AFSCME Information Highway

Source: U.S. Office of Personnel Management

From news release:
Office of Personnel Management (OPM)...announced the launch of an enhanced interagency telework website, www.telework.gov. The updated site features a series of user-friendly improvements designed to make telework information more accessible and understandable to Federal employees...and was developed in partnership with the General Services Administration (GSA), OPM's telework.gov partner. Users can read and download recent telework guidance and legislation, reports, and studies. A search database allows users to input telework-related questions, and if answers are not found onsite the questions can be routed to experts who will respond via email. The site offers telework guidance and direction to employees and managers, as well as telework coordinators...Additional features of the updated site include quick links to key pages, online telework training, and easy access to telework-related policies such as reasonable accommodation and emergency closure. Finally, the site displays a green color scheme throughout, chosen to reflect the environmentally friendly aspects of telework. Telework in the Federal Government has increased significantly since 2001, 110,000 employees currently telework according to OPM's latest report to Congress. The report also found that while overall telework numbers were down slightly from 2005, a majority of agencies increased telework over the previous year, and that 42% fully integrated telework into their emergency planning.

Posted by William at 8:26 AM in Benefits | Permalink

Source: State Health Access Data Assistance Center, University of Minnesota, April 2008

From the summary:
This article reveals how the cost of family health insurance nationwide is increasing dramatically for employees without anywhere near an equivalent increase in family income. If this trend continues, more workers are likely to become uninsured because of the expense.

Key Findings:

• The amount workers pay for family coverage nationwide has increased by 30 percent from $8,281 in 2001 to $10,728 in 2005.
• Employee income has increased by only 3 percent in the same time period.
• The average cost employers pay for their share of family coverage has increased by 28 percent from $6,360 to $8,143.

Seventy-six percent of insured individuals in the United States receive health insurance from their own or a family member's employer. It follows that the more employees and employers have to pay for that insurance, the more likely workers are to join the ranks of the uninsured. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, M.D., M.B.A, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation stated in a press release, "This study makes plain what every working parent knows--that providing insurance coverage takes a bigger bite from the family budget every year."

Posted by Info Center at 3:42 PM in Benefits | Compensation | Health Care | Permalink

Source: U.S. Governmental Accountability Office

The number of individuals participating in HSA-eligible health plans and HSAs increased significantly between 2004 and 2007; however, in all years, many HSA-eligible plan enrollees did not open an HSA. The number of individuals covered by HSA-eligible plans increased significantly between September 2004 and January 2007--from about 438,000 to approximately 4.5 million, according to industry estimates. Despite the growth, these plans represented a small share of individuals with private health coverage--about 2 percent in 2006. The number of tax filers reporting HSA activity also increased, nearly tripling between 2004 and 2005, from about 120,000 to about 355,000. Industry estimates suggest continued growth in HSA participation in 2006 and 2007. Despite the growth in HSA participation, nationally representative survey estimates from 2005, 2006, and 2007 found that more than 40 percent of HSA-eligible health plan enrollees did not open an HSA.

Tax filers who reported HSA activity in 2005 had higher incomes on average than other tax filers. Among tax filers between the ages of 19 and 64, the average AGI for filers reporting HSA activity was about $139,000 compared with about $57,000 for all other filers. The income differences existed across all age groups.

Full report

Posted by William at 10:11 AM in Benefits | Health Care | Permalink

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

Eighty-nine percent of workers in state and local government had access to employer-sponsored retirement benefits in September 2007. Almost three times as many workers had access to defined benefit plans (83 percent) than to defined contribution plans (29 percent). Nearly all workers (96 percent) who had access to a defined benefit retirement plan chose to participate in it, whereas only 63 percent of workers with access to defined contribution plans chose to enroll in them. (See table 1.)

Eighty-seven percent of workers had access to medical care plans, greater than access to dental care (55 percent) and vision care (38 percent). Over four of five workers with access to a plan participated in the medical, dental, or vision plan offered by their employer. This summary presents information on the incidence and key provisions of these and other employee benefit plans by a variety of worker and establishment characteristics. (See table 5.)

The summary is the first release of data on benefits in state and local government since 1998. The National Compensation Survey (NCS) has been undergoing significant restructuring and changes in its approach to collecting, tabulating, and presenting its data. The NCS will begin publishing benefits data on the civilian economy every year, with separate estimates available for private industry and state and local government and for a variety of employer, employee, and geographic characteristics. Data for March 2008 will be available later this year.

Full report

Posted by William at 10:20 AM in Benefits | Permalink

Source: Josh Goodman, Governing, April 2008

Woody Allen once described death as "a very effective way of cutting down on your expenses." In the past decade, states all over the country have gone to great lengths to prove that the comedian was not only morbid but wrong. They have embraced the idea that keeping people healthy is both humane and fiscally smart; if the public is healthier, public spending will decrease. And they seem to agree that the way to keep people healthy is to prevent them from getting sick in the first place. They are investing in healthy-diet promotion and anti-smoking campaigns even as they cope with symptoms of diabetes and other chronic illnesses. "We're trying to drive people to understand that health status is the goal," says Marcia Nielsen, of the Kansas Health Policy Authority. "You don't want more medical care and you don't want more medical insurance, unless they're a means to an end."

To some hardheaded scholars and calculating critics, the problem is that, discouraging as it might seem, Woody Allen had a point. A large body of research suggests that preventive care may help people live longer, healthier lives (no small achievement) but doesn't actually save money. As a result, governments may be forced to come to grips with the notion that, when it comes to health policy, the right thing to do and the thrifty thing to do are very different.

Full article

Posted by William at 9:55 AM in Benefits | Health Care | Permalink

Source: Harvey M. Katz, Labor Law Journal, Spring 2008

Who will pay the cost of government employer retiree health benefits? The short answer to that question is that the union worker will pay the cost in the form o decreased benefits, higher contributions, and/or fewer union jobs--unless they act now. This unequivocal statement may seem a bit extreme, however, thirty years of experience as a benefits attorney tells me that it is true. As explained below, my reasons for making such an extreme statement are sound and the cost of ignoring the impending crisis will be enormous.

Posted by William at 10:15 AM in Benefits | Retirement | Permalink

Source: Kaiser Family Foundation

Health insurance premiums have increased rapidly over the recent past, growing a cumulative 78 percent between 2001 and 2007 and far outpacing cumulative wage growth of 19 percent over the same period.1 These figures, which have been widely cited to demonstrate the growing burden of health insurance costs on employers and employees, illustrate overall trends in health benefit costs, but they do not show how this growing burden is affecting employers and employees in different settings. To address this issue, this analysis shows employer costs for payroll and health benefits over a six-year period for workers in different occupations and at different establishment sizes.

Our analysis focuses on employer costs for health insurance for workers with access to health benefits. Employer costs for health insurance increased significantly as a percentage of payroll between 1999 and 2005, and varied meaningfully across the workforce when viewed as cost per hour worked or as a percentage of payroll. Employer costs per hour for health insurance were higher for workers in higher wage occupations than for workers in lower wage occupations, but overall employer costs represented a lower percentage of payrolls for workers in high wage occupations than for workers in low wage occupations.

Posted by William at 10:44 AM in Benefits | Permalink

Source: MetLife

The 6th annual MetLife Study of Employee Benefits Trends examines the attitudes of an increasingly diverse workforce toward financial and benefits-related issues. The Study also captures the benefits practices and perspectives of both small and large companies across a wide array of industries. Over a one-month period, MetLife surveyed 1,380 full-time employees and 1,652 benefits decision-makers nationwide about employee benefits and marketplace trends.

This year's results suggest that U.S. workers are increasingly concerned about their financial prospects. The good news is that they are poised to take a more proactive role in planning for their financial future, and are turning to their employers for help.

This represents a prime opportunity for employers to strengthen employee loyalty and achieve greater employee retention. The Study's findings suggest several possible courses of action available to employers, which are captured in the conclusion to each section as well as through a new feature toward the end of the Study entitled "What Employers Can Do Today."

Full report (PDF; 1.3 MB)

Posted by William at 10:29 AM in Benefits | Permalink

Source: PENNumbra

You won't hear many health experts claim that the American healthcare system is functioning perfectly in terms of core considerations such as cost, access, and quality. The question that arises with the advent of any new policy approach seeking to improve the system is obvious: Does the change represent a step forward or backward? Professors Kristin Madison, of Penn, and Peter Jacobson, of the University of Michigan, take up this question in regard to the latest innovation in health care policy--consumer-directed healthcare (CDHC).

Professor Madison argues that while CDHC is not a panacea, "[e]ven if its shortcomings prevent its full diffusion through the American health care system, CDHC will still . . . help[] to establish a foundation for future reforms in health care finance and delivery, [and] has the potential to improve the health care system in the long run." Professor Jacobson's response? "CDHC is a direct attack on the idea that health care differs from other market commodities because of its moral aspirations . . . . For those who believe that equity should be a fundamental attribute of health care delivery, CDHC represents a huge step backwards." Nonetheless, Professor Madison is convinced that CDHC will be a lightning rod that stirs the American health care system out of its complacency and "forces us to confront the tradeoffs inherent in any health care system in a resource-constrained world." Professor Jacobson is not content to wait and see how the American public reacts to CDHC: "If the policy focus is on CDHC, equity will be subordinated. If universal coverage dominates, CDHC proponents are probably right that cost and quality issues will be subordinate. For me, it's an easy choice--helping those without insurance to have a minimal acceptable level of care."

Full Debate (PDF; 118 KB)

Posted by Info Center at 8:37 AM in Benefits | Health Care | Permalink

Source: John MacDonald, Employee Benefit Research Institute, FFE #73, Feb. 21, 2008

WASHINGTON--In 2006, Americans received a gross total of $2.33 trillion for major employee benefit programs, up almost 50 percent from 2000. Where did the money come from and where did it go?

Posted by Info Center at 5:27 PM in Benefits | Permalink

Source: Lisa Clemans-Cope, Bowen Garrett, Urban Institute, February 26, 2008

From the abstract:
This issue brief focuses on how employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) coverage has changed among employees. It begins with a brief description of major forces driving ESI: changes in the workforce and the rising costs of health insurance over the four year period. Next, it examines the decline in ESI among employees and the underlying reasons determining whether an employee has ESI, specifically: employer sponsorship of ESI, employee eligibility, employee participation, and employee participation in ESI available through another family member's job. The issue brief concludes by examining how the reasons for the decline in ESI varied across different groups of employees.

Posted by Info Center at 1:06 PM in Benefits | Health Care | Permalink

Source: U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

From the press release:
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)...announced the publication of a final rule allowing employers that provide retiree health benefits to continue the longstanding practice of coordinating those benefits with Medicare (or comparable state health benefits) without violating the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). The regulation, which safeguards retiree health benefits, was published in the December 26, 2007 Federal Register.

Final Rule: Age Discrimination in Employment Act; Retiree Health Benefits, Federal Register Notice, December 26, 2007

Questions & Answers about the EEOC's Retiree Health Rule

Posted by Info Center at 12:27 PM in Benefits | Retirement | Permalink

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

According to a new report, higher wage workers are considerably more likely to have access to employer-provided medical plans and to participate in such plans when they are offered to them. Higher wage workers also pay a smaller portion of their health insurance premiums than do lower wage workers.

Posted by Info Center at 11:30 AM in Benefits | Permalink

Source: Government Accountability Office

Over the last 25 years, pension coverage has shifted primarily from "traditional" defined benefit (DB) plans, in which workers accrue benefits based on years of service and earnings, toward defined contribution (DC) plans, in which participants accumulate retirement balances in individual accounts. DC plans provide greater portability of benefits, but shift the responsibility of saving for retirement from employers to employees. This report addresses the following issues: (1) What percentage of workers participate in DC plans, and how much have they saved in them? (2) How much are workers likely to have saved in DC plans over their careers and to what degree do key individual decisions and plan features affect plan saving? (3) What options have been recently proposed to increase DC plan coverage, participation, and savings? GAO analyzed data from the Federal Reserve Board's 2004 Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF), the latest available, utilized a computer simulation model to project DC plan balances at retirement, reviewed academic studies, and interviewed experts.

Full report

Posted by Info Center at 10:49 AM in Benefits | Retirement | Permalink

Source: BNA

Employers are expressing gratitude in the form of more holiday parties and paid leave, while participation in charitable activities has dropped substantially from 2006 and 2005. Gift items are becoming rare, as cash and bonuses have replaced the traditional holiday turkey.

For more than two decades, BNA's Year-End Holiday Practices Survey has offered an annual snapshot of companies' plans for marking the year's end and recognizing employees' contributions with benefits like paid time off, special holiday work schedules, holiday parties and celebrations, employee gifts and bonuses, and holiday charity. This year's results are based on the responses of human resources executives representing 210 U.S. employers.

Survey highlights include:
* Companywide holiday parties are enjoying unprecedented popularity and employer spending appears to be rising. Two-thirds of employers will sponsor a holiday party, tying the record set last year. Most employers will pay the full cost of these parties without contributions from workers.
* Fewer employers will be participating in charitable activities. Fifty-eight percent of all employers plan to be involved in community activities, such as toy, food or clothing drives. This continues a trend that saw a drop from 72 percent in 2004 and 2005 to 66 percent in 2006.

Posted by Info Center at 2:35 PM in Benefits | Permalink

Source: National Federation of Independent Business

From press release:
The primary reason for the decline in the number of small businesses providing health insurance appears to be that owners of new firms are reluctant to introduce health benefits, according to a National Federation of Independent Business Small-Business Poll released today. The poll on purchasing health insurance found that 52 percent of small-business owners do not offer either employee health insurance or an insurance purchase subsidy.

Excluding those who switch insurers or go out of business, very few small employers drop health insurance benefits all together, about 1 - 2 percent of the population annually.

For the 47 percent of small employers who do offer some type of employee health benefit, 36 percent offer insurance to all or most full-time employees, 5 percent offer insurance to some or a few full-time employees, and 6 percent offer premium reimbursement to employees who purchase health insurance on their own.

Purchasing Health Insurance - NFIB National Small-Business Poll (PDF; 452 KB)

Posted by Info Center at 10:46 AM in Benefits | Permalink

Source: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

In recent years, premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance have risen dramatically. However, premium costs are only one of several factors that determine costs of health care for enrollees. Other factors, such as whether an enrollee has a co-pay and the size of co-pays and coinsurance percentages, also contribute to differences in cost of care.

This Statistical Brief examines what percentage of enrollees had a co-pay and the amount of such co-pays and coinsurance percentages. Using private sector estimates from the Insurance Component of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, data for 2002 are compared to those for 2005. Estimates for small firms (fewer than 50 employees) and large firms (50 or more employees) are analyzed.

+ Full Document (PDF; 90 KB)

Posted by Info Center at 10:11 AM in Benefits | Permalink

Source: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

In recent years, premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance have risen dramatically. However, premium costs are only one of several factors that determine costs of health care for enrollees. Other factors, such as whether an enrollee has a deductible and its amount, also contribute to differences in cost of care.

This Statistical Brief examines what percentage of enrollees had a deductible and the amount of such deductibles. Using private sector estimates from the Insurance Component of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, data for 2002 are compared to those for 2005. Estimates for small firms (fewer than 50 employees) and large firms (50 or more employees) are analyzed.

+ Full Document (PDF; 196 KB)

Posted by Info Center at 10:06 AM in Benefits | Permalink

Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration

The U.S. Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) today announced a new interactive Web tool to serve as a resource for employers in complying with federal employee benefit laws. The ERISA Fiduciary Advisor is designed to help employers and others who provide services to private sector retirement plans understand their responsibilities. The advisor provides an overview of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), including the most common mistakes EBSA finds in its investigations, and provides links to additional information as well as tools to assist plan officials. Strong fiduciary oversight and compliance assistance are both high priorities for EBSA.

Posted by Info Center at 9:04 AM in Benefits | Retirement | Permalink

Source: Multistate Working Families Consortium

"Family Values at Work" documents the consequences on workers, families, businesses and the nation when family values end at the workplace door. The document details the wrenching stories of workers suffering from the lack of family-friendly work rules, summarizes key research, and lays out a policy agenda modest compared to that of other advanced nations yet urgently needed by U.S. workers and their families. These policies include a minimum number of paid sick days for routine illnesses as well as a family leave insurance fund to provide income during longer-term leaves for a new baby or serious health condition.

The report is being released by the MultiState Working Families Consortium, a network of state coalitions working for policies that value families. Joining them are ten national organizations, including 9to5, National Association of Working Women, ACORN, the AFL-CIO, Moms Rising, and Service Employees International Union. Together these groups and others are building a movement to win changes at the local, state and national level. Funding for the report was provided by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

Posted by Info Center at 9:01 AM in Benefits | Family & Work | Permalink

Source: Congressional Research Service

To attract and maintain a skilled workforce, many businesses provide health insurance and other benefits for their employees. As the cost of health insurance rises, employers face a growing challenge paying for benefits while managing labor costs to succeed in a competitive market. All types of businesses report problems, including both small businesses and firms with thousands of employees and retirees. Despite concerns about the cost of benefits, small and large employers together provide health coverage for most Americans, about 60% of the population in 2006.1 But as the amount that employers pay for health insurance has been increasing -- both absolutely and as a share of labor costs -- the percent of the population covered has been decreasing.

To describe employer contributions for health insurance, this report presents data from two employer surveys. The first, conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust, provides information on premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance. The second, from the Department of Labor, provides information on employer costs for employee compensation, including costs for wages and salaries, health insurance, and other benefits.

Posted by Info Center at 2:33 PM in Benefits | Health Care | Permalink

Source: Mercer

Total U.S. health benefit cost rose by 6.1 percent in 2007, the same pace as last year, to an average of US$7,983 per employee, according to the National Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Plans, conducted annually by Mercer and released today.

The good news is that cost increases have held steady for three years (after spiking to nearly 15 percent in 2002) and are likely to slow a bit further in 2008. The bad news is that's still more than twice the rate of inflation. Health cost growth is outpacing wages and material costs and eroding business profitability.

There are consequences for working Americans as well: In the absence of a mandate to provide coverage, some small employers are simply dropping their plans, adding their employees to the growing rolls of the uninsured. Among employers with fewer than 200 employees, health coverage prevalence fell from 63 percent to 61 percent in 2007 - and that's down from 66 percent five years ago. This drop-off is continuing despite the new availability of relatively low-cost consumer-directed health plans (CDHPs), which may be a concern for state and federal policymakers currently debating the future of US health insurance.

Survey highlights include extensive data, graphs, charts. Full report available for purchase.

Posted by Info Center at 3:00 PM in Benefits | Permalink

Source: Employee Benefits Research Institute

What value do workers place on employment-based health benefits? Would workers be willing to exchange their health benefits for an additional $7,500 in taxable income? Among employers that provide health benefits, that was about the average per-employee cost of health benefits for active workers and their dependents in 2006 (and it's not counted as taxable income to employees).

The 2007 Health Confidence Survey, released recently by the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), asked several questions that sought to determine the value workers place on employer-based health benefits. Here are some of the findings:

• Perhaps because of the increased costs that many are experiencing, most Americans with employment-based health benefits value them above the actual dollar amount that employers pay toward the coverage.

• When employed Americans with health coverage were asked whether they would prefer $7,500 in employment-based health insurance coverage or an additional $7,500 in taxable income, three-quarters (76 percent) chose the employer-provided health coverage. Of those, about one-quarter each said their employer would have to give them an additional $10,000¬$14,999 (22 percent) or $15,000 or more (25 percent) in taxable income for them to willingly give up their coverage.

• Fifteen percent stated no amount of taxable income would be enough. Six percent said they would accept less than $10,000, while 3 in 10 (31 percent) were unsure of the amount. These results are consistent with the results of similar questions asked in previous years.

• Most of those with employment-based coverage would prefer to continue receiving their current level of health benefits from their employer even if some of the premium were taxed (62 percent). About one-quarter (27 percent) would choose to reduce the level of health benefits they receive from their employer so that they paid no taxes on the premium. About 1 in 10 (9 percent) were not sure which they would prefer.

Most Americans with employment-based health benefits are confident that their employer or union will continue to offer health insurance for its workers. Almost 3 in 10 (28 percent) in the survey were extremely confident that this will continue to be the case. This represents a decrease from the 35 percent extremely confident in 2004, but is statistically equivalent to the levels measured in 2000 and 2002. About 3 in 10 each in the 2007 survey were very (30 percent) or somewhat (28 percent) confident.

Posted by Info Center at 12:32 PM in Benefits | Health Care | Permalink

Source: Employee Benefit Research Institute

How do Americans feel about requiring employers to provide and contribute to health insurance coverage for their workers? Would Americans be willing to pay more in federal income taxes to make sure everyone has health insurance? The 2007 Health Confidence Survey, released recently by the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), asked some basic questions to gauge reactions to some of the health care policy changes that are currently being considered at the national level. Several of these questions concerned means by which health care coverage could be expanded to include all Americans. Others concerned the tax treatment of health care benefits.

Posted by Info Center at 2:45 PM in Benefits | Permalink

Source: Veterans' Disability Benefits Commission, October 2007

From the press release:
The Commission's report provides 113 recommendations that would help to ensure that the benefit fairly compensates the service-disabled veterans and their families, as well as help them live with dignity as they rehabilitate and reintegrate into civilian life.

Posted by Info Center at 5:46 PM in Americans With Disabilities Act | Benefits | Veterans | Permalink

Source: College and University Professional Association for Human Resources, Employee Health Care Benefits, Fact Sheet, 2007

• 58% of responding institutions offer health care benefits to non-Medicare eligible retirees and 52% do so for retirees that are eligible for Medicare.
• 40% of responding institutions offer health care benefits for same sex domestic partners; 31% for opposite sex partners and 44% for children of domestic partners.
• 75% of responding institutions have an Employee Assistance Program.
Only 11% of responding institutions offer a Consumer Driven Health Plan.
• 36% of responding institutions have a Wellness Program.
• Up to 40% of the responding institutions pay the entire premium for "Employee Only" health care coverage; the percentage varies by plan type.
• The median monthly total premium for "Employee Only" health care coverage at responding institutions ranged from $350 to $422. Both the amount and the distribution of cost between employee and institution vary by plan type.
See also:
• Complete survey results (subscription required)

Posted by Info Center at 6:00 PM in Benefits | Higher Education | Permalink

Source: Fire Chief, October 15, 2007

Department of Justice officials who administer the Public Safety Officers' Benefits program said the department is overhauling the way it determines eligibility for heart attacks and strokes. Domingo Herraiz, director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance, spoke at a gathering of fire service organizations and promised to make significant changes in the way his agency evaluates PSOB claims under the Hometown Heroes Act.

Posted by Info Center at 4:28 PM in Benefits | Permalink

Source: Anna Kates Smith, Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine, September 2007

A new regulation forces government retirement plans to reveal the cost of their health-benefit promises for the first time.

...State and local governments aren't required to set aside money to meet future promises other than for retiree pensions. Most pay what they owe each year out of their current budget. But starting this year, government retirement plans must at least account for their long-term health care and other benefits liabilities (known as OPEB, or other post-employment benefits) and publish the calculations.

Posted by Info Center at 5:58 PM in Benefits | Health Care | Retirement | Permalink

Source: Rebecca Ray and John Schmitt, Center for Economic and Policy Research, May 2007

Average annual working hours are substantially shorter in European countries and elsewhere in the world's advanced economies than they are in the United States. One important reason for the difference is that workers in the United States are less likely to receive paid annual leave and paid public holidays, and those U.S. workers that do receive paid time off generally receive far less than their counterparts in comparable world economies.

This report reviews the most recently available data from a range of national and international sources on statutory requirements for paid leave and paid public holidays in 21 rich countries (16 European countries, Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, and the United States). In addition to our finding that the United States is the only country in the group that does not require employers to provide paid leave, we also note that almost every other rich country has also established legal rights to paid public holidays over and above paid leave.

Related story:
What Vacation Days?
Source: David Moberg, In These Times, June 20, 2007

Posted by Info Center at 11:37 AM in Benefits | Permalink

Source: John Schmitt, Margy Waller, Shawn Fremstad, and Ben Zipperer, Center for Economic and Policy Research, August 2007

From press release:
Unionization substantially raises wages and benefits even in typically low-wage occupations, according to "Unions and Upward Mobility for Low- Wage Workers", a report released today by the Center for Economic and Policy Research and Inclusion.

The report, which analyzed 15 of the lowest-paying occupations in the United States, found that unionized workers earned about 16 percent more than their non-union counterparts. Unionized workers in these same industries were also about 25 percentage points more likely to have health insurance or a pension plan.

For workers in these low-wage industries, unionization raised their wages, on average, about $1.75 per hour. In financial terms, the union effect on employer-provided health insurance and pensions was even larger.

Posted by Info Center at 11:57 AM in Benefits | Compensation | Labor Unions | Permalink

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, USDL 07-1282, 8/22/2007

Sixty percent of establishments in private industry offered medical care benefits to their employees in March 2007, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Employers paid 81 percent of the cost of premiums for single coverage and 71 percent of the cost for family coverage for workers participating in employer sponsored medical plans. These findings are from the Summary, "National Compensation Survey: Employee Benefits in the United States, March 2007," published today.

Posted by Info Center at 4:55 PM in Benefits | Health Care | Permalink

Source: Craig Copeland, Employee Benefit Research Institute, Vol. 28 no. 8, August 2007

From press release:

As an increasing percentage of older Americans are in the labor force, the trend toward more full-time, full-year work among older workers occurs across virtually every demographic group, according to an article published today by the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI).

These trends mark a significant change in behavior for individuals age 55 and older, the article says, and are likely driven by their need to obtain affordable employment-based health insurance (as opposed to unaffordable or unavailable coverage in the individual market) and the need to continue to accumulate savings in employment-based defined contribution retirement plans.

Posted by Info Center at 5:02 PM in Benefits | Health Care | Older People | Retirement | Workforce | Permalink

Source: American City and County, August 8, 2007

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has ruled that employee contributions to a trust fund established by Bristol, R.I., to fund post employment benefits are tax exempt. The ruling sets a precedent for other cities seeking similar solutions to pay for Other Post Employment Benefits (OPEB).

Posted by Info Center at 11:02 AM in Benefits | Retirement | Taxation | Permalink

Source: U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service, HP-526, August 3, 2007

The Treasury Department and the IRS issued today new proposed regulations for employee benefit plans under Section 125 of the Internal Revenue Code. The plans, called “cafeteria plans,” allow employees to make a choice between receiving taxable cash compensation or tax-free employee benefits, such as health care, dependent care, and other fringe benefits.
The new proposed regulations generally preserve the rules of the existing proposed regulations, while adding clarifications relating to statutory changes and administrative guidance changes since the previous regulations were published. The new regulations also address many issues on which the IRS has previously provided informal guidance.

Posted by Info Center at 1:47 PM in Benefits | Permalink

Source: Jill L. Jenkins, Employment Policies Institute, May 2007

Paid sick leave is rapidly becoming the next big legislative trend. The first paid sick leave mandate was implemented in San Francisco in February 2001, but already many other cities and states have followed suit with proposals of their own. And there are currently two proposals at the national level. While the details vary, these proposals all typically allow employees to take paid sick leave for their own illness or to provide care for a sick child, spouse, or other relative (and, in the case of San Francisco, domestic partner, or “designated person”). The amount of leave typically averages about 7 days a year.

Because this is a relatively new policy, there is little research examining its effects. Proponents focus on two key arguments: one moral and one social. The moral argument is that low-wage entry-level employees should be able to take sick days without worrying about losing income—“no one should have to go to work sick for fear of losing their job or being unable to pay their bills.” The social argument is that a sick leave policy benefits society as well—“we, as a society, do not want the people serving our food or taking care of our children coming to work sick and potentially passing their illness along.” Each of these arguments packs a punch and neither is, strictly speaking, wrong, but neither tells the whole story either.

Posted by Info Center at 5:23 PM in Benefits | Leave Programs | Permalink

Source: Bianca DiJulio and Paul D. Jacobs, Kaiser Family Foundation, #7667, July 2007

Summary
Over 150 million individuals received health insurance through an employer in 2005, making employer-sponsored coverage the most popular form of health insurance coverage for the nonelderly in the United States. However, in recent years, there has been concern about erosion in the availability of employer-based health benefits for workers, and especially low-income workers. This paper analyzes data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), an annual survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau for the National Center for Health Statistics, to assess changes between 1998 and 2005 in the percentage of families with workers that have at least one offer of health insurance through an employer. Results are broken out by family income relative to the federal poverty level.

Posted by Info Center at 5:14 PM in Benefits | Permalink

Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, 2007

From press release:
The U.S. Department of Labor today released Family and Medical Leave Act Regulations: A Report on the Department of Labor’s Request for Information, a comprehensive review of the thousands of public comments received in response to the department’s December 1, 2006, Request for Information about the Family and Medical Leave Act regulations and their impact in the workplace.

“The 15,000 comments from workers, employers and others attest to the importance of family and medical leave for America’s caregiving workforce,” said Victoria A. Lipnic, assistant secretary of labor for the department’s Employment Standards Administration. “While family and medical leave is widely supported, we also heard from many workers and employers that there are challenges with the way certain aspects are being administered. This report provides information for a fuller discussion about how some of the key FMLA provisions and their interpretations have played out in the workplace.”

The comments highlight the prevalence with which unscheduled intermittent leave is being taken in certain workplaces. As the record indicated, this is the single most serious area of friction between employers and workers. Another major area of concern, on the part of workers, employers and health care providers, is the medical certification process.

The report is comprised of 11 chapters: 10 chapters on key regulatory issues, plus the first chapter, which describes the value of the FMLA to employees.

Posted by Info Center at 2:53 PM in Benefits | Family & Work | Permalink

Source: Jeff Sloan, Genevieve Ng and Merlyn Goeschl, CPER Journal, no. 184, June 2007
(subscription required)

The convergence of new reporting standards by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB), the rising cost of health care, and the huge number of baby boomers nearing retirement age have knocked the public employment sector on its ear. In the past, public employers typically operated on a “pay as you go” model for other post-employment benefits (OPEBs), without reference to any future unfunded liabilities. However, the new GASB rules, which began taking effect in 2005, require public employers to account for and disclose their outstanding future OPEB liabilities, in much the same way they are required to do for pension benefits. Although OPEBs include benefits like post-employment life insurance plans, disability, and long-term care, retiree health care benefits account for the bulk of the unfunded OPEBs facing public employers today.

Posted by Info Center at 1:11 PM in Benefits | Retirement | Permalink

Source: Governmental Accounting Standards Board, Statement 45 on OPEB Accounting by Governments – A Few Basic Questions and Answers

1. Why was Statement 45 on OPEB accounting by governments necessary?
Statement 45 was issued to provide more complete, reliable, and decision-useful financial reporting regarding the costs and financial obligations that governments incur when they provide postemployment benefits other than pensions (OPEB) as part of the compensation for services rendered by their employees. Postemployment healthcare benefits, the most common form of OPEB, are a very significant financial commitment for many governments. ….

Posted by Info Center at 12:54 PM in Benefits | Retirement | Permalink

Source: Jourlande Gabriel and Chrissy A. Mancini, Illinois Retirement Security Initiative, A Project of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, 2007

from the press release:

Springfield, IL (Monday, May 7, 2007) – A new study released today at the Statehouse has found that – contrary to widespread perception – switching from Illinois’ current defined benefit system to a defined contribution system will do nothing to solve the state’s $40.7 billion unfunded pension liability and would li