| BenefitsLink Welfare Plans Newsletter |   |
May 16, 2005
Today's sponsor: Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc. (EBIA)
(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)
| Register for EBIA's Tele-Web Seminar |
| Both group health plans and 401(k) plans must comply with special requirements under USERRA for employees on military leave. On May 25, 2005, EBIA will present a 90-minute intermediate-level tele-web seminar designed to provide practical advice to employers, advisors, and administrators.
The seminar will cover required notices, continuation requirements, cafeteria plan elections during leave, reinstatement rights, 401(k) plan make-up contributions, and more! See the registration form for more details. Another great EBIA seminar! |
| (Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor) |
Businesses Decry Proposed Federal Tax on Flexible Benefits
Excerpt: "Employer groups are lobbying against a proposal by the Joint Committee on Taxation to levy a 7.65% federal tax on employee benefits that are offered through cafeteria plans. The proposal, contained in a list of revenue-raising recommendations made by the bi-partisan committee earlier this year, would make the flexible benefits subject to FICA taxes. The committee estimated that such a move would generate $164 billion for Social Security and Medicare over 10 years." (Employee Benefit News)
Overview: Release of Employment-Related Claims Valid Despite COBRA Confusion
Excerpt: "Here is another decision regarding the enforceability of a release of employment-related claims, with confusion about COBRA lurking in the background. In this case, an employee was terminated and was offered a severance package that included severance pay and 'payment of COBRA benefits' if the employee elected to continue medical and dental coverage under COBRA." (Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc.)
Overview: No Private Right of Action under HIPAA for Disclosure of PHI under Workers' Comp Law
Excerpt: "It is becoming routine for courts to hold that there is no private cause of action for HIPAA privacy violations .... This court did not consider whether the privacy rule governed the employer's handling of the disclosed information. We believe that the privacy rule would not apply to the employer's actions because it appears that the employer received the information in its capacity as an employer and not in connection with plan administration functions ...." (Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc.)
Disease Management Has Become the Norm for Employment-Based Health Plans, Says Survey
Excerpt: "The number of employers adopting disease management programs continues to grow at a brisk clip, reveals a recent survey by Watson Wyatt and the National Business Group on Health. Nearly 69% of employers are using disease management programs through their health plans this year, up from 46% last year, the survey finds. Similarly, the proportion of employers promoting healthy behavior changes through their health plans doubled from 20% last year to 40% this year." (Employee Benefit News)
Book: Integrating Employee Health: A Model Program for NASA
Excerpt: "[I]n 2003, the Office of the Chief Health and Medical Officer requested that the Institute of Medicine form a committee to review NASA's occupational health programs, employees awareness of and attitudes toward those programs, and recommend specific options for future worksite preventive health programs focusing on, but not limited to nutrition, fitness, and psychological well-being, incentives or methods to encourage employees to voluntarily enlist and sustain participation in ...." (National Academies Press)
Many Changes Help Ohio State University Slow Climb in Health-Care Costs
Excerpt: "Ohio State University has put the brakes on employee health-care cost increases that have been running at double-digit levels in recent years. Those costs are expected to rise 7.5 percent in the school's fiscal year ending June 30, be flat for the last six months of this year and increase 3 to 4 percent in 2006, said Larry Lewellen, OSU's top human resources administrator." (Business First of Columbus via bizjournals.com; one-time registration required)
Pennsylvania Legislators to Wal-Mart: Pay Up for Employees' Health Care
Excerpt: "Pennsylvania, like most states, has rolled out the red carpet for Wal-Mart, offering up millions in tax incentives and grants over the last decade to reel in the retail giant. In return, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has delivered jobs ... making it the largest private employer in the state. But critics say the jobs have come with a hidden cost: An unusually high percentage of Wal-Mart workers do not have company-paid health insurance, leaving them to rely on taxpayer-subsidized care." (The Philadelphia Inquirer; one-time registration required)
Vendors Offer Employers a Dizzying Array of Health Savings Account Options
Excerpt: "Employers hoping to add an HSA option to their health plans next year have scores of choices from banks, insurers, debit card vendors and technology companies. Finding the right fit can be difficult." (Employee Benefit News)
Health Savings Account Information Center with U.S. Map of States
Click on the map to find an HSA provider in your state. (Great Lakes HSA)
Multicarrier Model Brings Employee Choice to Auto and Home Insurance Voluntary Benefits
Excerpt: "Employers looking to offer voluntary auto/home insurance benefits to their employees are increasingly relying on a suite of carriers, abandoning the single provider model that has dominated the marketplace. The result, say advocates, is that employees get a better benefit and employers get the credit." (Employee Benefit News)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Employee Communication Vital to Success of New Benefit Plan Designs
Excerpt: "Whether new or restructured employer-paid benefit plans pay off in the long run will depend on how willing employers are to commit the time and resources needed for a long-term, comprehensive communications strategy. Employers must be willing to try new techniques and continuously monitor the effectiveness of their communications in order to see a return on their investment. Employers who are willing to make this commitment will find that effective benefits communication can pay ...." (Employee Benefit News)
News on Laws Impacting Marriage and Domestic Partner Benefits
Excerpt: "A federal district judge in Nebraska yesterday struck down an amendment to Nebraska's State Constitution which provides that '[o]nly marriage between a man and a woman shall be valid or recognized in Nebraska.' .... [A] New York Times article ... states that the 'Nebraska ruling is the first in which a federal court has struck down a state ban on same-[gender] marriage' and noted that congressional leaders are pointing to the decision 'as evidence of the need for a federal ....'" (Attorney B. Janell Grenier via Benefitsblog.com)
Overview of SEC Staff's Views on Share-Based Payments that Are Retained Upon Retirement (PDF)
3 pages. Excerpt: "Many companies grant share-based payments with terms that are affected by retirement or other events. For example, it is not uncommon for companies to provide that vesting of share-based payments accelerates upon an employee's retirement. Alternatively, an award may 'continue to vest' after retirement, even though the employee no longer is providing services to the employer (essentially, the award is vested at retirement but delivery of shares or exercisability of the ...)." (Ernst & Young via Financial Executives International)
Newly Posted Events
Plan Design Workshop
in Washington on June 17, 2005
presented by SunGard Corbel
Plan Design Workshop - Exploring New Directions
in Louisiana on June 16, 2005
presented by SunGard Corbel
Plan Design Workshop - Exploring New Directions
in Texas on June 17, 2005
presented by SunGard Corbel
Plan Design Workshop - Exploring New Directions
in Colorado on June 21, 2005
presented by SunGard Corbel
Newly Posted Press Releases
Labor Department Official Commends SEC for Report On Pension Consultant Conflicts of Interest
(U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA))
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Multi-Employer Pension Plan Employment
for GCC/IBT-SRDF
in IL
401(k) Enroller/Contractor - Bilingual
for Transamerica
in ANY STATE
401(k) Enroller/Contractor
for Transamerica
in ANY STATE
Client Relations Consultant
for Invesmart, Inc.
in PA
Team Leader, Trust Officer
for City National Bank
in CA
Retirement Plan Sales Director
for Brandywine Benefits Company, LLC
in MD
Handy Links:
- View Today's Active Message Threads
- Search BenefitsLink
- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research (hypertext article)
- Employee Benefits Library
Copyright 2005 BenefitsLink.com, Inc.; except that you may reprint this newsletter in full (including this sentence) without obtaining our permission.
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