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[Guidance Overview]
Employers Need to Adopt Pandemic Preparedness Plans in Order to Minimize the Impact on Their Employees and Business Operations (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "It is particularly important to educate employees about the realistic risks of pandemic flu and the employer's efforts to address them (e.g., emergency plans) in a forthright and honest manner that does not increase stress or create panic. Employers should prepare educational materials and communications specifically targeting distinct audience subgroups, such as managers and customers." (Buck Consultants)


[Guidance Overview]
Requiring Older, Medicare-Eligible Retirees to Pay Larger Portion of Premium Contribution Under Health Plan Did Not Violate ADEA
Excerpt: "EBIA Comment: There have been few decisions to date applying the 2007 final EEOC regulations regarding Medicare coordination. Although not completely clear, it appears that this court found the Medicare coordination regulations and the equal benefits/equal cost rule to be sufficient, independent grounds for dismissing the retirees' claims. While that may explain the court's limited analysis of the equal benefits/equal cost rule, it would have been helpful if the court had revealed more about why it thought benefits for older and younger retirees were considered equal, given the premium differences." (Employee Benefits Institute of America)


[Guidance Overview]
COBRA Not Required Following Sham Termination of Employment
Excerpt: "EBIA Comment: The termination of a covered employee's employment is one of the seven triggering events listed in the COBRA statute that can be a qualifying event if it results in a loss of coverage. However, the term 'termination of employment' is not defined by the statute or regulations, leaving the determination to the courts." (Employee Benefits Institute of America)


[Guidance Overview]
ARRA's Amendments to HIPAA Privacy & Security Rules (PDF)
25 pages. Excerpt: "Overview of Amendments to HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules: Expanded Obligations of Business Associates (BAs); Affirmative Notification of Breach Requirements; Guidance on 'Minimum Necessary' Standard; Prohibition on Sale of PHI; Restrictions on Marketing; Limited Application to Personal Health Records (PHR) Vendors; Increased Enforcement and Penalties, including application to BAs. Note: This presentation relates to obligations of employer-sponsored health plans, not health care providers or healthcare industry companies to which additional requirements apply." (Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP)


[Guidance Overview]
Qualified Transportation Accounts Cannot Be Cashed Out
Excerpt: "The IRS recently affirmed that employees are not permitted to 'cash out' their qualified pre-tax transportation accounts if they terminate employment. Referencing the Treasury Regulations and citing the constructive receipt doctrine as the basis for its position, IRS explained that compensation reduction amounts for qualified transportation benefits under IRC § 132(f) are essentially not refundable." (Deloitte via BenefitsLink.com)


[Guidance Overview]
FTC Proposes Health Breach Notification Rule
Excerpt: "Vendors of personal health records and related entities - although not covered by HIPAA's privacy or security rule - will soon be required to provide notice to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and to affected individuals when personal health records are acquired without the individual's authorization. Personal health records are broadly defined, and include information that relates to the 'payment for the provision of health care' (e.g., a database containing names and credit card information), and the mere fact of having an account with a vendor whose products relate to a particular health condition." (Deloitte via BenefitsLink.com)


[Guidance Overview]
July 1, 2009 Implementation for New Medicare Secondary Payer Reporting
Excerpt: "Group health plans that are not voluntarily sharing data with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will need to confirm that they are able to comply with the new reporting requirements scheduled to go into effect beginning July 1. The responsible reporting entity is typically the plan's insurer or third party administrator - however, where the plan is self-insured and self administered, the plan administrator or fiduciary is required to report. Specific data is required to enable CMS to verify that benefits are accurately being paid where the Medicare is a secondary payer." (Deloitte via BenefitsLink.com)


GE Plans to Invest $6B to Lower Health Care Costs in Underserved Regions
Excerpt: "The broad program sets goals of reducing health care costs by 15 percent through $3 billion of spending on new, lower cost medical technology. The initiative also plans to broaden the use of tools such as electronic medical records and other medical information technology, with the hope of providing more advanced care to 100 million additional people each year. That will include $2 billion of financing for rural health care systems in the United States to adopt medical IT systems. It will also expand clinics in Cambodia and provide additional funding for maternal health care programs in Bangladesh." (AP via The New York Times; free registration required)


Health Insurers Agree to End Higher Premiums for Women
Excerpt: "Insurance companies offered Tuesday to end the practice of charging higher premiums to women than to men for the same coverage. Karen M. Ignagni, president of America's Health Insurance Plans, a trade group, made the offer in testifying before the Senate Finance Committee. It was the latest concession by insurers as Congress drafts legislation to overhaul the $2.5 trillion health care industry." (The New York Times; free registration required)


Rangel Would Bar Any Taxes on Workers' Health Care Benefits
Excerpt: "The top tax-writer in the House of Representatives said Wednesday that there was 'no way' he would support taxing employer-provided health benefits, Americans' leading source of coverage. The comment came from Representative Charles B. Rangel, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, after a committee hearing with the new secretary of health and human services, Kathleen Sebelius." (The New York Times; free registration required)


Wal-Mart Expands Discount Drug Program to Businesses
Excerpt: "Pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) say the Wal-Mart program threatens to rob them of valuable business opportunities. Typically, a PBM representative contracts with a business or government body to establish drug coverage for the entity's employee benefits program. The PBM works with the business to determine which drugs will be covered under its benefits package and how much they will cost both employee and employer. A spokesperson for one of the nation's largest PBM companies says the Wal-Mart program is little more than a campaign to increase traffic to the store." (Synapse Medical Publishers, Inc.)


Oversight Committee Votes to Provide Federal Employees Paid Parental Leave Benefits
Excerpt: "The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform today took an important step toward improving paid parental leave benefits for federal employees who are new parents. The Federal Employees Paid Parental Leave Act of 2009 (H.R. 626), responds to the needs of tens of thousands of working families in the federal government by providing 4 weeks of paid parental leave for the birth, adoption, or fostering of a child." (U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform)


OPM Director Calls for Regulatory Reforms, Announces Work-Life Pilot Programs
Excerpt: "[The director] said OPM would work with Interior and GSA to create a set of model programs for the 7,000 employees who work at the three agencies' headquarters, which are located within blocks of each other in Washington. His goal, he said, was to turn the three workplaces into a 'utopia' within 12 months. Though he did not detail in his remarks the pilot programs he intends to set up, Berry said in an interview afterward that he expects to begin by improving the quality of a health clinic that serves the agencies. The approach Berry outlined would mirror his approach to work-life balance programs as an assistant secretary at the Interior Department during the Clinton administration. In that position, Berry held a series of town hall meetings to determine employees' needs and based on their suggestions, upgraded the department's cafeteria and health clinic." (GovernmentExecutive.com)


H1N1 Expected to Resurge in the Fall: Is Your Organization Prepared? (PDF)
7 pages. Excerpt: "There is always a risk of employee abuse of policies, as well as for human error. Therefore, keeping accurate documentation can minimize an employer's liability and the risk of employee policy abuse. Maintain a record of the communications that have been sent to employees. Maintain an updated list of employees who have taken sick leave and keep a record of personnel who have had contact with infected people." (Thompson Hine LLP)


No Paid Leave for New Moms in the United States
Excerpt: "This Mother's Day we reflect on the critical but often overlooked issue of maternity leave. Among peer countries with comparable per capita income (i.e., those in the G7), the United States provides the fewest mandated maternity leave benefits in both length of leave and amount of paid time off . . . ." (Economic Policy Institute)


Best-Performing Employer Health Care Plans Keep Cost Increases Under 1%
Excerpt: "[T]he employers that are most effectively and consistently managing their health care cost increases are not necessarily the ones that are increasing employee cost sharing, but those that have made strides in five key areas. These five key areas are: appropriate financial incentives, effective information delivery, quality care, metrics and evidence, and maximizing health and productivity." (Wolters Kluwer)


EEOC States HRA Requirement for Health Insurance Eligibility Violates ADA
Excerpt: "The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued an opinion letter indicating that a health risk assessment (HRA) requirement for health insurance eligibility would violate the Americans with Disability Act (ADA). The ADA requires disability-related questions or medical examinations to be job-related and consistent with necessity or, part of a voluntary wellness program. In this instance, the HRA is neither job-related nor consistent with necessity. As part of a wellness plan, refusing to participate in an HRA would penalize an employee, violating ADA. The letter is an informal discussion and does not constitute an official opinion of the EEOC." (International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans)


Employer's Calculation of Absenteeism Rate Violates FMLA, Court Says
Excerpt: "An employee fired for excessive absences may go to trial on her claim that the employer's absenteeism calculation violated the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), a federal district court has ruled. The employer calculated absenteeism by dividing missed work hours by scheduled work hours, excluding FMLA leave from both figures. The court found omitting FMLA leave from scheduled work hours unlawfully penalized employees using this leave by reducing the allowable hours of non-FMLA absences. The ruling reminds employers to evaluate the practical impact of absence policies for FMLA compliance." (Mercer LLC)


About Kaiser Health News
Excerpt: "In his latest column from his 'Pulling It Together' series, the Kaiser Family Foundation's President and CEO Drew Altman explains the Foundation's new nonprofit health policy news service, Kaiser Health News, set to launch in early June, and why the Foundation developed it and what he hopes it will accomplish." (Kaiser Family Foundation)


DOL Close to Issuing Appeals Form for ARRA COBRA Premium Subsidy Program
Excerpt: "The U.S. Department of Labor is proposing a detailed form for alleged 'assistance-eligible individuals' to appeal an employer's denial of the COBRA premium subsidy program under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), and has asked for quick government approval so that the agency's expedited review process for subsidy denials can begin later this month." (Thompson Publishing Group)

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Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

[Guidance Overview]
Legal Issues When a California Public Agency Attempts an Employee Benefits Reduction
Excerpt: "Although seldom discussed, it is well settled in California that the terms and conditions of public employment applicable to retirement and certain other benefit rights cannot be destroyed without impairing a contractual obligation of the employer. This principle rests upon the 'contract clause' of the United States Constitution, which prohibits any state from passing a law 'impairing the obligation of contracts.' Under the contract clause, the seminal case law in this area provides that a 'state can no more impair, by legislation, the obligation of its own contracts, than it can impair the obligation of the contracts of individuals.'" (Chang Ruthenberg & Long PC)


[Guidance Overview]
Why Should Employers Worry About Code Sec. 409A Now?
Excerpt: "Like it or not, Code Sec. 409A is here to stay, and just because employers have met the deadline for documentary compliance does not mean that their worries are over. Employers can expect to continue to confront Code Sec. 409A related issues in terms of: Code Sec. 409A operational defects; failure to amend properly; discovering 'plans' subject to Code Sec. 409A that have not been amended at all; and ongoing preparation of documents with respect to new arrangements or amendments or renewals of existing documents. This article also highlights the risk and potential penalty exposure to employers who do not meet their withholding and reporting obligations under Code Sec. 409A, and suggests actions employers may want to consider in ensuring Code Sec. 409A compliance." (Pension and Benefits Week via Epstein Becker & Green, P.C.)


Maine Governor Signs Same-Sex Marriage Bill
Excerpt: "Maine Governor John Baldacci signed a bill Wednesday approving same-sex marriage, making the state the fifth to do so. The Associated Press reports that the Maine Senate voted 21-13, with one absent, for a bill that authorizes marriage between any two people rather than between one man and one woman, as state law currently allows. The House had passed the bill Tuesday. Maine is now the fourth state in New England, to allow same-sex marriages." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)

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Webcasts and Conferences

( Click to post your webcast or conference )

Ask Secretary Solis About the FY 2010 Budget Webcast
Nationwide on May 7, 2009
presented by U.S. Department of Labor

Behind The Numbers: 2010 Medical Costs and Their Impact on 2009 Employer Decisions
Nationwide on July 16, 2009
presented by MCOL

ICD-10: Maximizing the Strategic Advantage of Your Compliance Efforts
Nationwide on June 11, 2009
presented by MCOL

Pandemic Influenza: Health Plan and Employer Preparedness
Nationwide on May 28, 2009
presented by MCOL

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Press Releases

( Click to post your press release )

U.S. Department of Labor Obtains Consent Order Requiring President of Nashville Entertainment Company to Restore Pension Funds
U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)

Many Companies with Frozen Pension Plans Come One Step Closer to Plan Termination, Says Aon Consulting
Aon Consulting

RolloverSystems Creates New Sales Positions
RolloverSystems

Actuarial Consultants, Inc. Passes ASPPA'S Stringent Test For Retirement Plan Recordkeepers
Actuarial Consultants, Inc.

Incentives and Pharmacist Coaches Lead to Improved Health and Lower Health Care Costs for Diabetic Patients
Midwest Business Group on Health

Research Shows that Physician Pay-for-Performance Programs Work with Appropriate Incentives
Bridges to Excellence (BTE)

New Research Finds That Women Need A Three-legged Stool To Break The Retirement Glass Ceiling
National Institute on Retirement Security

U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis Will Discuss Department of Labor?s Fiscal Year 2010 Budget Through Live Web Chat
U.S. Department of Labor

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Employee Benefits Jobs

( Click to post your job opening | View all jobs | RSS feed of all jobs )

Retirement Sales Wholesaler - Inside Sales
for ExpertPlan, Inc.
in NJ

Defined Benefit Consultant / Administrator
for Boyce & Associates, Inc.
in AZ

Defined Contribution/401(k) Administrator
for Boyce & Associates, Inc.
in AZ

Senior Consultant / Client Services Manager
for Boyce & Associates, Inc.
in AZ

Employee Benefits Manager
for County of Sonoma, CA
in CA

Regional Sales Director Mid-West
for DailyAccess Corporation
in IL, IN, MI, MO, OH

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EmployeeBenefitsJobs.com (Sponsor)

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• View Today's Active Message Threads
• Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research (hypertext article)
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