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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.
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The Department of Labor’s proposal to change Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) regulations on tracking intermittent leave is misguided and should be withdrawn, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) said in comments submitted recently…
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The Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration has updated its website with the following features addressing the Mental Health Parity And Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA)…
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Plan participants who invested individual account assets in a company stock fund established a causal link between a fiduciary’s delay in divesting the plan of company stock and the harm suffered by the plan that was sufficient to survive a motion to dismiss, according to the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Pfeil, et al. v. State Street Bank and Trust Company. The plan participants were empowered to allocate their assets to other funds, however, the court stressed that a fiduciary may not avoid liability for offering an imprudent investment option by including it alongside a larger menu of prudent investment choices…
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In December 2011, the average cost to private industry employers for legally-required benefits was $2.33 per employee hour worked, or 8.1 percent of total employee compensation, according to the recently-released Program Perspectives on Legally Required Benefits Costs from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The legally-required benefits measured include Social Security, Medicare, federal and state unemployment insurance, and workers’ compensation. Employers are obligated to pay their part of the cost in the form of either a payroll tax or a compulsory insurance premium, the BLS noted…
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Average 401k balances were 62 percent higher as of March 31 than in the first quarter of 2009, when the stock market reached a 12-year low, according to mutual fund manager Fidelity Investments. The average account balance in the U.S. was $74,600, compared with $46,200 at the end of the first quarter of 2009. In addition, Fidelity found that balances are up 8 percent since the end of the fourth quarter 2011…
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Recently, some states have added orally administered chemotherapy to their list of mandated benefits. Here’s a summary of recent activity…
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ERISA preempted a state breach of contract claim regarding an employment contract’s purported promise that an employee would receive a “Rule of 85” pension benefit, even though the plan had been amended to freeze service accrual, the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled in Arditi v. Lighthouse International…
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The following interest rates have been announced for use in the operation and administration of qualified pension plans…
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In Field Assistance Bulletin (FAB) No. 2012-02, the Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) provides guidance in the form of 38 questions and answers to help plan administrators and service providers comply with the requirements of new rules improving the transparency of fees and investment expenses in retirement plans. For most plans, including calendar year plans, the first initial disclosures must be furnished to participants and beneficiaries no later than Aug. 30, 2012…
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Unnecessary use of higher-priced medications resulted in nearly all of the $2.1 billion in wasted pharmacy-related spending last year for workers’ compensation payers, according to research published in the 2011 Express Scripts Workers’ Compensation Drug Trend Report. About 125 million workers are eligible for workers’ compensation benefits in the U.S., and an estimated 4.2 million suffer from a work-related injury or illness each year…
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In 2010, 67.5 percent of U.S. workers had jobs that included health benefits, down from 70.1 percent in 1997, according to research from the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI). The study, Employment-Based Health Benefits: Trends in Access and Coverage, 1997-2010, noted that the high cost of health insurance and other factors also led to a lower proportion of employees taking up health benefits even when they are available: this rate declined from 86 percent in 1997 to 83.6 percent in 2010…
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At a House Ways and Means Committee hearing, lawmakers were advised to not make changes to retirement tax incentives that might discourage employers from sponsoring plans for their workers. The Hearing on Tax Reform and Tax-Favored Retirement Accounts, which was held on April 17, 2012, examined possible reforms to certain tax-favored retirement savings plans that might be considered as part of comprehensive tax reform…
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Less than half of U.S. employers are taking steps to measure retirement plan success or measure whether employees are on track for retirement, according to recent research from financial services provider Wells Fargo. The 2011 Wells Fargo Retirement Plan Sponsor Survey found that 50 percent of companies have not measured their employees’ progress, while 32 percent said that they are “analyzing plan participation, balances, and deferral rates…"
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Participation of private nonprofit employers in a group health plan established by the state of Connecticut would adversely affect the status of the state plan as a governmental plan under ERISA, according to Advisory Opinion 2012-01A from the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)…
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