BACKGROUND For many companies this time of year often means reviewing their benefits package – for both a cost and a coverage standpoint. Cost because benefits for 2025 are rising on average above 5% for the 3rd consecutive year, and…
HR Management Matters Archives
BENEFIT PLAN NOTICES…NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED, Part 3
Sadly, one of your employees has decided to move on for a new opportunity. Now that they have left, you have no further responsibilities for benefit plan notices, right? Nope, there are still several required notices for which you are…
Posted in Benefits Management, HR Legal & Compliance
BENEFIT PLAN NOTICES…NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED, Part 2
Your employee has been onboarded, you provided all of the disclosures for health and welfare plans as required, and now you can sit back and contemplate a job well done. Don’t contemplate too long because your disclosure tasks have just…
Posted in Benefits Management, HR Legal & Compliance
BENEFIT PLAN NOTICES…NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED
This is never truer than for employers that offer health and welfare and/or retirement benefits to employees. Your reward for spending a lot of money, aside from providing employees with valued benefits, is an endless series of regulations and requirements.…
Posted in Benefits Management, HR Legal & Compliance
A BENEFITS MANAGEMENT CHALLENGE: NON-DISCRIMINATION TESTING
There are various complex non-discrimination provisions that apply to self-funded health plans, cafeteria plans, HRAs, and health care and dependent care FSAs. These include IRC Section 105(h), IRC Section 125, and ACA. The purpose is to ensure that HCEs and…
Posted in Benefits Management, HR Legal & Compliance
A WAY YOUR HEALTHCARE COSTS RISE
An employee questioned why he had received a check for $37,000 from the medical insurer. He did not understand why the insurance carrier was not, as he was used to happening, paying the bill. The only recent medical services that…
Posted in Benefits Management
TUITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM: ARE YOU MISSING OUT?
Many employers are hesitant to implement a Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) because of one or more of the following concerns: Cost Benefit to the company Turnover by employees becoming more marketable Uncertainty about how to design it How to decide…
Posted in Benefits Management
DO YOU WANT YOUR EXECUTIVES & KEY EMPLOYEES TO TREAT YOUR COMPANY LIKE IT’S THEIR OWN?
If your company is privately-owned, there is a mechanism by which the owners can make its executives and other key employees act as though they own the company—without the owners giving away any company stock. The mechanism is a phantom…
WELLNESS PROGRAMS: EEOC CLARIFICATION
WELLNESS PROGRAM PRIMER Many companies that provide health insurance offer wellness programs that encourage healthier lifestyles. To participate in these wellness programs, employees may be required to undergo health risk assessments such as body weight and cholesterol, blood glucose, and…
Posted in Benefits Management
IS EMPLOYEE PAID TIME OFF MANDATED?
The answer is YES if you are a Philadelphia employer with 10 or more employees, based on legislation signed by Mayor Michael Nutter. Effective May 13, 2015, Philadelphia will require employers to provide paid sick leave to their employees. Other…
Posted in Benefits Management