Sheila K

Sandi: If you change the "Look Back" section of the Miscellaneous Benefits area to "Topics from the past year", and do some browsing, you'll find several discussions about PTO and vacation pay issues. ------------------ Good Luck!!! Sheila K 8^)

GBurns: Sorry about that...my old dental claims paying days still show through!! If I have an 80/20 plan for medical, AND my spouse has an indemnity plan as well, then HIS plan would pay the 20% that mine wouldn't. HOWEVER...if we both have an HMO-type plan, then I will pay my $5-10 copay and be done with it. There would not be any benefit coordination there for me. Let me know if I've just muddied the waters more! ------------------ Good Luck!!! Sheila K 8^)

Christine: We have this type of two-tier system as well. For our Flexible Spending Account, we provide $3000/yr to employees who elect medical coverage through our benefit plan. If medical coverage is waived, we provide $1710/yr to the employee. The employee who has waived medical coverage may elect dental or vision coverage or use their FSA funds for medical or dependent care reimbursement. ------------------ Good Luck!!! Sheila K 8^)

DK: In our company, we will reinstate PTO accruals to the "old" start date if the employee is rehired within 6 months of their separation from the company. ------------------ Good Luck!!! Sheila K 8^)

Okay gang: In my best Moderator voice, I do not have a problem with information posted when it is ON topic. I believe that both of these responses are within the scope of the topic at hand and do apply to the question that was asked. If these postings were made in response to a PTO-type question, then they would be deleted. If you disagree, please e-mail me privately. ------------------ Good Luck!!! Sheila K 8^)

http://www.moodys.com/mdymap.htm Don't know if this will exactly fit the bill, but Moody's site seems to have SOME historical info available. If they don't have what you want, they DO have an e-mail address for help! ------------------ Good Luck!!! Sheila K 8^)

Alice: I am located in Arizona. We have always followed the IRS lead in mileage. Whatever they pay, we pay. Good Luck Sheila K

Okay gang...time for someone to give up the phone number for MKC!! Thanks in advance. Sheila K

nb: If the benefit of coordination of benefits is non-existent, then I AM better off waiving my coverage. I also have a larger portion of $$ available for flexible spending. The way the plan is structured, the $250/month will cover medical, vision and dental, with about $17/month left over for flexible spending. If I waive my medical, my $142.50/month can ALL be used for flexible benefits. Since hubby & I both have only an HMO/PPO option with the same co-pay, our benefit coordination is next to nothing and a lot of work for little result. I'm better off submitting my co-pay to unreimbursed medical! In addition, those funds can be used for dependent care as well, so MY contribution to that expense can be decreased!!! So, depending on your situation, there definitely IS a benefit for waiving coverage. We do require that you prove other coverage, as we don't want our employees completely without medical coverage. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!!! ------------------ Good Luck!!! Sheila K 8^)

Alice: If your management team doesn't want to raise the maximum accrual, you probably aren't going to have a lot of choices. Since raising the max will cost $$$, so will most of the alternatives. We allow our employees to carry over a maximum of 80 PTO hours per year. After year-end, we review accruals, and the employee has 3 choices... 1. Any PTO hours over 80 paid in cash at 75%. 2. Any PTO hours over 80 may be transferred to RSB (reserve sick bank). In your case, adding to the sick leave total 3. Any PTO hours over 80 may be donated to a fund for employees on extended leave w/o sufficient PTO/RSB leave-administered by HR. The 2nd & 3rd options should make your management happy. If you were to transfer to the sick bank, then the likelihood of those hours being used decreases drastically. ------------------ Good Luck!!! Sheila K 8^)

nb: Where should I send your check??? Tee Hee Sheila K

Joe: Where I work, we allow our eligible employees $250/month for benefit costs. If the employee "opts-out" of medical coverage, that allowance drops to $142.50 per month. The remaining amount can be used for dental, vision or flexible spending accounts. There is no "cash-out" option for the employees. The excess funds go to either a unreimbursed medical or dependent care flexible spending account, where the employee either uses the reimbursement or loses the benefit. Employees may elect to add funds to their flexible spending account on a pre-tax basis, and again, per law, they will lose these monies if they are not used. Good luck. Sheila K

Just a quick plug for the "Miscellaneous Benefits" area of this board, which I moderate. We have had several discussions in this area. You may wish to post your questions there as well to get the opinions and expertise of the group that frequents that bulletin board!! Good luck. Sheila K

Larry: I'm sorry if I didn't make this more clear. We do not offer a GROUP plan to our part-time employees. It is an individual plan offered through our insurance broker. Since it is an individual plan, HIPAA does not apply... Sheila K

David: You are correct. WE are experiencing that right now. One of our largest groups has cut a deal with their bank (who just happened to extend them a large amount of unsecured credit at a low interest rate..mmm) to offer discounted services to their employees. Of course, one of the conditions is that we no longer do on-site visits at their locations......It is a consideration, but I have a real problem with any institution (cu OR bank) limiting the access of their employees to any one type of financial institution! Sheila K ------------------ Good Luck!!! Sheila K 8^)

Congratulations....A credit union affiliation is one of the best benefits you can offer your employees (Ok, I work at one!!!) Most states have a credit union league, which is the service organization or contact point for credit unions within that state. If you use this URL, you will be directed to the CUNA (Credit Union National Administration) credit union locator. Just enter your state and search for the credit unions near you which offer on-line financial services. http://www.cuna.org/data/consumer/culinks/.../cu_search.html Each credit union will be different, but our credit union ($600 million in assets) has some requirements for joining, such as having automated payroll deductions available, # employees, # years in business, etc. You will go through an application process with the credit union that you select. When selecting a credit union, you will want to look for one with branches close to your location(s) that offer full service. Some small credit unions do not have the volume to offer Visa card programs, etc. You want to make sure that you offer the most financial services available for your employees. Feel free to e-mail me at smkarizona@techie.com if you want more information regarding a specific credit union or additional assistance! Good luck...Sheila K

Kelly: We do offer benefits to our part-time staff. There are no qualifications regarding hours worked. The employees are offered the benefit after 90 days (like FT). We do not pay any of the premium for PT staff. Each person is individually underwritten and premiums paid from their checking account. If they do not enroll at the time they are eligible, there are 2 open enrollment periods per year for them. We pay a 12.5% salary premium to PT employees since we do not cover benefits, so if a FT person makes $10/hour, the PT equivalent will make $11.24/hour for the same job. This helps to compensate for the lack of benefits. We added this to our total benefits package because almost half of our employees are PT and requested some type of plan. Only about 10% of the eligible employees use the plan, but they are glad to have it. Good luck...Sheila K 8^) ------------------

M. Niehaus: At my company, we reimburse using the current IRS allowance for business mileage. This amount is currently .315/mile. You may want to ask why they reimburse less than the IRS allowance. Good luck! Sheila K

Deb: You are correct. Loss of coverage would be a triggering event for a change of status. Good luck! Sheila K

POK: If an exempt employee requests 3 hours of PTO, we will charge 3 hours to PTO and 5 hours of regular time... Good luck. Sheila K

I know that some companies have completely banned smoking anywhere on their premises, including the employee's car in the parking lot. Does anyone have any experience in this area??? Also, I would think that with the recent court decisions regarding ADA that smoking would not be an ADA concern...??? Sheila K

My husband left his employer at the end of March. We received the health/dental cancellation notice July 15 and still have not received any COBRA notification. My understanding was that notice must be within 14 days of the cancellation or the event which caused the cancellation. Since we did not receive notification, are there any consequences to the employer?? I think that a three month delay in notification is more than an oversight... Would really just like some links or something to point me in the right direction. Thanks in advance...Sheila K

Jean: We are not a technical company, but we recently had two openings in our computer department. Although they did not meet our specific purpose, techies.com seems to have a pretty terrific recruiting program available for companies that do a lot of technical hiring. You might also try dice.com. I personally think this is a hot topic, and I will ask Dave if we can add it as a another main topic on the board. Thanks and good luck. Sheila K

mfurnstahl: We use a daily stipend in most instances. This amount ($50 for most cities, $65 for east coast) is to cover ground transportation and meals. If a rental car is required due to location, this is not included in the stipend. Taxis, buses, etc are included in daily stipend. Lodging and flights are booked and paid in advance by the employer or employee, using their company credit card. This money does not have to be verified with receipts, unless you go over the amount. Any overage MAY be declined, so there is no guarantee that you will be paid for amounts over the daily stipend. Reimbursement is made for individuals on company business, with pre-approval from their supervisor. Senior management staff (VP & up) do not have to have approval, and their expenses will be paid as submitted. Good luck. Sheila K

Terisu: You are correct, there is no requirement for an employer to pay severance pay. If an employee is terminated for cause, it would be very unusual for the employer to pay out severance pay. If an employer and employee negotiate a separation, such as a separation where the employer and employee agree that the employment is not going well, there may be severance involved in exchange for a signed statement regarding any future claims. This is more likely to happen with high level management employees (usually directors and above here). Good luck. Sheila K