Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
The warning “Beware of the Dog” is making employers fearful in a new way. One downside of offering telecommuting privileges is injuries that occur while an employee is working from home. If an employee is injured at home while he or she is on a work-related task, he or she may be entitled to workers’ comp benefits. This raises […]
Retirement plan administrators do not have the authority to conclude that a domestic relations order (DRO) is not qualified because it is based on a “sham” divorce, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided July 18, 2011. The 5th Circuit stated that a key ERISA section “does not authorize an administrator to consider or […]
The sponsor of a self-funded health plan cannot escape its responsibility to ensure that only fully eligible people are enrolled. Illustrating this maxim is a self-funded plan’s sad quest to recover gigantic sums from health providers for services it paid on behalf of a non-beneficiary. The plan paid more than $1 million in claims for a […]
Do you have to file the new Form 8955-SSA? If so, you may be able to breathe — and file — a little more easily. The IRS recently provided Announcement 2011-21 clarifying how the form is to be used, including how it is to be signed and electronically filed. The IRS also has provided additional information […]
In this time of corporate restructuring, successor liability in relation to ERISA benefit plans is something to plan carefully in all of its dimensions before complicated, expensive claims take you by surprise. A case involving a top-hat deferred compensation plan — in which a federal court denied a successor employer’s motion to dismiss it from […]
Like so many other employers, The Bolles School grappled with how to cut expenses when the recession hit. The organization looked for ways to operate more efficiently and, in fact, cut many expenses. But it made a conscious decision not to reduce or cut certain coveted employee benefits, including 100% employer-paid medical insurance premiums, 100% […]
by David Kates, Lenox Advisors Employee benefits professionals should be aware that while their company’s top executives are well protected via their life insurance coverage and retirement plans, these same executives could be woefully exposed in their disability insurance coverage. Often, a company’s top earners have coverage that isn’t up to the task of protecting […]
For many employees, there’s nothing like a week in the mountains to spend time with their family and recharge—especially when the vacation is on the company’s tab. For nearly half a century, Freese and Nichols, Inc., (www.freese.com) has owned a cabin in Red River, New Mexico, and made it available to employees to use for […]
Turbulence in the economy means that many companies are looking toward their benefits package as a way to save money. But the employee benefits package is a critical tool to attract and keep top-quality employees. It should be designed with those employees firmly in mind, appealing to what is important to them and giving you […]
by Jennifer Benz Social media is the buzz at every corporate communications or HR conference, and the tools are growing more quickly than anything else online. Yet few companies are effectively integrating these tools into their benefits or strategic HR communications. Many companies are paralyzed because they don’t understand the tools, or they assume social […]