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[Guidance Overview]
New Tax Law Provides Employer Tax Credit for Compensation Paid to Employees While on Family and Medical Leave
"To be eligible for the credit, an employer must have a written policy that provides all qualifying full-time employees with at least two weeks of annual paid family and medical leave. Part-time employees are also to be allowed a commensurate amount of leave on a pro rata basis. Qualifying employees are those who have worked for the company for at least one year and were paid no more than 60% of the compensation threshold for highly compensated employees in the previous year."
Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP
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The FMLA and Intermittent Leave: Proceed with Caution
"The employer argued that even though the employee's intermittent leave had been approved, he failed to give proper notice of his intention to take off on the specific day in question.... The critical inquiry is whether the information conveyed to the employer is sufficient to let it know of the request to take time off for a serious health condition, including days taken off during intermittent leave." [Walpool v. Frymaster, LLC, No. 17-558 (W.D. La. Nov. 16, 2017)]
HR Daily Advisor
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Court Declines to Dismiss Claims Against Business Associate Subcontractor Responsible for HIPAA Breach
"The PBM, which contracted with a group health plan to provide mail-order pharmacy services, subcontracted certain functions to the mail service.... According to the PBM, the mail service's unauthorized disclosures violated a performance standard under the PBM's contract with the health plan and triggered a payment of over $1.8 million by the PBM to the plan. The PBM then sought indemnification from the mail service, both under its business associate subcontract and common-law principles, and also contended that the mail service was negligent." [CVS Pharmacy, Inc. v. Press America, Inc., No. 17-190 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 3, 2018)]
Thomson Reuters / EBIA
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Workers Rank Health Care as the Most Critical Issue in the United States (PDF)
"31 percent of workers rank health care as the most critical issue in the United States.... 60 percent of workers report that health insurance is extremely important when considering whether to stay in or choose a new job, whereas only 42 percent report that a retirement savings plan is extremely important.... One-half of workers with health insurance coverage are extremely or very satisfied with their current health plan.... [J]ust 22 percent are extremely or very satisfied with the cost of their health insurance plan, and only 18 percent are satisfied with the costs of health care services not covered by insurance."
Employee Benefit Research Institute [EBRI]
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Why Employers Should Offer Health Insurance and Other Employee Benefits
"Nearly a quarter (23%) of full-time employees do not receive any benefits from their employers. Over half (55%) of employees say that health insurance is the most important benefit in terms of their job satisfaction. Childcare benefits are rare, with only 21% of full-time workers receiving paid parental leave. Just 8% receive some kind of childcare stipend."
Clutch
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Employer Health Insurance: Often-Hated, Sometimes Pioneering, and Now on Amazon's Radar
"Employer health insurance tends to be more expensive than public insurance, and its growth has traditionally followed the trajectory of other parts of the health industry. Some employers simply select from standard offerings, essentially outsourcing any innovation potential to notoriously risk-averse insurance companies. But there is also a robust history of employer experimentation.... Amazon and friends would be building on this tradition."
The New York Times; subscription may be required
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Preventive Dental Benefits Save Employers Money, Studies Find
"[R]egular trips to the dentist can aid in early detection of potentially serious medical conditions.... [G]um disease has been linked to cardiovascular risks and preterm low-birth-weight babies, tooth decay with osteoporosis and oral infections with diabetes."
Society for Human Resource Management [SHRM]
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The Cost of Healthcare for California Government Workers When They Retire Rises Sharply
"California taxpayers are on the hook for more than $91.5 billion to provide health and dental benefits to state government workers when they retire ... That's a substantial increase from last year's estimate, a result of changes in the way the total debt is calculated and changes in the projected cost of healthcare in the coming decades. Last year's report put the total liability at just under $77 billion."
Los Angeles Times
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David Rhett Baker, J.D., Editor and Publisher
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BenefitsLink Health & Welfare Plans Newsletter, ISSN no. 1536-9595. Copyright 2018 BenefitsLink.com, Inc. All materials contained in this newsletter are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of BenefitsLink.com, Inc., or in the case of third party materials, the owner of those materials. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notices from copies of the content.
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