Employee benefits

It appears that slackers, not hackers, are mostly responsible for the invasion of health care records - and the overly curious (or bored) employees who are the culprits can cost employers millions in HIPPA fines.

Commentary: Pharmacy benefit managers and benefit brokers keep a watchful eye for profit-seekers looking to take advantage of loopholes in the health care delivery system.

The IRS’ new draft forms for employer reporting on health care coverage unveils a glimpse of the administrative onus in store for benefit advisers and their employer clients working to comply with the Affordable Care Act.

Benefit advisers working with small to mid-size employers to boost benefit participation can focus on cost-saving measures and enrollment and education activities that larger companies are more inclined or able to invest in.

As employers try to figure out how best to prepare their workforces for retirement, experts in the benefits and investment industries recommend that an individual retirement account – either the traditional or Roth version – can be a good complement or standalone option for an employee’s retirement path.

Benefit advisers hoping to stay ahead of the trend of employers transferring some of the burden of increased health care costs to their employees, should be prepared to discuss a variety of new and old cost-sharing strategies, as well as additional cost-saving tools.

Minimum-wage activists seized on a decision against McDonald’s by the National Labor Relations Board’s general counsel Tuesday, saying the move may make it easier to unionize workers and ultimately raise wages.

As the part-time workforce in America expands, a growing number of employers are considering voluntary benefit packages as a recruitment and retention tool not only for full-time staff, but their variable hour employees, as well.

A new national bipartisan legislative effort is using an incentivized approach to push more employers to offer paid family and medical leave to their employees.

Making the choice between TPAs serving as 3(16) fiduciaries or going with retirement planning advice in a 3(21) or 3(38) can help make financial management of a 401(k) plan go more smoothly.

Commentary: Benefit advisers and their employer clients continue to have questions about private exchanges. Blogger Dan Garlitz shares some recent FAQs fielded by exchange administrator bswift.

Commentary: Meditation is not just some quirky, hippy philosophy; it is actually grounded in physiology. Some companies have taken these benefits so seriously that they have dedicated quiet rooms within the office so employees can meditate.

Many companies have frozen their defined benefit plans to new hires. Others have abandoned their pensions in favor of a 401(k) or other defined contribution plan. But not everyone is happy with DC plans because they often leave participants to fend for themselves when most have never had to make investment decisions.

The Affordable Care Act’s medical loss ratio rule continues to force health insurers to pay refunds to consumers enrolled in individual and employer-sponsored health care coverage.

The IRS released draft forms for employers to use to report health coverage offerings to employees, unveiling a glimpse of the administrative onus in store for benefit advisers and their employer clients working to comply with the health law.

With the Form 5500 deadline fast approaching, 401(k) plan sponsors should be aware of common mistakes that can easily occur when filing the form.

Employees need disability insurance and most employers are offering a group solution. But what can be done to enhance employees’ adoption of their available coverage?

Two federal appeals courts have issued conflicting decisions about the legality of subsidies on the federal exchanges — a split that may have some significant impact on employer planning for ACA compliance.

The move to a private exchange could be difficult for employees who generally are not accustomed to making benefits plan decisions for themselves, or who balk at the potential of an increased out-of-pocket burden. It’s incumbent upon employers to guide them through the transition to help them accept the idea that having more power and choice is a good trade-off to taking on more risk.

While employees at some of America's most successful businesses do enjoy a healthy range of 401(k) benefits, those working at Facebook, Whole Foods and Amazon.com are not as lucky.