform with the new rules for reimbursing the cost of over-the-counter (OTC) drugs under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), time is almost up. You only have till June 30! Under the PPACA, only OTC drugs that have been prescribed may be reimbursed through […]
Plans and insurers will have an easier time complying with health reform’s internal appeals and external review rules, under rules issued today by the U.S. Departments of Labor, Treasury and Health and Human Services. The changes, such as dropping the requirement for plans to display diagnosis and treatment codes on initial and final notifications of […]
From a bird’s-eye view, Comcast is probably a lot like your company. Employees run the gamut from management to administrative staff to field technicians. But with more than 100,000 employees, Comcast does everything on a larger scale than most companies do. However, size alone does not guarantee that employees understand and appreciate their benefits. Comcast, […]
Employer sponsored health plans that set low annual limits on “essential” benefits have been able to apply to HHS for a waiver if they can demonstrate that compliance with June 28, 2010 interim final rules phasing out such caps would cause a “significant decrease in access to benefits or a significant increase in premiums.” Waivers […]
Employers in Illinois that have not done so may need to adjust their plan documents to reflect the new legality of civil unions in that state. Civil unions are legal in Illinois, Hawaii and New Jersey — and will be available in Delaware next year. The Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act went […]
Your wellness program is going well, with happier and healthier employees. But then, an employee sues the company alleging that the wellness program violates his rights. So your employees are healthier, but your company’s pocketbook is not in the best of condition, as it puts out money for legal fees. Do not let this happen […]
The White House felt it proper to refute McKinsey Co.’s health reform study (see yesterday’s post) finding that as many as 30 percent of employers will stop offering health insurance to their workers after reform takes full force in 2014. Deputy Chief of Staff Nancy-Anne DeParle cited three studies saying employers would continue covering workers unabated. […]
Workers’ enhanced ability under reform to get insurance apart from their employer reduces the importance of health insurance as a means to recruit, compensate and retain workers, a June 2011 study concludes. Researchers at McKinsey Quarterly also predicted that as many as 30 percent of employers could stop providing benefits to workers after health reform […]
Once, parents were not the only ones celebrating a child’s college graduation — employers were too. While parents were looking forward to kids finally getting out on their own, employers were anticipating getting them off of their group health plan. But health care reform means that employers have to wait a little longer to break […]