Top 10 questions employees have about your health benefits

By Christian Schappel

If you polled your company’s health plan participants and asked them what they wanted to know most about their benefits options, what would they say? This is a pretty good indicator.


Towers Watson, which runs a private health exchange called OneExchange, recently analyzed the questions individual participants in its exchange were asking and complied the following list.
It’s likely a pretty good barometer of the kinds of things your employees are wondering, and it may be a good starting point when trying to decide in which direction to take your benefits educations efforts next.

Here are the top 10 questions. Click here to continue reading.

Obamacare tax relief on its way for some employers

By Christian Schappel

The Affordable Care Act imposes an excise tax — with the potential to reach $36,500 per affected employee per year — on employers that fail to abide by the law’s rules. 

The tax can levied for things like failing to abide by the law’s maximum waiting period rules (full-time employees can’t be forced to wait longer than 90 days to be health plan-eligible), having out-of-pocket limits that exceed the law’s thresholds and failing to cover certain contraceptives.

But it can also be levied upon employers for providing cash — pre-tax or post-tax — to help employees purchase health insurance in the individual market. Arrangements like this — also known as “employer payment plans” — trigger this $100 per day, per affected individual excise tax.

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Heads up: The feds are cracking down on 401(k) hardship withdrawals

By Jared Bilski

Here’s another reason why employers should limit (or even eliminate altogether) workers’ opportunities for 401(k) hardship withdrawals.  

Both the DOL and the IRS appear to be ramping up their enforcement of noncompliant hardship withdrawals.

That’s because the feds are worried about leakage in retirement plans – i.e., withdrawals made before retirement that permanently depletes savings. Hardship withdrawals are a big part of the leakage problem.

Because of their concern, the feds’ are checking to make sure that employers are following the very specific criteria for these withdrawals.

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Tip Tuesday! Breaking down IRS’ final Obamacare reporting forms

By Jared Bilski

The wait is over. Employers now have access to the final versions of the forms they’ll file to show they’re in compliance with the ACA “Shared-Responsibility” mandate. And the sooner they start making sense of these forms, the better.

The IRS just released the final forms, which include Form 1095-B, Form 1095-C, and Form 1094-B and Form 1094-C, which will be used in 2016 for the 2015 filing year. (Note: Firms aren’t required to file for tax year 2014, but may do so if they wish.)

The agency also released guidance titled “Affordable Care Act: Reporting Requirement for Applicable Large Employers,” which covers preparations for monthly tracking and filing help for 2016.

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Yikes: Horrific discrimination claims cost company $15M

By Christian Schappel

What’s scarier, these discrimination claims or the number of zeros in the award? 
California-based trucking outfit Matheson Trucking and Matheson Flight Extenders Inc. is paying dearly for racial discrimination claims levied against the company by seven former employees.
A lawsuit filed by the men — six of whom are black — claims Matheson let some pretty horrific stuff go on in its warehouse, according to a report by The Denver Post.
Some of the lawsuit’s claims, according to The Post:

• White workers called black workers “lazy stupid Africans.”
• White employees and black employees worked on separate sides of the warehouse.
• White supervisors and workers often used the N-word around black workers.
• In one instance, a white worker yelled that all blacks should be shot (and that worker was later promoted).
• Calling a white worker, the seventh plaintiff, who stood up for his black co-workers, “the tribe’s assistant.”
• That same white worker was fired after he challenged the company’s racist practices.
• Black workers were passed over for desirable, double-pay holiday shifts, which were given to white workers with less seniority.

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Here’s what the resume of tomorrow looks like

By Christian Schappel

Paper, once the only medium for a resume, is going the way of the dinosaur. What’s stepping up to take its place? A hint: It’s more than just LinkedIn and other career websites.

Piles of the latest studies on resume creation, distribution and HR consumption were analyzed by the business coaching and occupational psychology firm Davitt Corporate Partners, and what it found may surprise you.

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FMLA dilemma: Doctor says one thing but writes another

By Jared Bilski

HR pros often have to rely on physicians’ details to make difficult FMLA administration decisions. But what happens when a physician offers contradictory information?

That question was at the center of Kossowski v. City of Naples. In this case, Kossowski went to see a doctor after having “respiratory problems.” During the visit, Kossowski was diagnosed with bronchitis and prescribed a Z-Pak and some cough syrup.

Following the appointment, Kossowski called in sick and requested FMLA leave. At this point, the company followed standard procedure and asked Kossowski to fill out a certification about his serious health condition.

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