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Compensation & Benefits

Summer’s here and so are new employment laws

07/07/2023
Summertime is often when new employment laws take effect, and this summer is no exception.

What striking down student-loan forgiveness might mean for employers

07/03/2023
On June 30, the U.S. Supreme Court declared that the Biden administration’s plan to forgive up to $20,000 in student-loan debt for millions of Americans was not legally permissible. The decision in Biden v. Nebraska has implications for employers as well as former college students.

Offer pay to play: Vacation stipends encourage staff to take time off to recharge

06/28/2023
This summer is shaping up to be the season of post-COVID vacations. Employers are actively encouraging employees to take long-delayed vacations. Some are even adding financial incentives in the form of vacation stipends. They are literally paying employees extra to go on vacation.

5 tips to improve open enrollment this fall

06/26/2023
While everyone else is on vacation this summer, HR pros are busy planning for the upcoming open-enrollment season. Follow these tips to make the process run more smoothly for you and more effectively for your employees.

They didn’t seriously argue that, did they? Religion in the kitchen stirs the DOL to action

06/21/2023
Religion in the workplace is a touchy matter. What if your boss brought in a priest and encouraged everyone to confess their sins? What if you weren’t Catholic? It’s not a hypothetical question. An employee of a California restaurant testified that his employer brought in a person identified as a priest to hear their confessions during work hours.

Child care costs working parents 27% of household income

06/21/2023
On average, working families spend 27% of their household income on child care, according to Care.com’s 10th annual Cost of Care report. For 59% of parents, the annual cost of child care will top $18,000.

Employers rate health insurance their most important benefit

06/21/2023
Employers consider health-related benefits the most important perks they offer, according to the Society for Human Resource Management’s 2023 Employee Benefits Survey.

Labor market forces driving change in compensation practices

06/12/2023
Employers are shaking up their compensation systems in response to labor-market pressures, according to a new survey by the WorldatWork total rewards association.

Study finds increase in health insurance claims denials

06/05/2023
According to research by the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation, even when patients received care from in-network physicians pre-approved by their insurance companies, claims were denied 17% of the time on average in 2021.

No employer-paid health benefits? That’s a deal-breaker for half of Americans

05/30/2023
Nearly half of Americans—48%—would quit their jobs if their employer stopped offering health insurance benefits, according to a new survey by the Assurance brokerage firm.