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[Guidance Overview]
Austin, Texas, Adopts a Paid Sick Leave Law Covering All Employers
"Sick time may be used as soon as it is accrued for: [1] the employee's physical or mental illness or injury, preventative medical or health care, or health condition; [2] the employee's need to care for a family member's physical or mental illness or injury, preventative medical or health care, or health condition; or [3] the employee's need to seek medical attention or to participate in legal or court ordered action related to domestic abuse, sexual assault, or stalking involving the employee or a family member."
Vorys
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'Indifference' Continues to Plague Well-Being
"Historically, employers have relied heavily on incentives to drive participation in their various programs. But the [Willis Towers Watson] research finds that such rewards haven't been effective, except when used in specific ways, such as discrete tasks that offer an immediate payout.... Even more troubling is the fact that participation rates appear to be on the decline."
Human Resource Executive
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Small Group Savior? Another Look at QSEHRAs
"Employers still have to comply with a variety of notice and reporting requirements that carry high excise taxes for non-compliance. Reimbursements have to be substantiated and verified before payment is made or the QSEHRA risks losing the tax-advantage status for all participants -- even if due to administrative error."
Frenkel Benefits
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Should You Use Your Insurance to Pay for Prescription Drugs or Just Pay Cash?
"Some plans that have copays are designed to charge you the copay or the actual cost of the drug -- whichever is less. For example, if you have a $10 copay but the generic is $4, you might only be paying pay $4. However, other copay plans will charge you the copay even if the cost price of the drug is less (i.e. $10). Therefore, knowing which type of copay plan you have is crucial to knowing if you should use your insurance or not."
Hill, Chesson & Woody
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Student Loan Debt Repayment Assistance
"Student loan debt repayment assistance is linked to greater recruitment and retention efforts and overall career happiness. It's a huge topic for millennials and one of the leading financial wellness opportunities for attracting and retaining top talent; 72% of employees say the ability to customize benefits increases loyalty to their employer."
Corporate Synergies
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Answers for Your Employee Benefits Package Woes
"17% of employers say employees are unaware of their wellness benefits. This is the top reason for underutilization. The solution? Promote your wellness offerings in a fun and engaging way.... 16% of employers say employees don't know how to use wellness benefits. This is alarming, especially if your employees are trying to address important life matters.... One in 10 employers say employees don't use their wellness benefits because they don't feel supported by their peers.... This shows a cultural issue."
HR Daily Advisor
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Twenty States Sue Federal Government, Seeking End to Obamacare
"Led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel, the lawsuit said that without the individual mandate, which was eliminated as part of the Republican tax law signed by President Donald Trump in December, Obamacare was unlawful."
Reuters
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Delaware Seeks a Solution as Health Costs Rise
"Delaware Gov. John Carney (D) on Feb. 22 ordered the state to form an advisory group to set a benchmark that would help slow the state's rising health care costs.... [An] analysis in June from [CMS] showed that Delaware's per capita health-care costs were more than 27 percent above the U.S. average, behind only Alaska and Massachusetts.... Yet Delaware ranks 31st among states in terms of overall health."
Bloomberg BNA
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Austin's Earned Sick Time Ordinance: Things You Need to Know
"The ordinance takes effect on Oct. 1 for all employers with six or more employees.... Employees earn one hour of sick time for every 30 hours worked. Earned sick time is generally available for use as soon as it is accrued.... Employers must provide to each employee with a monthly statement showing the amount of the employee's available earned sick time. Employers must also keep records to show the amount of sick time accrued by each employee."
Society for Human Resource Management [SHRM]
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Risk Corridor Litigation and the Trump Budget
"In its [2019 budget] proposal, the White House included a request to fully fund the risk corridor program through a mandatory appropriation of about $11.5 billion and an additional $812 million to cover the cost of exempting the program from sequester. Seizing on this information, Land of Lincoln and Moda Health Plan wrote to the Federal Circuit to provide the budget as 'supplemental authority' they argue is relevant to the court's decision."
Katie Keith, in Health Affairs
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Benefits in General
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Securing Your Organization's Data
"[T]he SEC reported that more than one-half of all cyber-attacks come from employee negligence or intentional malicious efforts from current and former employees ... [1] Develop a Written Information Security Program (WISP) ... [2] Conduct periodic risk assessments ... [3] Analyze cyber security incidents from the past ... [4] Identify the information sharing networks ... [5] Conduct third-party vendor reviews ... [6] Establish data encryption protocols ... [7] Appoint an Information Security Officer tasked with keeping your data protected ... [8] [Keep] all hardware and software up to date."
Cammack Retirement Group
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ERISA Advisory Council to Meet March 27
"[T]he 190th open meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans (also known as the ERISA Advisory Council) will be held on March 27, 2018 ... from 9:00 a .m. to approximately 3:00 p.m. The purpose of the open meeting is to set and discuss the topics to be addressed by the Council in 2018."
Employee Benefits Security Administration [EBSA], U.S. Department of Labor [DOL]
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Executive Compensation
and Nonqualified Plans
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[Guidance Overview]
Tax Reform and Qualified Equity Grants: New Tax Provisions
"[T]he ability to make deferral elections under the new Section 83(i) could be useful in specific situations, such as a private company with a rapidly appreciating stock price and expectations of a liquidity event, but the administrative complexity and broad based grant requirements will limit the usefulness of this election for a majority of companies."
Holland & Hart LLP
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BenefitsLink.com, Inc.
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(407) 644-4146
Lois Baker, J.D., President
David Rhett Baker, J.D., Editor and Publisher
Holly Horton, Business Manager
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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Senior Retirement Plan Administrator
