Insurance

$500 buys a lot of cigarettes

05/27/2008

Nobody really likes being reformed, and that can make administering corporate wellness programs tricky, as Whirlpool recently found out. The company suspended 39 workers at its Evansville plant after discovering they lied about being nonsmokers to get a $500 discount on health insurance …

After learning of possible serious medical condition, what are our legal obligations?

05/23/2008

Q. An employee told us he has a bad hernia. He wants to wait a couple months to have the operation, since it requires six weeks’ recovery. He does some lifting in his job. Yesterday, he had to go home early because he was in pain. Now that we are aware of his condition, what’s our liability? And what should we do?

Higher pay for LAX hotel workers as ‘Living wage’ law stands

05/16/2008

Hotels near Los Angeles International Airport will have to begin offering higher pay. The California Supreme Court has declined to review an appeals court decision upholding a city ordinance that requires the hotels to pay its workers the city’s living-wage rate …

Paying for insurance while on disability

05/15/2008

Q. We have an employee who is currently on short-term disability (STD) and is approaching long-term disability (LTD). Our company pays 95% of medical insurance premiums and 100% of STD and LTD premiums. The employee is no longer receiving a salary. Does our company have to continue to provide and pay for medical insurance? — K.M., Arizona …

Duluth: Municipal retirees should sign up for Medicare

05/13/2008

The city of Duluth says it can save up to $600,000 per year if 37 of its retirees sign up for Medicare. The city discovered during a recent audit that some of its retirees weren’t enrolled in the federal retiree health insurance program …

SE Michigan businesses leery of state-Run health care

05/09/2008

A survey of Southeast Michigan business owners by the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce indicates serious reservations among area employers about state-run health care …

Texas court to rehear ruling on whether premises owner can avoid tort liability

05/05/2008

The Texas Supreme Court in April granted a petition to rehear its decision that a premises owner was protected from tort liability under the state’s workers’ compensation law because it was also a general contractor …

Do we need an attorney to represent us during unemployment comp hearings?

05/05/2008

Q. Should a Texas employer hire an attorney to represent it in an unemployment compensation proceeding where the claimant is represented by counsel?

To avoid negligence liability, set strict control rules for contracted labor

05/02/2008

Employees who are hurt at work can collect workers’ compensation but generally can’t sue their employers for negligence. The workers’ compensation law makes employers immune from such additional lawsuits. But what if you contract with another company to provide on-site labor and someone gets hurt? …

Workers’ comp rates to drop 5% in July