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Insurance

Use BLS survey data to show employees the value of benefits

11/01/2007

A new survey by the U.S. Labor Department Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) offers a great chance for HR pros to help employees understand the true value of their benefits. The key finding of the BLS’s National Compensation Survey  will come as no surprise: About half of the nation’s employees get health and retirement benefits through their employers. But other survey findings may provide a valuable opportunity to enlighten employees …

3 steps to creating a corporate ‘Culture of health’

11/01/2007

A culture of health is coming into its own across corporate America. Driven by increasing health care costs and an obesity epidemic that fuels chronic illnesses, corporations are examining their core cost drivers and have arrived at a workable strategy: create a culture that promotes better health across the total employee population …

UPS, contractors owe $1.2 million to misclassified janitors

11/01/2007

Nearly 500 Latino janitors who cleaned UPS facilities, hotels and other properties in Illinois and Texas won a $1.2 million settlement for unpaid overtime and back wages. According to the Service Employees International Union, which supported the lawsuit in U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois, the janitors were misclassified as independent contractors …

GM takes VEBA for a test drive

11/01/2007
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UPS teams up with Teamsters to shore up pension fund

11/01/2007

Hard times make for strange bedfellows. United Parcel Service, based in Sandy Springs, and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters teamed up to cut ties with the beleaguered Central States Fund pension plan before the federal government intervenes in January and likely makes things worse for them …

No unemployment comp for workers who quit to care for disabled family members

11/01/2007

Family and military leave laws require Indiana employers to accommodate employees dealing with certain family problems. But the law doesn’t stick employers with an unemployment compensation bill when employees quit after their protected leave expires. Thanks to a recent Indiana Court of Appeals decision, it is now clear that voluntarily quitting to care for an ill family member does not mean the employee is eligible for unemployment compensation payments …

Unemployment following a strike

11/01/2007

Q. We are a small, nonunion parts supplier for a large, unionized manufacturing plant. Due to an ongoing strike by our primary customer’s union, demand for our product has decreased significantly, and we are having difficulty meeting payroll. Consequently, we are preparing to lay off several of our staff. Our CFO remembered reading that in Indiana, someone who loses his job due to a strike is not eligible for unemployment compensation. But, because the only reason we are laying our people off is due to the strike at our customer’s facility, can we contest unemployment for our laid-off staff? …

Cut costs by offering early partial payment of disputed workers’ comp claim

11/01/2007

An employer that unsuccessfully fights a workers’ compensation claim and forces an injured employee to retain an attorney faces a penalty of up to 20% of the money due the injured employee, which goes on top of the normal amount due. But the law also provides an incentive for employers to begin making payments early …

Report card says NJ HMO providers rank lower than NY’s

11/01/2007

The New York Regional Health Care Report Card, recently released by the New York Business Group on Health and the New York State Health Accountability Foundation, gave New Jersey HMOs low marks for quality of care …

Recouping company-paid health plan premiums after FMLA leave

11/01/2007

Q. While my employees are out on FMLA leave, we pay our share of health plan premiums on behalf of them. If an employee does not return to work following his FMLA leave, can I recover those premiums directly from the employee? …