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Insurance

Injured worker? Proceed with unemployment case

07/01/2007

An employee who is injured at work is generally eligible for workers’ compensation benefits. But if you know the employee has engaged in misconduct that would make him or her ineligible for unemployment compensation, you can discharge the employee anyway and avoid paying both kinds of benefits …

Ohio senate bill would stop state from penalizing old and jobless

07/01/2007

Ohio is the only state in the nation that cuts unemployment benefits by the amount of Social Security a person receives, resulting in no unemployment benefits for most senior citizens …

Training on personal protective equipment boosts workplace safety

07/01/2007

Employers and employees know that wearing the proper protective equipment can prevent workplace accidents. But too often employees fail to wear personal protective equipment (PPE), sometimes with disastrous consequences …

Creative benefits help employees with cancer stay on the job

07/01/2007

Employees living with cancer increasingly are staying on the job, thanks to benefits like flexibility and intermittent, short-term disability insurance …

Align comp & benefits with phased-Retirement options

07/01/2007

The Pension Protection Act of 2006 allows employers to pay pension benefits to employees age 62 and older who are covered under a defined-benefit pension plan even if they continue to work. The change makes phased retirement a viable option for employers who want to keep their mature, experienced workers …

Profit sharing and ‘No walls’ management boost job referrals

07/01/2007

About 70% of all hires at Findley, Ohio-based hiring firm Right Thing come highly recommended by the organization’s own employees. What gets employees talking to their friends about joining the firm? It’s the company’s laid-back atmosphere—with no formal managers or departments—and an employee profit-sharing plan that involves half the company profits …

Largest insurer ties staff bonuses to customers’ health

07/01/2007

WellPoint, the largest U.S. health insurer (based on commercial membership), has tied part of its 42,000 employees’ annual bonuses to the health of its 34 million members …

Texas employers to receive unemployment-Tax refunds

07/01/2007

Texas employers who had paid taxes into the Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund are set to receive approximately $320 million in refunds …

Workers’ comp department improves web forms

07/01/2007

The Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation, recently improved the functionality of more than 90 forms posted on its web site …

Health-Care inflation ‘Good news’ is relative: Rate increases fall again, but still above 10%

06/19/2007

While health-care costs are forecast to rise at a slower pace in 2008, don’t get too excited: Those costs will still increase at a double-digit rate. Here are the numbers, plus three suggestions for ways to successfuly "sell" health-premium increases to employees.