| Issues and Answers | ||
| Tips for rebuilding trust during a merger or acquisition | |||
|
| Test Your Human Resources Knowledge | ||
|
| Labor Law Journal Submissions | ||
|
| Human Resources Links | ||
|
| Labor Arbitrators' Awards and Biographies | ||
The Spencer’s Benefits Reports is a summary of the week's news items posted in the WHAT'S NEW pages of Spencer’s Benefits Reports Online. For questions regarding this email service, contact Customer Service at (800)449-9525.
Links within news stories display full text documents including legislation, regulations, court decisions, rulings and government reports.
The first time you click on a link you will be taken to the IntelliConnect login page, where you will need to enter your ID and password. Subsequent links will take you directly to the desired document.
At its September 30 public hearing to consider America’s Healthy Futures Act of 2009, the Senate Finance Committee agreed by a vote of 18-4 to increase allowable rewards under employer-provided wellness programs. Sens. John Ensign (Nev.) and Thomas Carper (Del.) proposed the bipartisan amendment…
Read IRN » (ip access user) » (Read Intelliconnect) »
A majority of individuals in each of five age categories agree that they do not know as much as they should about retirement investing. While it is not surprising that 76% of people in their 20s agree or somewhat agree with that statement, 69% of people in their 50s and 64% of people in their 60s also agree or somewhat agree that they do not know as much as they should about retirement investing. This was the finding of the 10th Annual Retirement Survey of 3,500 participants for the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies. The findings of the employer portion of the survey were released in August (see News, Aug. 27, 2009, Modifying 401(k) Investment Selections To Be Biggest Change In Coming Year)…
Read IRN » (ip access user) » (Read Intelliconnect) »
A recent study from the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) found that three types of tort reform could reduce premiums in self-insured health care plans by 1% to 2%. The September 2009 report, The Impact of Tort Reform on Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance Premiums, examined four types of tort reform: caps on noneconomic damages, caps on punitive damages, collateral source reform, and joint and several liability reform. The report found that all all types of tort reform would help decrease premiums except caps on punitive damages. In addition, the effect of all four reforms simultaneously would be a decrease in premiums of 2.3%…
Read IRN » (ip access user) » (Read Intelliconnect) »
Atlanta and Seattle had the highest access rates to health insurance as of December 2008, according to recently released statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Both metropolitan areas had access rates of 84%, well above the national average of 74%. Los Angeles was at the other end of the spectrum, with an access rate of 70%. The study, Local Area Employee Benefits Estimates for 15 Metropolitan Areas, used data from the BLS’s National Compensation Survey, which defines access as having the benefit available for use…
Read IRN » (ip access user) » (Read Intelliconnect) »
In two recent disaster relief announcements, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation waives certain penalties and extends certain deadlines for entities affected by recent severe storms and flooding in Kentucky and New York. The relief provided by the announcements applies to entities such as plan administrators and contributing sponsors located in any of the affected counties in the two states…
Read IRN » (ip access user) » (Read Intelliconnect) »
The Profit Sharing/401k Council of America (PSCA) has released its 52nd Annual Survey of Profit Sharing and 401(k) Plans, which provides up-to-date information on current practices and trends in profit-sharing and 401(k) plans. The PSCA’s survey reports on the 2008 plan year experience of 908 plans covering 7.4 million participants with more than $600 billion in plan assets…
Read IRN » (ip access user) » (Read Intelliconnect) »
At a September 29 public hearing to consider America’s Healthy Futures Act of 2009, the Senate Finance Committee rejected two bids to add a public plan option to committee chairman Sen. Max Baucus’s (Mont.) original proposal. Mr. Baucus’s plan instead includes the establishment of health care cooperatives (Subtitle E of the original proposal), as first suggested by Sen. Kent Conrad (N.D.)…
Read IRN » (ip access user) » (Read Intelliconnect) »
In a recent report, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) urged Congress to enact policy reforms to reduce “leakage” of participants’ assets in their 401(k) plan accounts. In preparing the report, the GAO analyzed federal and 401(k) industry data and interviewed federal officials, pension experts, and plan administrators responsible for managing the majority of 401(k) plan participants and assets…
Read IRN » (ip access user) » (Read Intelliconnect) »
This is another in a series of regular health care reform updates from Spencer's Benefits Reports. Included are links to items already covered, brief summaries of actions taken by the federal government, recent reports and studies on health care reform, policy statements by major stakeholders, and other recent health care reform activity…
Read IRN » (ip access user) » (Read Intelliconnect) »
The Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (P.L. 110-343), under which all employer-sponsored group health plans that provide mental health benefits are required to provide benefits that are equivalent to medical or surgical benefits, takes effect for plan years beginning after Oct. 3, 2009; the original provisions of the 1996 act remain in effect until then…
Read IRN » (ip access user) » (Read Intelliconnect) »
Despite the economic upheaval, employer matching contributions were unchanged in 2009 in 90% of the 401(k) plans recently surveyed by Aon Consulting. Of the remaining plans that provide employer matching contributions, 3% increased their match and 7% decreased it. These are among the findings of Aon’s 2009 Benefits and Talent Survey, conducted in March 2009 with 1,300 participating employers…
Read IRN » (ip access user) » (Read Intelliconnect) »
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation has announced that it has reached a $13.8 million agreement with apparel maker Hanesbrands, Inc., of Winston-Salem, N.C., to strengthen funding of the company’s retirement plan. Hanesbrands markets apparel under the Hanes, Champion, C9 by Champion, Playtex, and Duofold brand names, among others…
Read IRN » (ip access user) » (Read Intelliconnect) »
Read IRN » (ip access user) » (Read Intelliconnect) »
In Notice 2009-82, the Internal Revenue Service provides guidance under IRC Sec. 401(a)(9) relating to the waiver of 2009 required minimum distributions from retirement plans. Specifically, the notice provides transition relief through Nov. 30, 2009, for a plan that is not operated in accordance with its terms with respect to waived required minimum distributions; sets out rollover relief with respect to waived required minimum distributions, including an extension of the 60-day rollover period to Nov.30, 2009, for certain of the distributions; and answers questions that have been raised regarding the waiver of 2009 required minimum distributions. The notice also provides two sample amendments that plans may adopt…
Read IRN » (ip access user) » (Read Intelliconnect) »
On September 24, by a vote of 406-18, the House approved H.R. 3631, which would freeze the Medicare Part B monthly premium for 2010 for all Medicare beneficiaries. The Medicare Premium Fairness Act, which was introduced on September 23 by Rep. Dina Titus (Nev.) and 45 cosponsors, has gone to the Senate, where it is expected to be approved…
Read IRN » (ip access user) » (Read Intelliconnect) »
During the third day of consideration of America’s Healthy Futures Act of 2009, the Senate Finance Committee agreed by a vote of 15-3 to an amendment from Sen. Jay Rockefeller (W.Va.) to establish an independent commission that would be required, beginning in 2014, to implement policies that successfully reduce cost growth in Medicare by at least 1.5% annually. Actions by the commission would be subject to an annual review by Congress, and any modifications to the commission’s actions would require a two-thirds majority vote…
Read IRN » (ip access user) » (Read Intelliconnect) »
Nearly 45,000 adults in the United States die each year due to lack of health insurance, according to the results of a study, Health Insurance and Mortality in U.S. Adults, published in the September 17 issue of the Journal of Public Health. More precisely, the study’s estimate was “as many as 44,789 deaths.” The Institute of Health and the Urban Institute previously estimated that approximately 20,000 people in the U.S. died each year due to lack of health insurance…
Read IRN » (ip access user) » (Read Intelliconnect) »
CCH® is the leading provider of information covering Human Resources, Employment and Labor Benefits, Pensions, Payroll, Safety, and Workers Compensation. For more information about our products and services, go to http://hr.cch.com/ or call 800-449-9525. This newsletter is copyrighted by CCH® and may be redistributed only for non-commercial purposes and only in its entirety, specifically including the CCH® headers, this paragraph and the CCH® copyright line. No other redistribution or re-purposing, including but not limited to use on a web site, intranet or extranet, is permitted without prior written permission of CCH®.
If you would like to unsubscribe from this newsletter click here. To check your email preferences or make changes to your email newsletters click here.
©2005-2012 CCH Incorporated or its affiliates
