05/13/2008
The city of Duluth says it can save up to $600,000 per year if 37 of its retirees sign up for Medicare. The city discovered during a recent audit that some of its retirees weren’t enrolled in the federal retiree health insurance program ...
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05/01/2008
As a general rule, once a union organizing drive is under way at a nonunion workplace, management can’t make any changes to the terms and conditions of employment. But what if the changes management wants to make are ones that the company has routinely made around that same time of year? ...
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05/01/2008
Looking to increase participation in your 401(k)? With the government’s recent blessing, more employers are turning their 401(k) plans into “opt-out” plans rather than “opt-in.” ...
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04/14/2008
Following reports that more than 8,000 state employees are “double dipping”—collecting a pension while returning to work to collect a state salary—some lawmakers have tried to stop the practice. Another 131 state employees are said to be triple dipping ...
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04/01/2008
More than half of all organizations rely on employee newsletters, special mailings and other printed pieces to increase enrollment in benefits programs, says a new study from the benefits consulting firm Watson Wyatt. Those pieces might not be as effective as you think. What you really need to do is convince employees to make some changes in how they manage their own benefits ...
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04/01/2008
In a decision that could spark more lawsuits against retirement plan administrators, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Feb. 20 that participants in 401(k) plans could sue to recover losses if they think their accounts were mismanaged ...
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04/01/2008
Your organization’s youngest workers learned an important lesson about the workplace from their parents: You can’t count on keeping the same job for your whole career. If you want your talented Gen Y employees to stick around, you’re going to have to change the way you look at employee benefits. Here are three things they want that might surprise you ...
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04/01/2008
The state of Michigan is suing Tyco International, its auditors and four former executives for $50 million, the amount lost to state pension funds when a multibillion-dollar accounting fraud case sent the company’s stock prices plummeting in 2002 ...
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03/18/2008
During these difficult economic times, small and midsized businesses are looking for ways to reduce their employment costs—while maintaining employee benefits and gaining a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Many employers are looking at alternative staffing models to meet those objectives ...
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03/01/2008
Gov. Ted Strickland has directed state agencies to draft proposals for offering early retirement incentives to trim their staffs and save money. Spokesman Keith Dailey said Strickland is concerned about the possibility of a recession and its potential impact on the state budget ...
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03/01/2008
Thirty-five percent of organizations offered retiree health benefits in 2007, up from 29% the year before, according to the Society for Human Resource Management. Even so, benefits analysts say organizations are under pressure to drop the coverage to save money and to lessen a costly liability line on their financial statements ...
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03/01/2008
Recent U.S. Labor Department rules make it easier (and legally safer) to automatically enroll employees in your company’s 401(k) plan. If you plan to make the switch to auto-enrollment, take note: The IRS has issued a sample notice that you can use ...
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03/01/2008
A Palatine man has been charged with theft by deception after he failed to report that the telecommunications company Avaya, had deposited paychecks totaling $469,000 into his checking account, despite the fact that he never worked there ...
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03/01/2008
In a decision that could spark more lawsuits against retirement-plan administrators, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Feb. 20 that participants in 401(k) plans can sue to recover losses if they think their account was mismanaged ...
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02/01/2008
No doubt about it, the workers’ compensation system is a headache for employers. It’s full of frustrations and surprises. Consider, for example, the fairly common scenario of a retired employee receiving workers’ comp payments. Seems like retiring would end workers’ compensation payments, right? Not necessarily, as the following case illustrates ...
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