| The BenefitsLink Newsletter - Welfare Plans Edition |  |
April 3, 2001
Today's sponsor: The ERISA Health and Welfare Handbook: Questions and Answers on ERISA Compliance (click)
Offers guidance on more than 30 key issues involving ERISA and employee welfare plans, including benefits entitlement, HIPAA, plan document language, discrimination issues and employer obligations under managed care plans. 2d edition; 350 pages; written by veteran benefits consultant Terry Humo, Esq., of Intermountain Administrators. $102.50.
Comments On Privacy Rule Reach At Least 7,000
Excerpt: "HHS received at least 7,000 comments in the second round of public comment, which ended Friday, on controversial medical-records privacy regulations." (Modern Healthcare)
Parents Work More, Earn More than Non-Parents
Excerpt: "Although there are increasing pressures to provide special benefits and protections to working parents, there is no evidence that parents as a group face labor market discrimination, according to a new analysis from the Employment Policy Foundation." (HRnext.com)
Colleagues Driving You Crazy? You Might Be the Problem
Excerpt: "In mid-2000, the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology published a fascinating study [which] showed that when people are lacking in basic cognitive skills, including the ability to reason logically and to imagine or anticipate other people's reactions to their own behavior, these shortcomings--like a blind spot in a car mirror--also prevent them from recognizing what it is they're doing wrong." (Fortune.com)
If Not Now, When, for Universal Health Care?
Excerpt: "It's a matter of simple priorities. There's no more reason to use the surplus to pay down the federal debt than to use it on a big tax cut for the wealthy. Give all Americans affordable health care instead." (Robert B. Reich, in the Los Angeles Times)
AAHP Launches Nationwide Campaign Against Patients' Rights Legislation
Excerpt: "According to the Chicago Tribune, The American Association of Health Plans (AAHP) has launched an 'aggressive' television advertising campaign to illustrate that physicians support health dispute resolution through independent review rather than lawsuits. The campaign is in response to the American Medical Association's (AMA) 'National House Calls' ad campaign, launched during last year's elections to increase public support for legislation including a strong patients' bill of rights." (KaiserNetwork.org)
Welcome to new BenefitsLink advertiser Signature LegalCare
'Signature LegalCare, established in 1980, is offered through GE Financial Assurance, Partnership Marketing Group. As one of the largest group legal plans in the U.S., employees nationwide benefit from the services they receive from our customized employer sponsored plans. Located in Louisville, KY, the Signature LegalCare Customer Service Center is the focal point for the coordination of all programs and services."
Online List of IRS-Sponsored Benefits Conferences
Just added to the IRS web site: 'EP Benefits Conferences Calendar - 2001" (Internal Revenue Service)
Yes, the Chief Can Own Too Much Stock in the Company
Excerpt: "A recent study by John E. Core and David F. Larcker, accounting professors at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, concludes that too much pay can be counterproductive." (New York Times; free registration required)
Little to Risk, Much to Gain
Excerpt: "How could corporate executives be persuaded to own large amounts of stock in their own company, rather than mainly stock options? ... [O]ne in five large companies now uses it: reload options. They encourage managers to exercise their options by giving them a new one every time they turn one in. In effect, they let executives minimize risk and maximize gains." (New York Times; free registration required)
The Letter, if Not the Spirit, on Options Pricing
Excerpt: "In 1999, the practice of repricing stock options died. Last year, it was reborn. More than two years ago, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ruled that companies that reprice stock options -- canceling old ones and replacing them with cheaper ones, following a stock drop -- must take an earnings charge as a result. The decision all but ended a strategy that more than 300 companies had used in 1998, according to the Investor Responsibility Research Center." (New York Times; free registration required)
Why CFOs Should Get Risk Management and HR To Play Nice With Each Other
Excerpt: "Suddenly, benefit plans have had to become seriously competitive. The ability of benefits to lure workers is at least as crucial to the survival of many companies as is curbing benefit costs. In the current labor market, HR and risk managers can no longer do their jobs alone. HR people must come to the financing table and talk intelligently about matters like stock options as a retention tool. Risk managers now must factor the human appeal of benefits into their cost calculations." (CFO.com)
Options, Get Your New Options
Excerpt: "Technology companies -- which richly rewarded employees with stock options in 1999 and 2000 -- are now finding themselves in a bind. A huge portion of the options they doled out over the last few years are now underwater, meaning they're worth less than the current trading price of the stock. As a result, companies are under pressure to grant new stock options to keep the employees they're not laying off from jumping ship." (Wired.com)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings (Post Yours!)
| Senior Compliance Specialist | for Putnam Investments in MA |
| Implementation Specialist | for Towers Perrin - Benefit Administration Services in NJ, PA |
| Implementation Project Manager | for INVESCO Retirement, Inc. in GA, NC |
| Compensation Analyst | for The TJX Companies, Inc. in MA |
| Retirement Plans Account Administrator | for Invesmart of Boston in MA |
Newly Posted Conferences (Post Yours!)
| Internal Revenue Service Employee Benefits Conference | in MD on May 30, 2001 presented by Employee Benefits Conference, Inc. |
Newly Posted Press Releases
| New York City Companies Embrace the Benefits of Chess League (Chess Express Ratings, Inc.) |
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