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Insurance

Children’s Hospital nurses return to work after strike

05/20/2011
After a five-day strike, registered nurses have started returning to their jobs at Children’s Hospital in Oak­land. The nurses, represented by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United, walked out on May 5 over a dispute about health care benefits.

What will you decide: keep or drop employee health benefits?

05/20/2011
Most employers are not considering canceling health benefits as a result of the year-old health care reform law, according to two recent surveys. The Affordable Care Act may be politically unpopular, but employers assume that it will be a business fact of life for the foreseeable future.

Same-sex marriage & payroll: What happens now?

05/18/2011
The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) prohibits the extension of federal marriage benefits to same-sex couples who marry under state law. Some federal courts have ruled DOMA unconstitutional, and the Department of Justice says that it will no longer defend the law. But the IRS says it’s still enforcing DOMA as it applies to the tax laws that cover married couples.

IRS issues W-2 health benefit reporting guidance

05/16/2011

The health care reform law requires you to report the value of employees’ health benefits on their W-2 forms. The IRS waived mandatory reporting for 2011, pending future guidance. Now the guidance has been released. It requires employers filing 250 or more W-2s to report beginning with 2012 W-2s that are filed in 2013.

MDHS, state retirees settle age bias complaint

05/11/2011
The Minnesota Department of Human Services has agreed to pay more than $467,000 to settle an age discrimination complaint filed by retired staffers.

If employee voluntarily quits, must nonprofit employers offer COBRA coverage?

04/28/2011
Q. We’re a nonprofit organization and offer health insurance to our 100+ employees. If an employee is enrolled in the health plan and voluntarily resigns, are we required to offer COBRA? Or does our nonprofit status let us off the hook?

Can we offer cash incentives for employees to opt out of our health insurance plan?

04/28/2011
Q. We’re trying to reduce our group health benefit costs. Several employees are on both our plan and that of their spouses. They are willing to go off our group plan if we compensate them a certain amount of money each month. Is it legal to offer either medical insurance benefits or a cash alternative?

Lancaster approves same-sex benefits for city employees

04/28/2011
The city of Lancaster has adopted a policy that allows city employees to seek the same health care and other employment benefits for their same-sex partners that are now available to married employees and retirees.

Generics, mail delivery cut drug benefit costs

04/25/2011
Pennsylvania-based 84 Lumber has cut its prescription benefit costs—for the company and for employees—by offering incentives to workers who use generic medicine and have it delivered via mail to their homes. Total plan costs dropped 13% from the prior year as the use of a home de­livery service increased 83.4%.

Baltimore salon styles benefits rare in industry

04/21/2011
At most hair salons, stylists are on their own when it comes to time off and health benefits. But the owners of Studio 921 Salon & Day Spa in Balti­more are different, offering one paid week of annual leave to employees who have worked a year, a 401(k) plan with a 3% match and group health insurance.