Word on Benefits

ACA Reporting and Disclosure—Someone’s Gotta Do It

Justin Held, CEBS

26 May 201626 May 2016

Laundry, shoveling snow, a big pile of dishes, replacing the busted water heater, filing taxes. These are things that must be done, that you’ve dreaded doing and that perhaps you’ve learned the hard way it’s best if someone else does them for […]

Employee Benefits Health Care Insurance

Time for a Spousal Spending Checkup?

Chris Vogel, CEBS

24 May 201624 May 2016

It’d be nice to write that health care doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg. In this case, that cliché likely is both inappropriate and overly optimistic. But two experienced health plan administrators suggest in the May Benefits Magazine that […]

Human Resources (HR) Regulatory

Time for Action—New Rules on Overtime Finalized

Kelli Kolsrud, CEBS

19 May 201607 Jul 2017

Updated April 20, 2017: The status of the overtime rules described in the blog post below is uncertain. Various legal actions and the changes in Congressional and presidential leadership have put the implementation of the rules on hold. On November 22, 2016, […]

Affordable Care Act (ACA) Employee Benefits Health Care Regulatory

If ACA Is Repealed, Will Employers Keep Mandated Provisions?

Staff

18 May 201619 May 2016

Health care and the future of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) have been defining issues for presidential candidates this election season. A new report from the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans finds that if ACA is repealed, just over three in […]

Employee Benefits Multiemployer Pensions Regulatory Retirement

Central States Benefit Reduction Application Denied—Now What?

Julie Stich, CEBS

13 May 201618 May 2016

On May 6, 2016, the Treasury Department announced that it—along with the Department of Labor and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation—was rejecting the application the Central States Teamsters filed for benefit reductions (a.k.a. suspensions), as submitted in September 2015. In rejecting the […]

Apprenticeship Programs Canada Financial Education Financial Wellness

What Kim Kardashian Can Teach Us About Financial Literacy Programs

Justin Held, CEBS

11 May 201619 May 2016

Financial literacy continues to be a challenge throughout the United States and Canada. Plan sponsors struggle with the most effective methods to educate their workforces regarding the management and use of money. These challenges were addressed at a recent presentation by Grant […]

Canada Employee Benefits Health Care Human Resources (HR) Mental Health Wellness

PTSD: An Often Hidden Workplace Issue

Kathy Bergstrom, CEBS

03 May 201606 Jun 2016

Many people think of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as an issue for war veterans, but it is increasingly gaining attention as a workplace issue. Some Canadian provinces are passing what’s called presumptive legislation around PTSD, which means that when a worker has […]

Employee Benefits Financial Education Financial Wellness Retirement

Employees’ Biggest Financial Influence? (Sorry, It’s Not You)

Anne Patterson

28 Apr 2016

One-hundred and fifty employee benefit industry leaders walk into a room . . . and, of course, the International Foundation polled them with a couple questions about their thoughts on retirement security and financial education. This gathering occurred at a recent International […]

Defined Benefit (DB) Plans Employee Benefits Pensions Retirement

How to Reach Out to Missing Pension Participants

Lois Gleason, CEBS

27 Apr 201627 Apr 2016

You already know you need to find and pay your lost or missing pension participants who’ve reached their Required Beginning Date (usually the April 1 following age 70½). But what do you say in the notice you send to missing participants, whether by […]

Communication Employee Benefits

Benefit Communication: Losing Can Be a Winning Strategy

Pat Bonner, Ph.D., CEBS

22 Apr 201609 Nov 2017

If you are a baseball fan, you are probably familiar with this quote often credited to legendary baseball coach Sparky Anderson—”Losing hurts twice as bad as winning feels good.” I’ve got to wonder whether Sparky knew how right he was. His words […]