Here in 2019, the U.S. Department of Labor has given all U.S. employers the option to auto-enroll their employees in disability insurance if they have a plan that is ERISA-covered. This regulation is quite significant and should be carefully viewed and understood by all employers. Disability benefits are meant to ensure that employees keep their…

Recently, the IRS added some chronic conditions to the list of preventative care benefits that are given with a high deductible health plan that do not require a deductible. The expansion was signed into law by President Trump in the summer of 2019. The expansion was an executive order by Trump designed to improve upon…

Because of all the changes happening in the health insurance industry due to the Affordable Care Act, many employers have been seeking different options for their company healthcare and their benefits programs that are available to their employees. We’ve discussed extensively how becoming self-insured is one of the most attractive options available to employers, but…

If employees decide to take leaves of absence that qualify, there are provided several layers of protection through the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), and the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Act (USERAA). The most common of these types of protections is the fact that an employee is entitled to a similar job when…

A growing trend with working married couples is that they are now purchasing their own health insurance coverage plans, instead of getting on their spouses’ plan. In some cases, doing this is a good idea, and makes sense economically. In others, it is a personal preference and could depend on the contributions from the employer…

Each year, it is highly recommended that all companies who offer flexible spending accounts review three important terms that are FSA-related. Your human relations team probably has a good understanding of FSA rollovers, grace periods and runout periods, most employees in other departments tend to not know the difference between them. In some cases, they…

Every year, the President of the United States gives the State of the Union Address (SOTU) to a joint session of Congress. President Trump gave the SOTU for 2019 earlier this year, and brought up several key issues regarding employee benefits and workplace healthcare. Some of those issues Trump talked about were paid family leave,…