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How the Health Care Reform Measures Compare

Excerpt: To help employers understand what is at stake for them in the Senate and House versions of the reform bill, Workforce Management (with help from the Kaiser Family Foundation) has compiled a side-by-side comparison of the provisions in each bill that are likely to affect employers.

Taking Care of Business Starts with Taking Care of Employees

Excerpt: Bob Nelson, keynote speaker for the Workforce Management online conference Road to Recovery: HR Strategies for Post-Recession Success, discusses some simple perks that organizations can give employees to sustain engagement during the downturn.

Is It Important for 401(k) Fees to Be Equitable?

Excerpt: Increased fee disclosure to plan participants that may result from pending regulatory and legislative initiatives has the potential to bring the issue of fair fee payment to the forefront. Uneven administrative fees can leave plan sponsors open to uncomfortable questions by participants, or may even bias participants against funds that carry the lion's share of the administrative burden. However, creating an investment menu with equitable administrative fees can be challenging. As we just saw, revenue-sharing arrangements -- which are negotiated between the record keeper and the investment managers -- are usually not consistent, and plan sponsors may have no control over share classes that are available to them.

Milwaukee Voters Approve Law Requiring Paid Sick Leave

Excerpt: Milwaukee became the third city in the U.S. to guarantee paid sick days for workers after voters overwhelmingly passed a referendum on the issue Tuesday, November 4. Despite opposition from the city's mayor and business community, 68 percent of voters approved the ordinance. The law will require employers within the city to provide each employee up to nine days of paid sick leave per year -- or one hour of sick leave for every 30 hours worked.

Health Care Coalitions Help Churches Maintain Coverage

Excerpt: Limited financial resources and older-skewing workforces raise the need for denominations to come together in order to leverage their collective purchasing power.

Senate Panel to Review Controversial Changes to Employer-Provided Health Insurance Tax Deductions

Excerpt: The Senate Finance Committee will discuss controversial options that include curbing the tax-favored status of employer-provided health care coverage, wiping out health care flexible spending accounts and placing new restrictions on health spending accounts when it meets Wednesday, May 20. The policy options include several potential ways to modify the tax treatment of employer-provided coverage to 'eliminate inconsistencies and discourage wasteful health care spending,' according to a committee summary of options being considered to raise revenue to expand coverage.

ERISA, Section 510 Discrimination, and Smoking

Excerpt: This past Wednesday, an employee's claim for violations of ERISA for firing him after he tested positive for nicotine survived a motion to dismiss. As is fairly well known, The Scotts Company does not tolerate smoking by its employees--even off duty.... I don't know the underlying facts here, but I think it may well be difficult for the plaintiff to prove sufficient facts that his firing was motivated to interfere with his benefits.

Enforcing Promises of Lifetime Health Benefits

Excerpt: Mitchell Rubinstein over at Adjunct Law Prof Blog posts today on the huge Sixth Circuit decision last week of Cole v. ArvinMeritor, Inc., No. 06-2224 (Dec. 16, 2008). Rockwell Automation and its successor companies promised, in a collective bargaining agreement signed with the United Auto Workers, that 'The Health Care ... Coverages an employee has under this Article at the time of retirement or termination of employment at age 65 or older ... shall be continued thereafter provided that suitable arrangements can be made with the Carrier(s). Contributions for coverages so continued shall be in accordance with [another provision of the CBA].' This contract language, the district court concluded 'unambiguously promises lifetime benefits.'

Company-Sponsored Holiday Events Stage a Comeback

Excerpt: After two years of cutbacks, layoffs, bailouts and outright bankruptcies, the return of this annual ritual signals that corporate managers are more confident about business prospects and feel a need to invest again in morale, reward and recognition.

Recalculating Pension Risk Following Health Reform

Excerpt: Pension managers might want to revisit life expectancy calculations in the wake of health reform .... Improved access to medical care could extend life span, based on the East German experience after the fall of the Berlin Wall.