Employer Strategies

Recently, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials audited the popular burrito chain, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc., which fired hundreds of illegal workers as a result. Using Chipotle as a cautionary tale, employers cannot turn a blind eye to illegal workers, as Chipotle allegedly did - one woman claims she gave the company two false social security numbers when applying for positions within the company.

Nebraska lawmakers unanimously approved changes to collective bargaining for public workers on May 25 but the debate was not as divisive as in some other states, and the outcome was a compromise.

The adoption of guaranteed living benefits fell in the first quarter of 2011 to their lowest rate since the third quarter of 2008—and improved confidence in the stock market may be the reason.

Medco Health Solutions Inc. will lose a major pharmacy benefit contract to CVS Caremark Corp. starting next year, sending Medco shares down almost 11% and CVS up nearly 4% Friday.

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal (R) has signed into law a bill that allows state residents to purchase individual health insurance policies across state lines.

Vermont became the first state to lay the groundwork for single-payer health care on Thursday when its governor signed an ambitious bill aimed at establishing universal insurance coverage for all residents.

Attention to unclaimed property issues affecting life insurance companies – including issues relating to unpaid life insurance and annuity benefits – has significantly escalated in recent weeks, due to regulatory actions, media coverage, and public expressions of interest by the plaintiffs’ bar. This Legal Alert discusses those developments and puts them into perspective.

Chief financial officers at some of the nation's largest banks and financial services firms are downright bullish on the U.S. economy's overall outlook but nagging concerns about health care reform and the uncertainty of those costs are tempering their optimism.

Compared to the rest of the world, Americans generally receive a pitifully low amount of paid vacation. Americans seem to want to live a life of work, based on our lack of paid vacation laws as well as the number of vacation time off the average American employee gets.

Cash balance plans are becoming increasingly popular with small businesses as well as Fortune 500 companies, says Dan Kravitz, president and CEO of Kravitz, Inc., an independent firm of retirement consultants headquartered in Southern California.