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May 4, 2009


Here are the Web's best new links about compliance and cost aspects of plan operation, design and policy.

International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans (Advert.)

What you need to know about the Economic Stimulus Bill’s impact on COBRA and HIPAA (clickable image)

What you need to know about the Economic Stimulus Bill’s impact on COBRA and HIPAA

The signing of the economic stimulus bill has broad implication not only for the nation, but also for employers and their benefit plans. Find out what you as an employer —and your staff-- are now responsible for. Recently recorded 90-minute webcasts are available on CD or instantly online with an on-demand webcast. Updates available on CD or On-Demand Webcast.
To order, visit the Foundation’s Bookstore at www.ifebp.org/cobraondemand or www.ifebp.org/hipaaondemand.


[Guidance Overview]
The 2009 H1N1 Flu - Is Your Workplace Prepared? (PDF)

2 pages. Excerpt: "The recent increase in the number of confirmed cases of H1N1 Influenza A (swine flu) illustrates the necessity and importance of employer preparedness for a potential influenza pandemic. Regardless of whether the H1N1 Influenza A reaches pandemic proportions or instead fizzles out, employers should consider taking action and implementing policies now, to protect their employees' health and safety, while at the same time minimizing business interruption and potential liability." (Snell & Wilmer LLP)


[Guidance Overview]
Important Legal Considerations for Drafting an Effective Pandemic-Response Policy for Multinational Employers

Excerpt: "With rising concerns about a global swine flu pandemic, all U.S. employers -- but especially those with multinational operations -- need to determine how best to tackle complex legal issues raised by the illness. Importantly, any international policies created to deal with potential issues caused by a flu pandemic must take into account the local legal requirements of other countries. These legal requirements can include obligations relating to employee consultation/notification, health and safety, workers' compensation, working hours, overtime and leave, data protection/privacy laws, and business continuity plans -- which can differ in every jurisdiction where the company has operations." (Seyfarth Shaw LLP)


[Guidance Overview]
Recertification of Need for Leave Under the FMLA

Excerpt: "Revised regulations, which took effect January 16, 2009, made sweeping changes to FMLA requirements and procedures. [T]he FMLA permits employers to require an employee to provide a medical certification to support the need for leave due to a serious health condition of the employee or of certain members of the employee's family. The FMLA also allows employers to require periodic recertification of the need for such leave. This article discusses the current FMLA rules regarding the recertification process for employees who are on leave due to the employee's own serious health condition or that of the employee's spouse, son, daughter or parent." (Faegre & Benson)


[Guidance Overview]
'Sham' Termination Did not Trigger COBRA Eligibility

Excerpt: "A federal district court has denied COBRA claims from an employee whose termination it said was a 'sham.' According to EBIA, the court said the employee, who was fired and then immediately rehired, did not prove he had a qualifying event resulting in the loss of medical coverage. The court noted the employee's employment was not terminated since he remained employed with his employer without a break in service or reduction of hours - a 'sham termination' - which is not a qualifying event that triggers an obligation to offer COBRA, the news report said." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)


[Guidance Overview]
Court Uses High Court Decision to Resolve Disability Dispute

Excerpt: "Insurer Unum has lost a decade-long disability benefits dispute after the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided a U.S. Supreme Court decision redefined the abuse of discretion standard of review. The appellate court agreed with Sandra J. Chronister that the high court's decision in Metropolitan Life Insurance Company v. Glenn on how much the conflict of a dual role of a plan administrator that is also a payer of benefits should be considered when reviewing the administrator's denial of benefits . . . meant that Unum must be held to a less-deferential standard of review." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)


[Guidance Overview]
What's an Employer to Do? Understanding the Employment Law Implications of Swine Flu

Excerpt: "Employers also need to determine how they will deal with the problems associated with a potential influenza outbreak. With people avoiding anyone seen coughing, school districts closing with limited advance notice, and 24-hour media coverage heightening awareness and anxiety, the current and expected issues are abundant. If these issues are handled improperly, employers may find themselves facing a variety of legal challenges, including unsafe workplace complaints, unpaid overtime reports, unfair labor practice claims, and discrimination charges. Employers need to be prepared to address these issues in a manner that minimizes liability under the myriad of employment laws implicated by a potential influenza pandemic." (Haynes and Boone, LLP)


Recession Will Cause More Health Cost Shifting
Excerpt: "The recession likely will boost group health care costs higher than employers anticipated, leading more organizations to shift more costs to employees and adopt lower-cost consumer-driven health plans, according to a survey released Thursday, April 30. Employers surveyed by benefit consultant Mercer of New York now expect health care costs to rise by an average of 7.4 percent this year. That compares with a 6 percent average increase employers predicted in a 2008 Mercer survey." (Workforce Management; free registration required)


Consumer-Driven Healthcare Savings and the Need for Better Information
Excerpt: "With several years of actual CDHP data now on the books, we can begin to assess the impact and the efficacy of CDHPs. Milliman's 'Consumer-driven impact study' (CDI), a risk-adjusted analysis of the impact of CDHPs at six U.S. companies, produced an interesting and varying picture of how these plans are doing. The high-level view may not be particularly surprising: a bunch of good news, a little bad/disappointing news, and a number of pending issues. In short, the future of CDHP looks promising but work remains to be done." (Milliman)


Swine Flu Forcing HR Departments to Begin Planning for Possible Absence of Large Numbers of Employees
Excerpt: "If the swine-flu situation worsens in the United States, HR would have a big job -- creating policies that will help ensure the safety of employees as well as making arrangements for large numbers of absent employees, says Ed Foulke, formerly the assistant secretary of labor at the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration and current partner in the Atlanta office of the Fisher & Phillips law firm. . . . He suggests that businesses make plans to let employees work from home and utilize those who are cross-trained in jobs other than their own to fill in for those who can't work. Companies should also consider providing personal protective gear such as facemasks and respirators -- whether such equipment is used now or during a future pandemic scare." (Human Resource Executive Online)


Finance Committee Studies Health Care Cost Options; 16 Senators Back Public Plan Option
Excerpt: "On April 29, the Senate Finance Committee discussed a number of policy options for reducing costs and improving quality in the health care delivery system. According to committee chairmen Max Baucus (Mont.) and Sen. Chuck Grassley (Iowa) (the senior Republican on the committee), other policy options for increasing health care coverage and financing health care reform will be released after the roundtable discussions on those topics. A committee meeting on expanding health care coverage is scheduled for May 5. Sens. Baucus and Grassley have indicated that the Finance Committee will finish working on comprehensive health care reform legislation as early as June." (Wolters Kluwer)


Efforts to Cut Waste from Health Care May Require a New Reimbursement Model
Excerpt: "The National Priorities Partnership's (NPP) 28 members include such heavy hitters as CMS, America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), AARP, AFL-CIO, the American Nurses Association, the Joint Commission and The Leapfrog Group. The partnership late last month released a 72-page agenda aimed at reforming the health care system 'from the inside out.' The elimination of waste and overuse is one of six 'national priorities' addressed by the group." (AISHealth.com)


Workers Want to Know How CDHPs Work for Them, Not the Company
Excerpt: "Of course, we know that communication is critical to launching these plans and getting employees to enroll, especially when traditional options are still on the table. Where I see companies stumble is in keeping too much focus on the big picture instead of really explaining what the plans mean for individual workers. You can be guaranteed that eyes will glaze over at the first mention of the 'millions of dollars' spent on health care. You can explain the company's investment in health care and the dollars added to each individual employee's salary in the form of medical benefits. And, you can use examples and simple profiles to show how the plans work and their value, without overwhelming employees with facts and figures. In-person (or virtual) meetings are of huge benefit too -- don't just pile on the print materials and expect employees to dig through it all." (Employee Benefit Adviser)


NYC Mayor Said to Drop Plan to Ask City Workers to Pay More for Health Coverage
Excerpt: "Relying on tough talk and grim economic forecasts, the mayor had hoped to convince labor leaders that union members should pay 10 percent of their health care premiums, as part of an overall attempt to save $1 billion in pension and health care costs. Many employees now pay nothing, so a 10 percent contribution could save the city $350 million." (The New York Times; free registration required)


Healthy Lifestyle Key to Controlling Costs
Excerpt: "As is well-known, comprehensive health care reform comes with a price tag, which will be based on the analysis of the Congressional Budget Office. But will lawmakers have all the information they need on costs? Will they be looking at a complete picture? The answer to these questions is critical to solving the challenge we face. If past is prologue, there is reason to believe that the CBO price tag for health care reform, on which legislators will base decisions, will not capture the future savings, because it underestimates the value of investment in health care as a means to achieving a healthier, more productive and, ultimately, more prosperous America." (Capitol News Company LLC)


House Panel Finds Employer Health System Support
Excerpt: "Witnesses testifying Wednesday before a U.S. House committee argued that lawmakers needed to keep the basic employer-based health system in place, but fix its many deficiencies." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)


Community Pan-Flu Preparedness: A Checklist of Key Legal Issues for Healthcare Providers (PDF)
96 pages. Excerpt: "This Checklist is a scalable tool designed to assist providers along the continuum of care as well as the broader healthcare and public health communities in taking concrete steps to prepare for an influenza pandemic." (American Health Lawyers Association)


[Opinion]
Obama's Health Care Rationing: Bureaucrats Will Decide When to Pull the Plug

Excerpt: "President Obama admitted he wants the government to decide what health care Americans receive. 'There's always going to be an asymmetry of information between patient and provider,' he said. 'And part of what I think government can do effectively is to be an honest broker in assessing and evaluating treatment options.'" (The Washington Times)



EmployeeBenefitsJobs.com (Advert.)

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EmployeeBenefitsJobs.com is where the best employers find the best candidates!

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Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

[Guidance Overview]
The Supreme Court, Suffolk Superior Court and Ed Zelinsky, All Commenting on the Breadth of ERISA Preemption

Excerpt: "Two interesting things worth passing along this week on the topic of ERISA preemption, both reinforcing its breadth. The first is this well-written analysis of preemption out of the state trial court in Massachusetts, unusual for the reason that, normally, if ERISA preemption exists, the case ends up by original or removal jurisdiction in federal court; you seldom see a state trial judge write extensively on this subject as a result. Moreover, you don't always see any judge write this well and accurately on the subject . . . ." (Stephen Rosenberg of The McCormack Firm, LLC)


[Guidance Overview]
Section 510 Claims Defeated by Causation Defense

Excerpt: "Giordano v. Thomson, 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 8887 (2d Cir. Apr. 27, 2009), which I reviewed today on erisaboard.com, reveals a few interesting points about executive severance compensation disputes. The facts are colorful and the rather short opinion is worth the time it takes to read." (Roy Harmon III via Health Plan Law)


HR Technology and Service Delivery in the Current Economic Crisis: Selected Findings from Watson Wyatt's 2009 HR Technology Trends Survey (PDF)
6 pages. (Watson Wyatt Worldwide)


Compensation Costs in Private Industry Up 1.9 Percent from March 2008 to March 2009
Excerpt: "In private industry, compensation costs rose 1.9 percent in the year ended March 2009, significantly less than the increase for the year ended March 2008, which was 3.2 percent. Private industry wages and salaries decelerated to a 2.0-percent increase for the year ended March 2009. In March 2008, the increase in wages and salaries was 3.2 percent. Benefit costs increased 1.6 percent for the 12-month period ended March 2009. For the year ended March 2008, the increase in benefit costs was 3.2 percent." (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)


The Nation's Long-Term Fiscal Outlook: March 2009 Update (PDF)
15 pages. Excerpt: "The new President, the new Congress, and the American people have been understandably focused on addressing problems with financial markets and responding to the economic downturn. However, the nation will need to apply the same level of intensity to the nation's long-term fiscal challenge. . . . GAO's updated simulations continue to show escalating and persistent debt that illustrates the long-term fiscal outlook is unsustainable. By 2025, debt held by the public under the Alternative simulation exceeds the historical high reached in the aftermath of World War II." (U.S. Government Accountability Office)


Bankrup.tcy Reality Sets in for Chrysler and Workers
Excerpt: "About 1,800 Chrysler retirees were shocked to discover that their benefit payments were voided Friday morning. . . . The problem affected people who have a supplemental pension, which is not insured by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. Because that portion is backed only by Chrysler, it becomes part of Chrysler's asset base in the bankrup.tcy." (Detroit Free Press)


Chrysler Bankrup.tcy Could Lower Pension Benefits in the Future
Excerpt: "The Chrysler bankrup.tcy filing Thursday, April 30, could result in lower federally guaranteed pension benefits for Chrysler employees and retirees if the financially troubled automaker later jettisons its massively underfunded plans. In a new question-and-answer guide about Chrysler's pension plans, the federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. notes that a bankrup.tcy filing can result in a reduction of benefits if plans are later taken over by the PBGC. For example, under law, the PBGC does not guarantee benefits earned after a bankrup.tcy filing. The PBGC provides in its guide an example of a company that filed for bankrup.tcy on July 1, 2009." (Workforce Management; free registration required)


Chrysler Plans to Leave 8 Factories in Bankrup.tcy
Excerpt: "'While some facilities may eventually close, none other than Newark and St. Louis South are scheduled for closure in the near term,' Max Gates, a Chrysler spokesman, said in an e-mailed statement today. 'Virtually all of the labor associated with these facilities will be offered employment with the new company.' The Fiat alliance will create or preserve more than 5,000 manufacturing jobs, Chrysler said in a statement. All union-represented workers still have the option of taking a buyout or early retirement incentive of as much as $75,000 and a $25,000 car voucher under a previously announced plan that expires May 26, Gates said." (Bloomberg L.P.)


At Chrysler and GM, It's Not Employee Ownership
As part of their efforts to recover, General Motors and Chrysler are pursuing agreements with the UAW to provide the union with company stock to help fund retiree health-care trusts. NCEO Executive Director Corey Rosen explains that although many articles in the press say that employees will now be owners of General Motors and Chrysler through this plan, what is being proposed is not really employee ownership in any meaningful sense. (National Center for Employee Ownership)



Webcasts and Conferences

(Click to post your webcast or conference)

Benchmarking: How Competitive Is Your Benefits Package?
in Georgia on May 21, 2009
presented by WEB (Worldwide Employee Benefit Network) Atlanta Chapter

Web Seminar - "Found Money" in Your 401(k) Plans: What Fees Are Reasonable?
Nationwide on May 21, 2009
presented by TRI-AD


Press Releases

(Click to post your press release)

Executive Benefits and A.R.I.S. Announce the 2009 Seminar "The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009"
Executive Benefits Design Group

RSM McGladrey and McGladrey & Pullen LLP Announce Major Expansion of Employee Benefits Plan Practice in New York
RSM McGladrey, Inc.

P&A Retirement Plan Services Breaks The ETF Barrier
P&A Group


Employee Benefits Jobs

(Click to post your job opening | View all jobs | RSS feed for jobs RSS feed of all jobs )

DC/401(k) Plan Administrator
for The Benefit Shop, LLC near San Antonio, TX
in TX

Consultant - DC - 401k
for Los Angeles (San Fernando Valley) Third Party Administrator
in CA

Pension Administrator
for Primark Benefits
in CA



EmployeeBenefitsJobs.com (Sponsor)

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Where the best employers find the best candidates!

Where the best employers find the best candidates!


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