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.
