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Compensation & Benefits

IRS consolidates two more payment field offices

05/20/2020
As of July 1, the IRS is closing two business payment P.O. Boxes (i.e., lockbox addresses) in the Cincinnati and Hartford areas.

It could happen: What you can do if state UC rates increase

05/20/2020
States may raise their unemployment contribution rates next year. Strategy: If you’re willing to budget just a little bit more—by paying so-called voluntary contributions—you may come out ahead.

Payroll practice essentials: W-4s for 2nd half of 2020

05/20/2020
Employees can rectify withholding mistakes during the second half of the year, but they must act fast.

Abortion excluded from 10% of employee coverage

05/19/2020
Ten percent of workers are employed by an organization that has asked their insurer or third-party administrator to exclude abortion coverage from their health plan, according to research by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

EEOC’s annual EEO-1 reports postponed until March 2021

05/12/2020
Employers won’t have to submit annual EEO-1 reports to the EEOC this year. The commission announced May 7 it was temporarily postponing collection of EEO-1 workplace demographic data because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Snapshot: What new benefits have employers introduced?

05/12/2020
46% of employers surveyed say they offer new well-being benefits because of the coronavirus outbreak. Here’s a sampling of recently added perks.

Review pension plan for age discrimination

05/07/2020
Here’s a $5.4 million reminder that discriminating on the basis of age when administering employee benefits violates federal law.

COBRA compliance, notice deadlines extended

05/07/2020
Because employers may be working with skeleton staffs, some of the necessary paperwork associated with coronavirus-related terminations may have slipped through the cracks. The federal government has extended several deadlines so employers can catch up.

Final regs delay health & 401(k) plan deadlines

05/06/2020
Final regulations and a separate disaster relief notice from the Department of Labor set up an outbreak period—running from March 1, 2020, until 60 days after the announced end of the coronavirus national emergency—that plans must ignore for purposes of employees’ health plan elections and 401(k) plans’ responsibility to provide notices to participants.

Coronavirus could actually cut employer health costs

05/05/2020
COVID-19 could reduce employer health care costs by as much as 4% in 2020, as medical care for noninfected patients has declined during the pandemic, according to a Willis Towers Watson analysis of large, self-funded employers, released May 1.