from HRTechNews
This employer’s taken the concept of online background checks to a new level.

Candidates applying for jobs with the city of Bozeman, Montana, are asked to list “any and all” Web sites, chat rooms and social networking groups they use (“including but not limited to Facebook, Google, Yahoo, YouTube.com, MySpace, etc.”) – along with their usernames and passwords.

Many hiring managers Google applicants’ names or look for them on Facebook, but actually logging in to their personal profiles is something new entirely.

Why does Bozeman want that access? According to city attorney Greg Sullivan, it’s “to make sure the people that we hire have the highest moral character and are a good fit for the city,” The Consumerist reports.

Sullivan also said the city doesn’t look at “the things that the federal Constitution lists as protected things” (whatever that means).

The story drew a lot of attention and outcry from the media, potential Bozeman employees and HR pros. That’s not surprising, considering there’s a debate going on about whether hiring managers should even look at candidates’ profiles, let alone obtain log-in information.

Apparently all the press got the city rethinking that part of the application. In a recent press release, Bozeman announced it will “suspend its practice of reviewing candidates’ password protected internet information until the City conducts a more comprehensive evaluation of the practice.”

What do you think? Did the public overreact to Bozeman’s hiring practice, or was the negative response justified?

Should social networking profiles play any role in the background check process at all?

Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

from HRBenefitsAlert

Wellness programs come in all shapes and sizes. But regardless of plan design there are five common components that set the successful programs apart from the rest.

At their core, wellness programs require constant monitoring and periodic adjustments. The programs that get mediocre results are the ones that are left to run on autopilot. That’s why it’s crucial to:

1. Know thine enemy. You have to know what’s driving your biggest claim costs on your healthcare plan – both among employees and their dependents.
2. Create realistic expectations. With wellness, what an employer gets will almost always depend on how much it spends, how well it plans and how well it sustains communications with participants and the vendor.
3. Maintain strong communications. The wellness initiatives that achieve the greatest success are those which are communicated aggressively from the get go and are sustained. Repetition is your friend when doing employee education.
4. Integrate wellness with other benefits. Real-life experience has shown that you should consider your employee assistance programs (EAPs) an extension of the wellness program. You should also consider issues like absenteeism, disability and worker’s compensation to be pieces of the wellness puzzle.
5. Practice what you preach. The key to ensuring employee buy-in is for management to lead the program by setting a positive example. If senior managers are unwilling to participate and address their own health issues, don’t expect many employees to take the program seriously.

Guidance has been issued with regard to the new health care reform coverage for children up to age 26.  The Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) has issued a fact sheet, a series of questions and answers, and an interim final regulation about the new requirements. Basically, the health care reform act signed by President Obama will allow children to remain on their parents’ health coverage up to age 26. This provision is effective for plan or policy years beginning on or after September 23, 2010. Plans and issuers must give children who qualify an opportunity to enroll that continues for at least 30 days, regardless of whether the plan or coverage offers an open enrollment period. This enrollment opportunity and a written notice must be provided not later than the first day of the first plan or policy year beginning on or after September 23, 2010.

The federal Internal Revenue Service, on May 18, released a revised Form 941, “Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Return” that employers can use to take advantage of a Social Security payroll tax exemption under the federal Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act. The HIRE Act provides employers the exemption and a tax credit for certain new hires who begin employment between Feb. 4 and Dec. 31, 2010. Employers can use the new form to claim the exemption for wages paid beginning with the second calendar quarter of 2010; a credit for wages paid in the first quarter (from March 19 through March 31, 2010) can be claimed on the second quarter return.

Additional Information:

• IRS notice of revised Form 941
• Form 941, “Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Return”
• Instructions for Form 941

The Labor Department unveiled an online tool to help employers understand how to comply with H-1B visa program requirements.

The tool describes the H-1B program’s standards and provides detailed information about employers’ and workers’ rights and responsibilities, the department said. The tool outlines notification requirements, monetary issues, worksite issues, record keeping, worker protections, and enforcement issues. H-1B visas are granted to highly skilled, college-educated, temporary foreign workers for a maximum of six years.

The tool focuses on compliance with the requirements enforced by the Wage and Hour Division, the department said. “The Labor Department’s goal is to provide employers and the public with user-friendly information regarding both rights and responsibilities under the H-1B program,” Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said.

The H-1B compliance tool is available at http://www.dol.gov/elaws/h1b.htm.

Employers with cafeteria plans can now allow employees to make pretax contributions to cover benefits under the company’s heath plan for dependent children up to age 27, the Internal Revenue Service said April 27 (Notice 2010-38).  The change is related to the new health reform law, IRS said.  The notice will appear in the May 17 edition of the Internal Revenue Bulletin 2010-20.

House Democrats, meanwhile, asked health insurers to stop canceling coverage for policyholders who become sick before a provision in the new law takes effect in 2014.  The chairmen of three House committees urged seven insurers in a letter April 27 to stop the rescissions, a move that they said would be consistent with changes allowing older dependents to remain on a parent’s health plan.  Separately, WellPoint said it would implement a nonrescission provision May 1.

from MHA

Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), both fully-insured and self-funded group plans that provide dependent coverage must provide coverage until age 26 for dependent children regardless of student or marital status. The new requirement is effective for plan years beginning on or after Sept. 23, 2010. This meant that many children, especially those graduating school this summer, would lose eligibility under their plan’s current eligibility definition and would have a gap in coverage before being permitted to re-enroll under the new PPACA definition of eligible dependent. To resolve this issue, many insurance carriers including Humana, Blue Cross Blue Shield, United Healthcare and Wellpoint have all issued statements indicating that they will work with employers to continue coverage for any dependent children currently enrolled in the plan until age 26, regardless of the plan’s next renewal date.

• Humana
• Blue Cross Blue Shield
• UnitedHealthcare
• Wellpoint

by MetLife

The findings from the 8th Annual Study of Employee Benefits Trends point to the apparent resilience of workplace benefits in this recession, and reveal that, as employers and employees continue to deal with the effects of the economic downturn, they are focused on the long term. Most employers have not reneged on their benefits commitments and employees continue to depend on their workplace benefits for protection and stability.

However, this year’s Study also reveals a benefits landscape that has been altered as a result of the recession experience. Employees must deal with the financial risks that were exposed when their 401(k) balances precipitously declined and their jobs became uncertain. Employers must seek ways to maintain a competitive advantage for their benefits programs in the context of greater focus on employee productivity and cost control.

Despite these challenges, employers and employees appear to be working toward a common goal: Securing financial health & wellness. Through employer-sponsored wellness programs, automatic enrollment features for retirement savings plans, voluntary benefits and protection products, employers are taking steps to help their employees act on their best intentions.

This year’s Study provides new insights that can help employers identify opportunities to realize the full potential of their benefits programs and to maximize the return on their benefits investment.

Key Highlights from the Study.

Employers Say That:

1. The importance of controlling costs has increased and is now their most important
   benefits objective.
2. The focus on employee retention is somewhat reduced, but is still the second most
   important objective despite the weak job market.
3. Employee productivity remains the third most important objective, but the steady
   increase in importance since 2007 continues.
4. Programs that help foster employee health & wellness and financial security are
   effective in improving employee productivity.
5. Active employer engagement in their qualified retirement plans is increasing and is
   necessary to help employees realize adequate income in retirement. There is emerging
   interest in automatic enrollment, automatic escalation and default annuitization in larger
   companies to help employees act on their intentions to save.
6. They have not increased their focus on providing financial advice, guidance and
   retirement education, despite employee interest, perhaps reflecting the economic
   pressures of the last year.
7. Voluntary benefits can cost-effectively enhance a benefits program, yet few are increasing
   the number offered or prioritizing this as a strategy.

Employees Say That They:

1. Intend to delay retirement. A full 59% of employees now plan to work past age 65.
2. Did not cut back on their benefits participation in the workplace, despite tight budgets.
   They value benefits as part of their financial safety net, and the workplace is the primary
   source for obtaining those benefits.
3. Are more satisfied with their benefits than at any time since 2007, before the recession,
   and they accept that they may need to pay more to get more in the new economy.
4. Feel hopeful about their short-term financial outlook, but still have significant concerns
   about their personal financial situations and admit that those concerns affect their
   workplace productivity.
5. View wellness programs as very worthwhile and connect successful participation to
   better health and productivity.
6. Remain very interested in having their employers provide financial advice, guidance and
   retirement education as they seek ways to realize predictable income for retirement.
7. Are more cautious, and have an increasing appetite for investment options that offer
   more safety than the potential of high returns, at least for now.

Full study can be found here: http://www.metlife.com/assets/institutional/services/insights-and-tools/ebts/Employee-Benefits-Trends-Study.pdf

For questions or to learn more: Alyshia Foster 214-461-1129 or alyshia.foster@staffone.com

The recent passage of the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act (H.R. 3590) and the Health Care & Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010 (H.R. 4872) will impact every business. How will it affect you? For your convenience, we have created a chronological summary for employers in general and also a bonus edition for small business owners.

Summary of the Legislation by Number of Employees:
50 employees or more | 100 employees or less | 25 or less

Effective January 1, 2014
**Applies to firms with greater than 50 employees

• Promoting Employer Responsibility. The Act requires employers with 50 or more employees who do not offer health coverage to their employees to pay $2,000 annually for a “full-time employee” (i.e., an employee working 30 or more hours per week).

• The 50-employee threshold is based on the employer’s average number of employees on business days during the preceding calendar year.
• Both full-time and part-time employees are considered in determining whether the employer has 50 or more employees; however, the number of part-time employees to be counted is determined by dividing the aggregate number of hours of service for those part-time employees for each month by 120.
• The $2,000 penalty then applies only to full-time employees who work 30 or more hours per week.
• In order to encourage employers to expand beyond 50 employees, the first 30 employees are not included in calculating the applicable penalty amount.
• The penalty can also increase to $3,000 for a full-time employee receiving a federal tax credit in the exchange where the employer offers health coverage, but that coverage would be deemed “unaffordable” because the employee has to pay more than 9.8 percent of his or her income, or the employer contributes less than 60 percent of the actuarial value of the plan.
• Therefore, while employers are not required to offer health coverage under the Act, significant penalties may be imposed on those employers that do not offer it or that only offer health coverage deemed “unaffordable.”
• In addition, employers may still impose a waiting period for coverage without being subject to a penalty, but this waiting period may not exceed 90 calendar days.

Effective January 1, 2011
**Applies to Firms with 100 employees or less

• Cafeteria Plans. The Act creates a Simple Cafeteria Plan to provide a vehicle through which small employers can provide tax-free benefits to their employees.

• Small employers are defined as employers who on average employ 100 or fewer employees over the previous two years. The Act aims to ease the administrative burden of sponsoring a cafeteria plan for such small employers.
• The Act also exempts small employers who make contributions for employees under a Simple Cafeteria Plan from pension-plan nondiscrimination requirements applicable to highly compensated and key employees.

Effective January 1, 2014

**Applies to firms with 100 employees or less

• Exchanges. The Act provides for the creation of health-insurance exchanges at the state level in 2014, where individuals and small employers would be able to buy health coverage in a manner similar to that of larger employers. Initially, the state exchanges would be open to individuals and small employers with 100 or fewer employees, unless the state opts to limit this to

organizations with 50 or fewer employees. Beginning in 2017, states would have the option to expand the exchange to larger employers.

**Applies to Firms with 100 employees or less

• Wellness Programs. The Act provides that employers can offer increased incentives to employees for participation in a wellness program or for meeting certain health-status targets. The Act permits rewards or penalties, such as premium discounts of up to 30 percent of the cost of coverage. Existing wellness regulations are limited to wellness incentives of up to 20

percent of the total premium, provided that certain conditions are met. In addition, the Act creates a $200 million, five-year program to provide grants to certain small employers (fewer than 100 employees) for comprehensive workplace-wellness programs. The grants would go to small employers that did not have a wellness program when the Act was enacted.

Effective January 1, 2010
**Applies to firms with 25 employees or less

• Small-Business Tax Credit. A small-business tax credit of up to 35 percent of the employer’s contribution to purchase health insurance for employees is now established for “qualified small employers.”

• A “qualified small employer” is an employer that has no more than 25 full-time employees for the taxable year and the average annual wages of those employees do not exceed $50,000 (indexed for inflation.
• Employers with 10 or fewer employees and average annual wages of less than $25,000 would be eligible for the full credit.

• Small-Business Tax Credits. When health-insurance exchanges are established in 2014, the available tax credit will increase to 50 percent of premiums.

For questions or to learn more: Alyshia Foster 214-461-1129 or alyshia.foster@staffone.com

The recent passage of the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act (H.R. 3590) and the Health Care & Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010 (H.R. 4872) will impact every business. How will it affect you? For your convenience, we have created a chronological summary for employers in general and also a bonus edition for small business owners.

Summary of the Legislation by Effective Date:
2010 | 2011 | 2013 |  2014 | 2018

Effective January 1, 2010
• Medicare Part D. The Act provides a $250 rebate check for all Part D enrollees who enter the “donut hole.” Currently the “donut hole” coverage gap falls between $2,830 and $6,440 in total drug spending by Part D enrollees.

• Adoption Tax Credit. The Act increases the adoption tax credit and adoption assistance exclusion by $1,000 (now set at $13,150), makes the credit refundable and extends the credit
through 2011.

Effective 90 Days After Enactment (i.e., June 21, 2010)
• Early Retirees. The Act establishes a temporary reinsurance program to provide reimbursement to employer health plans offering health coverage for early retirees (ages 55 to 64) and their families. The reinsurance program would reimburse employer health plans for 80 percent of the cost of benefits provided per enrollee in excess of $15,000 and below $90,000. The employer health plans are required to use the funds to lower costs assumed directly by participants and beneficiaries, and the program incentivizes plans to implement programs and procedures to better manage chronic conditions.

• Pre-Existing Conditions. The Act provides that group-health plans and health-insurance issuers offering group or individual health-insurance coverage may not impose any pre-existing condition exclusions with respect to such plans or coverage. Therefore, group-health plans that include such pre-existing condition exclusions will no longer be permitted.

Effective 90 Days After Enactment (i.e., June 21, 2010)
• Pre-Existing Conditions. The Act provides that group-health plans and health-insurance issuers offering group or individual health-insurance coverage may not impose any pre-existing condition exclusions with respect to such plans or coverage. Therefore, group-health plans that include such pre-existing condition exclusions will no longer be permitted.

Effective Six Months After Enactment (i.e., September 23, 2010)
• Additional Protections for Children. The Act: (1) bars health-insurance companies from imposing pre-existing condition exclusions on coverage for children and (2) requires any group-health plan or plan in the individual market that provides dependent coverage to continue to make that coverage available until the child turns 26 years of age, if the child does not have access to other health coverage (without regard to the child’s marital status).

• Lifetime Limits. The Act prohibits insurers from imposing lifetime limits on benefits. Additionally, beginning in 2014, the Act prohibits insurers from imposing annual limits on the amount of coverage an individual may receive.

• Preventive Health Services. The Act requires that all new group-health plans and plans in the individual market provide first-dollar coverage for preventive services (i.e., not subject to a deductible). Examples of preventive services include well-childcare visits and certain immunizations.

Effective January 1, 2011
• W-2 Reporting. The Act requires employers to disclose the value of the benefit provided by the employer for each employee’s health-insurance coverage on the employee’s annual Form W-2. This is a W-2 reporting obligation and will not result in additional taxable income to employees.

• Additional Tax for Health Savings Account (HSA) Withdrawals. The Act increases the additional tax for Health Savings Account withdrawals prior to age 65 that are not used for qualified medical expenses from 10 percent to 20 percent.

• Medicare Part D. The Act provides a 50-percent discount on all brand-name drugs and biologics in the “donut hole” and begins phasing in additional discounts in brand-name and generic drugs to completely fill the “donut hole” by 2020 for all Part D enrollees.

Effective January 1, 2013
• Healthcare Flexible Savings Accounts. The Act limits the amount of contributions to healthcare reimbursement flexible-spending accounts to $2,500 per year. No limit was previously imposed upon healthcare reimbursement flexible-spending accounts. This new limit will raise healthcare costs for employees with unreimbursed healthcare expenses in excess of $2,500 annually, to the extent the employee currently has a flexible-spending account that permits contributions in excess of $2,500—and would potentially create increased taxable income for employees.

• Limiting Deductibility of Executive Compensation for Insurance Providers. With respect to services performed after 2009, the Act limits the deductibility of executive compensation under section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code for insurance providers if at least 25 percent of the insurance provider’s gross premium income from health business is derived from health-insurance plans that meet the minimum creditable-coverage requirements. The deduction is limited to $500,000 per taxable year (as opposed to the typical $1,000,000 limitation) and applies to all officers, employees, directors and other workers or service providers performing services for, or on behalf of, a covered health-insurance provider.

• Medicare Part D. The Act eliminates the federal income-tax deduction for the 28-percent subsidy for employers who maintain prescription drug plans for their Part D eligible retirees.

• Itemized Deduction for Medical Expenses . The Act increases the income threshold for claiming the itemized deduction for medical expenses from 7.5 percent to 10 percent. Individuals over age 65 would be able to claim the itemized deduction for medical expenses at 7.5 percent of adjusted gross income through 2016.

Effective January 1, 2014
**Applies to Firms with 50 or more employees
• Promoting Employer Responsibility. The Act requires employers with 50 or more employees who do not offer health coverage to their employees to pay $2,000 annually for a “full-time employee” (an employee working 30 or more hours per week).

• The 50-employee threshold is based on the employer’s average number of employees on business days the preceding calendar year. Both full-time and part-time employees are considered in determining whether the employer has 50 or more employees; however, the number of part-time employees to be counted is determined by dividing the aggregate number of hours of service for those part-time employees for each month by 120. The $2,000 penalty then applies only to full-time employees.
• In order to encourage employers to expand beyond 50 employees, the first 30 employees are not included in calculating the applicable penalty amount.
• The penalty can also increase to $3,000 for a full-time employee receiving a federal tax credit in the exchange where the employer offers health coverage, but that coverage would be deemed “unaffordable” because the employee has to pay more than 9.8 percent of his or her income, or the employer contributes less than 60 percent of the actuarial value of the plan. Therefore, while employers are not required to offer health coverage under the Act, significant penalties may be imposed on those employers that do not offer it or that only offer health coverage deemed “unaffordable.”
• In addition, employers may still impose a waiting period for coverage without being subject to a penalty, but this waiting period may not exceed 90 calendar days.

**Note: firms with more than 200 employees must provide coverage, of which an employee can opt out.

Effective January 1, 2014 Continued
• Wellness Programs. The Act provides that employers can offer increased incentives to employees for participation in a wellness program or for meeting certain health-status targets. The Act permits rewards or penalties, such as premium discounts of up to 30 percent of the cost of coverage. Existing wellness regulations are limited to wellness incentives of up to 20 percent of the total premium, provided that certain conditions are met.

• Waiting Period. In addition, employers may still impose a waiting period for coverage without being subject to a penalty, but this waiting period may not exceed 90 calendar days.

• Exchanges. The Act provides for the creation of health-insurance exchanges at the state level in 2014, where individuals and small employers would be able to buy health coverage in a manner similar to that of larger employers. Initially, the state exchanges would be open to individuals and small employers with 100 or fewer employees, unless the state opts to limit this to organizations with 50 or fewer employees. Beginning in 2017, states would have the option to expand the exchange to larger employers.

Effective January 1, 2018
• High-Cost Plan Excise Tax. The Act imposes a nondeductible excise tax of 40 percent on insurance companies and plan administrators (including self-insured plans) for any health-insurance plan where the combined annual employer/employee premiums exceed the threshold of $10,200 for self-only coverage and $27,500 for family coverage. The tax would apply to the amount of the premium in excess of the threshold. An additional threshold amount of $1,650 for singles and $3,450 for families would be available for retired individuals over the age of 55 and for plans that cover employees engaged in high-risk professions (e.g., law-enforcement professionals, EMTs, construction and mining).