Financial Impact
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Employers Get More Time to Comply with 401(k) Fee-Disclosure Rule
The centerpiece of the regulations is a requirement that plan sponsors develop and distribute to participants a comparative chart with investment-related information, including fees and expenses.
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Wedbush Ordered to Pay $3.5 Million for Reprehensible Failure to Compensate Worker
Financial regulatory panel says the brokerage stiffed a municipal sales trader who was owed years worth of incentive compensation.
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Ford, again, adds $300 million to pension plan
Ford contributed the same amount in the first quarter of 2010 to its automotive division, and the company expects to contribute a total of $1.6 billion to its worldwide pension plans in 2011.
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Labor Department Stiffens Incentive Pay for Flex Workweek Employees
The new regulations, which amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, will likely lead employers using this method to eliminate all incentive rewards such as commissions, bonuses or prizes, a labor attorney notes.
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Agency Eyes Revamp of All California Employee Pension Programs
The Little Hoover commission recommended a cap of $80,000 to $90,000 in the amount of salary that can be used to calculate an employee’s pension benefit, a ban on retroactive benefit increases, and setting benefit eligibility ages that do not encourage early retirement.
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Auto Company's Pension Plans Funding Level Improves
At year-end 2010, the plans were underfunded by $11.5 billion, a sharp improvement from year-end 2009, when the plans had $16.2 billion in unfunded liabilities, GM disclosed Feb. 24 in reporting its fourth quarter and 2010 financial results.
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Va. State Workers Would Contribute 5% of Pay Under Proposal
State employees have not made contributions since 1983, when the state agreed to cover employee costs in lieu of an employee pay raise, according to a spokeswoman.
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Ultimate Software Group Inc. Optimas Award Winner for Financial Impact
For its ability to hire a galaxy of autonomous stars capable of swiftly helping to increase the company’s competitive advantage, Ultimate Software is the 2010 winner of the Optimas Award for Financial Impact.
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Lobbyist Warns About Potential Health Care Reform Pitfalls
Executive vice president for ACE Group Holdings Inc.
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Number of Uninsured Adults Climbs
Thirty million adults went without coverage for more than 12 months, up from 28 million in 2008.
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Survey Notes Few Firms Plan to Drop Coverage After Health Reform
Employers who terminate plans will face an annual $2,000 penalty for each employee working at least 30 hours a week. With annual health insurance costs averaging about $9,000 per employee, the savings would dwarf the penalties paid.
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Staffing Firm Volt Target of SEC Probe
Volt is presently in the process of restating financial statements because of errors that affected the timing of recognition of revenue.
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Push for High-Deductible, HSA Plans Gain During Benefit-Enrollment Season
Since HSAs were signed into law in 2003, small-business owners have been driving the increase. Yet experts say large employers comprise the fastest-growing market for these accounts.
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Illinois CFOs Mull Cutting Health Benefits, Survey Says
Employees in the state could be earning more than their national counterparts, according to a Grant Thornton survey. Thirty-four percent of Illinois survey participants said they would raise salaries compared with 21 percent nationally.
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North Carolina Workers' Comp Loss Costs to Increase 0.6 Percent
The state’s rate bureau had requested an average increase of 1.2 percent in loss costs.
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Wide Pay Gap Persists Among Doctors
A national study, conducted by researchers at the University of California at Davis, compared wages of more than 6,300 physicians practicing in 41 specialties in 60 communities in 2004 and 2005.
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Ford Revs Up Pension Plans with $100 Million Contribution
Later this week, Ford will use cash to pay off the remaining $3.6 billion of debt it owes to the $45 billion UAW Retiree Medical Benefit Trust.
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Lodging per Diem Rates Fall in Many Locales
In the past few years, per diem rates typically increased, but with the rates going down this year, it could catch some firms off guard.
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FedEx to Pay $2.3 Million Over Independent Contractors
The settlement follows a yearlong investigation by Montana that found FedEx Ground drivers are employees, not independent contractors, and that FedEx owed unemployment taxes, penalties and interest, according to the attorney general’s office.
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Aon to Cut at Least 1,500 Positions as Part of Hewitt Integration
While Aon Consulting and Hewitt in 2009 each generated just over $1 billion in consulting revenue, Hewitt’s $2 billion in outsourcing revenues were about 10 times that of Aon Consulting.
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IRS Delays W-2 Health Cost Reporting Requirement
Under the relief, health care cost information will have to be reported on the 2012 W-2s, which are issued in 2013.
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White House Defends Mini-Med Plan Waivers
Without such waivers, it would be difficult or impossible for the plans, which typically have low annual dollar limits, to meet a key health care reform requirement.
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McDonald's Mini-Med Plan puts Health Reform Under Microscope
The fast-food giant drew attention last week for a memo it sent the Department of Health and Human Services, warning that its so-called mini-med plan would not comply with a section of the new health reform law requiring 80 percent to 85 percent of premiums to be paid out in benefits.
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Report Workers Comp Premiums Drop for Fifth Straight Year
Economic conditions and a jobless recovery are contributing to sluggish premium growth, meaning an industry rebound will be slow.
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GM, Union Cut Historic Deal to Make Subcompact Car Profitably in U.S.
About 900 of the 1,200 to 1,500 laid-off workers at the Michigan plant will be able to return at full wages and benefits. The remaining laid-off workers will have the option of coming back with Tier 2 wages and full benefits or seeking a transfer to another GM plant.
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Premiums to Rise 7.3 Percent in Federal Employees Health Program
Like the private sector, the federal program also will expand coverage next year to meet mandates in the new health reform law.
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Aon Completes Acquisition of Hewitt
Chicago-based Aon will integrate Hewitt and its Aon Consulting unit and has changed its name to Aon Hewitt Inc. A decision has not yet been made on where Aon Hewitt will be based.
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McDonalds Health Coverage Draws Capitol Hill Attention
The senator asked for information on coverages, deductibles, premiums, copayments and other “out-of-pocket” costs that McDonald’s workers pay, and how much they have received in benefits over the past five years, with a deadline of Oct. 15.
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Senate Rejects Canceling Grandfathered Plan Rules
The vote could be a ‘harbinger of what may happen in the new Congress.’
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Early Retiree Reimbursement Program Exclusions Released
Under the Early Retiree Reimbursement Program established as part of the health reform law, the federal government will reimburse employers for claims incurred by retirees at least age 55 and not yet eligible for Medicare as well as their dependents, regardless of age.
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Hewitt Analysis Says Group Health Costs Projected to Rise 8.8 Percent in 2011
The study is based on information from 325 large employers, which mainly self-fund their health care programs.
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Kelly Strikes New Deal With Nissan
The staffing firm had already been acting as managed service provider for Nissan North America. The extension calls for Kelly to provide recruitment process outsourcing as well.
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Labor Department Guidance Clarifies Health Care Law
Reacting to the guidance, one expert said it means that ‘employers will be able to continue to impose their own requirements.’
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Bloomberg Freezes New York Hiring as Layoffs Become Likely
In a couple of years, one out of every eight dollars the city spends will go to providing health care benefits to retirees, says one leading administrator.
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Census Bureau Reports Number of Uninsured Tops 50 Million
The percentage of people covered through employer-sponsored plans fell to 55.8 percent in 2009 from 58.5 percent in 2008, also a record low.
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Staffing Firm Owner Accused of Forced Labor on Hawaii Farms
Workers had their passports confiscated and were allegedly threatened with arrest and being sent back to Thailand if they did not comply, according to the indictment. In Thailand, the workers would have faced recruitment debts they could not pay off.
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IRS Says Flexible Spending Accounts Cant Reimburse OTC Drugs Without Prescription
The rules issued September 3 involve a section of the health care reform law that sharply restricts FSA reimbursements for over-the-counter medications such as nonprescription pain relievers, cold medicines, antacids and allergy medications.
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HHS Lists Approvals for Early Retiree Reimbursements
Approved applicants can begin submitting claims later this month for health care bills incurred on June 1 or later. The government will begin issuing reimbursement checks in October.
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Survey Notes More Health Care Costs Will Shift to Employees
The survey also details how expensive COBRA health care continuation coverage has become. For example, this year the median monthly COBRA premium charged for single coverage in a preferred provider organization plan was $449, while the median monthly premium for family coverage was $1,310.
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Court OKs Bias Suit by Worker Who Was Demoted, Replaced
The plaintiff filed suit in May 2008 alleging that the school district she worked for violated the Age Discrimination in Employment Act.
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IT Services Firm to Pay $1 Million for Visa Violations
According to the Department of Labor, a Wage and Hour Division investigator found that some workers were not paid wages at the beginning of their employment, were paid on a part-time basis despite being hired under a full-time employment agreement, or were paid less than the prevailing wage for the...
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Ohio Court Finds Harassment Allegations Do Not Bar Comp Benefits
The claimant had been under investigation concerning ‘numerous’ sexual harassment allegations for acts allegedly occurring between 2004 and 2008, the records state.
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Illinois Program for High-Risk Uninsured Launches
State officials expect the program to cover 5,000 uninsured residents under a preferred provider organization plan with a $2,000 deductible.
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Analysis COBRA Premium Subsidy Doubled Enrollment
From March 1, 2009, when the subsidy first generally became available, through May 31, when the program ended for employees laid off after that date, monthly enrollment rates for laid-off employees averaged 38 percent.
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Employers Expect 9 Percent Rise in Health Plan Costs
The National Business Group on Health survey of 72 member employers found that 70 percent will have to amend their plans to eliminate lifetime limits, 26 percent will have to remove annual dollar limits and 13 percent will have to remove pre-existing condition exclusions for children under age 19...
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Unions Win Round in 2003 California Grocery Strike
The grocers had formed a multiemployer bargaining unit to negotiate an expiring labor contract that sought to reduce health care coverage expenses, court records show. They also responded to the strikes by agreeing to share profits from sales among themselves.
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Chambers of Commerce Unite to Urge Congress to Repeal Health Care Laws 1099 Provision
Currently there are bills before Congress to repeal the 1099 provision, but such bills should not seek to make the repeal revenue-neutral by increasing taxes or removing tax incentives from business, according to a letter from the coalition.
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Fees Increase for H-1B, L Visas
The increase applies to companies with 50 or more employees in the U.S. and that have more than 50 percent of their U.S. workforce on H-1B or L visas.
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Court Says Filming Injured Worker at Prayer Did Not Violate Privacy
The claimant described a portion of the Islamic center as a mosque and sued for intrusion of seclusion.
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Illinois Bars Job Discrimination Based on Credit History
Businesses that are exempt from the law include insurers, banks and law enforcement agencies.
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Wages for New York Women Outpace National Average
But the Empire State’s working women show little progress in closing the wage gap, taking home only 84 percent each week of what local men earn, new labor statistics show.
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Potential Pandemic Still Could Cost Nearly $300 Billion
A report by the Society of Actuaries stresses the need for disaster planning and pandemic preparedness, particularly on the part of health insurers.
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CalPERS Reviews Benefits of Employees Making More Than $400,000
Last week, agency officials expressed surprise at a 47 percent raise given to Bell, California, City Administrator Robert Rizzo and other top city officials in 2005, but press reports indicated that CalPERS officials knew of the increases after an audit in 2006.
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30 Percent Workers Comp Rate Increase Proposed for California
Rising medical costs and the state Department of Insurance’s past rejections of increases prompt the call for higher policy rates starting January 1, a spokesman says.
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Ford Puts $400 Million Into Worldwide Pension Plans in Second Quarter
A spokesman says the automaker isn’t breaking out the amount contributed to U.S. plans. For 2010, Ford expects to contribute $1.5 billion to its worldwide plans.
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Retirement Plan Value Down Over 10 Years, Study Shows
Among the industries analyzed, retail and wholesale contributions were down 33 percent for the 10-year period; manufacturing, down 29 percent; and energy, natural resources, gas and electric, down 24 percent.
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Obama Nominates Gotbaum Again as PBGC Director
By renominating him, the president makes it clear he wants Joshua Gotbaum to run the PBGC through the end of his term.
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Survey Shows Injured Workers Pharmacy Costs Up 6.5 Percent in 2009
The increase was driven by a 4.7 percent rise in prescription prices and a 1.7 percent uptick in utilization, according to Tampa, Florida-based PMSI.
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Toyota Dealer Picketing Begins, UAW Leader Says
When union president Bob King revealed plans last month to picket Toyota dealerships, Cody Lusk, president of the American International Automobile Dealers Association, said ‘attacking small businesses’ is detrimental to helping the UAW increase its membership.
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Google to Reimburse Tax on Domestic Partner Benefits
To equalize benefits available to same-sex partners of employees, the technology firm also is eliminating a one-year waiting period to qualify for infertility benefits and including domestic partners in its family leave policy.
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ADP Announces Deal to Acquire Workscape
Marlborough, Massachusetts-based Workscape serves more than 3.5 million users in more than 180 companies, according to ADP.
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Unions No Chicago-Like Wal-Mart Deal for New York
The nation’s top retailer is said to have agreed to near-prevailing-wage minimums for a new Chicago store, but labor leaders in Gotham scoff. ‘This is New York; this is not Chicago,’ a union official says.
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Obama Signs Pension Funding Relief Bill
The measure would give employers temporary alternatives to the basic requirement—embedded in a 2006 law—that requires employers to amortize pension funding shortfalls over seven years.
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Revised Tax Bill Does Not Include COBRA Subsidy Extension
While Senate Democratic leaders had discussed reducing the extension to November 30, a tax bill that Sen. Max Baucus unveiled last week omitted the subsidy, while a subsidy extension also is not in the latest version.
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Statutory Remedy Prevails in Sexual Harassment Case
A jury found in a former Waffle House waitress’s favor on both a statutory sexual harassment claim under the Texas Commission on Human Rights Act as well as common-law negligent supervision and retention claims.
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Study Wall Street Compensation Took a Nose Dive in 2009
Real average annual wages in the city’s securities industry dropped 21.5 percent to $311,279 last year from 2008.
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Walgreen Cuts Ties With CVS Caremarks Pharmacy Benefit Manager
The pharmacy giant, which has more than 7,500 stores, said it concluded that the partnership wasn’t in the best interest of its customers, pharmacists and shareholders.
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Knowing Auto Features in DC Plans Doesnt Mean Theyre Used
Of those using automatic enrollment, 58 percent enrolled only new hires when first adopted, and 35 percent automatically enrolled all nonparticipating employees upon adoption.
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Obama Administration Dont Review San Francisco Health Care Law
The law, challenged by a restaurant trade association, has attracted national attention from employer groups that said if the law is allowed to stand, it would lead other cities and states to pass health care spending measures and result in multistate employers having to comply with a hodgepodge of...
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7.7 Percent Workers Comp Rate Hike Proposed for New York
The state Insurance Department says it will hold a public hearing June 23 to consider the increase.
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House OKs Increase in Manager Tax, Defined-Benefit Funding Relief
The funding relief provision would allow DB plans to stretch out amortization periods for investment losses for two of the years between 2008 and 2011 over a period of either 15 years or nine years, at the option of the plan sponsor.
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Tribune Co. Proposes Another Round of Executive Bonus Payouts
The requests for bonus payments follow a payout of $42 million in February to top managers under bonus programs for work performed last year.
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Most Firms to Seek Early Retiree Care Subsidy
Under the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program, the government will reimburse employers for a portion of health care claims incurred by retirees who are at least age 55 but not eligible for Medicare, as well as claims incurred for retirees’ covered dependents regardless of age.
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HSA Contribution Limit Stays Same for 2011
As of January 1, about 10 million people were enrolled in high-deductible health insurance plans to which HSAs must be linked, a 25 percent increase over the last year.
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Report Most Children on Medicaid Miss Screenings
A federal agency is recommending that states do more to encourage greater participation by eligible children and health care providers in a variety of medical, vision and hearing screening services covered under Medicaid.
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Most Employers Waiting to Cover Adult Children, Survey Finds
The majority of employers do not plan to extend group health care coverage to employees' adult children until 2011, when required to do so by the new health care law, a new survey shows.
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Health Savings Account Enrollment Surges 25 Percent, Study Finds
Enrollment in health savings accounts linked to high-deductible health insurance plans is increasing among employers of all size, new research shows, driven by the lower premiums for high-deductible health care plans.
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U.S. May Turn to Community Policing for Pay Violations
Following an appearance before the House Education and Labor Committee earlier this year, Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis endorsed the notion of enlisting outside groups to blow the whistle on companies that fail to pay employees what they’re owed or to provide a safe work environment.
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Labor Department Takes First Step in Regulation of Target-Date Funds
Investment styles and strategies of target-date funds can be very different.
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Workers Comp Insurers in Precarious Position
The pace of economic recovery and unknown factors related to health care reform and financial regulation are among uncertainties facing the U.S. industry.
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Search Firm Heidricks Revenue Rises 28 Percent
The number of executive search confirmations rose 26.9 percent in the first quarter compared with the first quarter of 2009.
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Tax-Free Insurance Coverage of Children Bumped Up to Age 27
Many major health insurers already have said they will expand coverage to adult children ahead of the mandate unless employers object. The group includes Aetna Inc., Cigna Corp., Humana Inc., Kaiser Permanente, UnitedHealth Group Inc. and WellPoint Inc.
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Many Plans Fail Health Reform Affordability Test
The likelihood of employers offering unaffordable coverage is inversely related to employer size, with smaller employers having a higher percentage of workers paying more than 9.5 percent of household income.
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Obama Backs Pension Funding Relief With Conditions
Administration wants to ensure that the cash saved by companies through funding relief is put into job creation and preservation—and that cash not needed for those purposes is put into the pension funds before being distributed to shareholders or plowed into pay raises for company executives.
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Jobs Picture Is Suddenly Sunnier in New York as Unemployment Sinks
The securities industry was just about the only sector that exhibited weakness in March, shedding 700 jobs. The losses in securities may be indicative of continued consolidation of some of the big firms, or they could just be severance packages expiring.
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Early Retiree Health Care Claim Forms Ready in June
In its fact sheet, The Department of Health and Human Services says medical, surgical, hospital and prescription costs are eligible for tax-free reimbursement.
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Workers Need More Retirement Advice, Survey Finds
Cooperation between the advice provider and benefits managers would give employers reassurance that the guidance that workers receive is relevant and that the message that’s being delivered is clear.
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Study Taxpayers Owe Teacher Pensions $933 Billion
The stock market would have to nearly double overnight to make up for the present underfunding of the 59 plans, says a new report by the Manhattan Institute.
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IRS Releases Form for Employer Tax Credit
Employers may qualify for an exemption from the 6.2 percent employer’s share of Social Security tax on wages paid to newly hired employees who had been unemployed for at least 60 days or who had worked no more than 40 hours for during that period.
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Chicago-Area Hospital Makes Good on Pledge to Repay Workers for Frozen Wages
Restoring pay lost to a salary freeze or reduction is rare, compensation experts say. Just 4 percent of employers that cut pay during the recession, and 2 percent of those that imposed salary freezes, said they would provide lump-sum payments to make their workers whole.
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CEO Confidence Slips in First Quarter
Survey finds that 52 percent of CEOs expect economic conditions to improve in the next six months, down from 58 percent when questioned in the fourth quarter.
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GM, Chrysler Might Have to Contribute Nearly $15 Billion
‘Automaker downsizing and the credit market crisis have created significant stress for [auto] suppliers and their pensions,’ including in 2009 ‘a rise in the number of supplier bankruptcies, liquidations and pension plan terminations,’ the report states.
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Boeing Will Take $150 Million Charge Due to Health Reform
Boeing’s announcement came on the heels of several other charges announced by other U.S.-based companies.
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Companies Begin Work to Make Plans Comply With Landmark Health Care Reform Law
While legislators’ work is done, employers’ is just beginning.
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Benefits Managers Eye Impact of Reforms
Some benefits experts also are hopeful that provisions aimed at transforming the health care delivery system and emphasizing wellness and prevention could pay dividends for employers.
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AT&T Cites Health Care Reform for $1 Billion Charge
While the tax-free subsidies will continue, employers receiving them will no longer be allowed to take a tax deduction for prescription drug expenses equal to the amount of the subsidy.
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Senate Fails to Extend COBRA Subsidy Before Break
Without the extension, employees who are involuntarily terminated after March 31 will not be eligible for the 65 percent, 15-month premium subsidy.
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Ford VEBA Contribution Approved
Ford sought the exemption to allow the United Auto Workers’ VEBA fund to hold Ford securities in excess of the amount permitted from an employer under ERISA.
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Health Care Costs Climb for Retiring Couples
Significant drivers of increases in retiree health care costs include higher provider charges and increased expenses associated with new technology, Fidelity Investments reports.
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Obama Signs Health Care Reform Measure
The legislation will massively revamp the nation’s health care delivery and financing system.
