Benefits Administrators Telephone Seminars

Understanding Your Summary Plan Descriptions BenefitsEmployers who sponsor ERISA-covered health and welfare plans are required to communicate the terms of the plan to participants in a summary plan description. The SPD is an important disclosure document that describes, in understandable terms, the rights, benefits and responsibilities of participants and beneficiaries in ERISA-covered health and welfare benefit plans. The SPD must include  more...

Why Is This Guy Still on My Health Plan? BenefitsWe have encountered many situations where an employee remains on the company's health benefits as an active employee for many years past the date in which the employee was actively at work for the company. This live audio conference will answer a common problem employers experience, what date should an employee be treated as a terminated employee when he/she is on a leave of absence, or  more...

The Open Enrollment Challenge: Strategies for Success BenefitsIs your benefits information often greeted by a yawn? Are you viewed as the enemy because you tell your employees how much more they have to pay for benefits every year? And why does the good news always get lost in the mix? Sometimes, it's not so much what you say as how you say it - and how often. Communications should never be an afterthought. Make sure employees appreciate all your  more...

Self-Auditing Your Employee Benefits:A Guide to What May Need Fixing BenefitsStaying in compliance with the numerous complex requirements and the specific terms of your employee benefits plans is a monumental task. It is easy to have your time consumed by the day-to-day issues and questions that arise under your benefit plans and the typical annual processes and compliance requirements already in place. It is difficult to take the time to step back and ask what  more...

The Trickle Down Effect of Health Care Reform: A Potpourri of Payroll, Benefits, Income Taxes, and Other Changes BenefitsThe phased in requirements of health care reform require that you continually monitor the landscape to spend your benefit dollars effectively, while remaining compliant. This is an opportunity for employers to reassess their decisions and consider the future impact of this legislation. Attend this live audio conference and stay current on your compliance obligations, planning  more...

Using Human Capital Analytics to Maximize the Value of Your Workforce BenefitsMeasuring and maximizing the contribution people make to the bottom line is a critical issue for organizations, and analytics are the key to those insights. The challenge is using analytics to understand where making a change would improve engagement and performance. This audio conference addresses how to integrate the business and HR perspectives when conducting human capital analytics,  more...

Behavioral Based Interviewing: The Next Evolution BenefitsBecause your organization can never be greater than the sum of its parts, your success is determined by one key decision: Who gets hired? Yet fewer than 30 percent of hiring managers nationwide have had any real training in applicant interviewing skills (a fact supported by a University of Chicago research study concluding that basing a hiring decision on an interview is only 8 percent  more...

Form 5500 Reporting Update BenefitsEmployers who offer an employee benefit plan must file an annual report regarding the plan's financial condition, investments and operations, unless specifically exempt by law. Filing the Form 5500 will satisfy this requirement. This audio conference will help you understand when you need to file a Form 5500 and what you need to file, and will focus on some recent changes that may impact  more...

Phased Retirement in The New Economy BenefitsThe concept of phased retirement first gained popularity in the 2000s, primarily based upon the shrinking labor force and employers' concerns regarding the loss of valuable talent to retirement. As a result, Congress enacted certain legislative and regulatory rules regarding phased retirement arrangements. These rules seek to provide flexibility for older workers desiring to take part in a  more...

Illinois Leave Laws: Navigating a Minefield BenefitsAlthough the economy may have been stagnate, the legislature has not. Over the past couple of years, Illinois has passed or expanded numerous leave laws presenting even more obligations for employers. The interaction of these laws can be complex and difficult to institute. This teleconference will assist you in understanding their obligations in implementation and compliance. Leaves  more...

Recent Developments in Employer Liability for 401(k) Investments BenefitsUnhappy employees, U.S. Department of Labor investigations, IRS investigations, massive class action lawsuits - an ever-expanding list of factors bombards sponsors of 401(k) plans, and places companies and their management potentially in the cross hairs. From Enron, Worldcom and Sarbanes-Oxley, to the more recent massive class actions filed against Fortune 500 companies regarding 401(k)  more...

Jeopardizing Exempt Status BenefitsOnce exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act, employees do not necessarily remain exempt for the duration of their employment. Actions taken (or not taken) by employers can and do jeopardize the exemptions claimed, leading unknowing employers down the path to potentially ruinous liability for unpaid minimum wages and overtime. This teleconference is designed to help you identify issues  more...

Handling Paid Leave Requests in New Jersey BenefitsIn January 2009, New Jersey became one of only a handful of states mandating that certain kinds of family leave be paid leave. Paid leave brings with it new employer compliance questions. For example, what must an employer do when an employee makes a paid leave request? Who pays for such paid leave? What laws are implicated by such a request and who decides whether an employee is eligible  more...

Meeting Your Fiduciary Responsibilities Under ERISA BenefitsMaintaining an employee benefit plan subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 requires that people managing the plan or investing plan assets become fiduciaries. You need to know when they might become an ERISA plan fiduciary. You must understand your legal obligations to plan participants and beneficiaries. This teleconference will provide you with an overview of the  more...

Qualified Retirement Plans Eligibility and Vesting Tips and Traps for the Unwary BenefitsThis teleconference will familiarize you with the general rules of eligibility and vesting. It will also assist you with specifically interpreting the provisions of your own plans and introduce you to a variety of options in order to make sure you know what you have and have what you want. In addition, although many provisions appear to be straightforward, the practical application of  more...

Limited Medical Programs: How Employers Are Using Them to Control Health Care Costs BenefitsAfter years of increasing medical premiums, employers are hitting road blocks in cost saving measures. We are at a point of office visit co-pays approaching $50, prescription drug co-pays of $50 to $100, deductibles exceeding $2,000 for in-network benefits, and more and more premium cost shifting from employer to employee. Employee's are finding it hard to afford the per pay premiums and  more...

Health Insurance Basics For Employers BenefitsMany people do not understand the basics of health insurance. This includes people new to the health insurance industry or new to interacting with the industry. It also includes people who have been in or interacting with the insurance industry for a while but never received adequate training. Attend this teleconference and come away with an understanding of the basics of health insurance  more...

Providing Investment Advice to Retirement Plan Participants Without Triggering Liability BenefitsThe current recession and volatile financial markets highlight the importance of financial literacy. Until recently, retirement plan sponsors have been constrained in the types of investment advice that can be provided to plan participants. Plan sponsors have long wanted to provide the investment advice their participants desire, but without incurring liability for advice given in good  more...

Lawful Hiring BenefitsEmployers must navigate a minefield of complicated and, in some cases, conflicting laws that affect the hiring process Discrimination claims often arise out of the hiring process. The new U.S. Supreme Court decision in Ricci v. DeStefano, 557 U.S. ___ (2009) shows how an employer (the New Haven Fire Department in that case) can violate discrimination laws when taking steps to attempt to  more...

Current ERISA Fiduciary Issues for Financial Institutions BenefitsFinancial institutions have long been faced with difficult and complicated issues under ERISA's fiduciary rules. The current economic downturn has given rise to a new round of legislative and regulatory initiatives regarding ERISA's fiduciary rules and has more generally affected the manner in which ERISA may affect financial institutions. In addition, the regulatory environment continues  more...

Pay-for-Performance Redefined BenefitsA bevy of proposed regulations, a more active investor community, and unprecedented media attention continues to change the environment in which compensation committees operate. The pace and direction of change is volatile and while committees focus their attention on design efficacy and business results, the landscape is such that the historical pay-for-performance perspective is no  more...

Deductions From Pay BenefitsEmployers often have difficulties navigating through the complex requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Misclassifying employees' status can be costly to an employee. It is estimated that at least 70 percent of employers are not in compliance with the FLSA. As Department of Labor audits increase, it is critical for employers to understand the FLSA and to recognize the permissible  more...

Payroll Hiring Issues: Forms and Tax Credits BenefitsMany employers want to increase their level of payroll tax compliance by implementing policies and procedures with respect to obtaining necessary information from new hires that is related to the processing of payroll and payroll taxes. This teleconference will assist you in evaluating your current new hire process as it relates to the completion and filing of specific payroll related  more...

Preparing for an Unemployment Compensation Hearing BenefitsBeyond just the cost of unemployment compensation claims, an unemployment compensation proceeding is often the first confrontation with a future litigant. How the defense of unemployment claims is handled can often have a significant impact on the success of future litigation, and even whether such litigation occurs. This teleconference is designed to give employers a better understanding  more...

Controlling Health Care Costs With Self-Funded Plan Options BenefitsThis teleconference will address questions an employer must answer when deciding to switch from a fully insured health plan arrangement to a self-insured arrangement. The speaker will cover different self-insured health plan options, for example, preferred provider, HMO, health savings accounts and health reimbursement arrangements. The importance of choosing a third-party administrator  more...

Benchmarking your Health Benefit Program: How Do You Stack Up? nInformation is power. You can increase your competitiveness by knowing the kinds and the quality of health insurance other employers are offering. Measuring your health plan against meaningful benchmarks will help fuel your strategies not only for reducing cost, but also for recruiting, employee retention and health plan design. n nThis teleconference will work through several methods to  more...

Successful Strategies for Controlling Workers' Compensation Costs nMaintaining workers' compensation insurance is a necessary cost of business, but how do you stop the costs from spinning out of control? An effective workers' compensation program will utilize the available remedies to achieve the goals of reducing injuries, reducing benefit payment and reducing unsuccessful litigation results. This 90-minute teleconference will review the myths and  more...

Workers' Compensation Settlements nSometimes a workers' compensation case is litigated until conclusion, but many times the parties prefer settlement. This comprehensive teleconference will provide a summary of the do's and don'ts of settlements, what to consider, what to avoid, and how to most effectively ensure that you have considered every issue and have minimized your loss prior to signing on the dotted line.  more...

Same-Gender Marriage Rulings: Impacts on Employee Benefit Plans Across the Nation nIn May 2008, the California Supreme Court ruled that the state cannot deny same-gender couples the right to marry. Same-gender couples - many of them, in fact - flocked to California and started getting legally married on June 17, 2008. But then in November 2008, California voters approved Proposition 8, which bans same-sex marriage going forward. Massachusetts and Canada also allow same-gender  more...

Alternatives to Reductions in Force nLayoffs spawn headlines, adverse publicity and labor relations challenges. While the economic crisis has caused numerous companies to consider restructurings in response to a turbulent business environment, there are compelling business and legal reasons to consider alternatives to layoffs. This teleconference will address the legal and business cases for considering alternatives to layoffs and  more...

Understanding the COBRA Alternative Coverage Rules nThis teleconference is essential for company personnel who are involved with COBRA coverage and what can be done to reduce costs. In lieu of a company's traditional health plan, for COBRA purposes, the company is allowed to offer alternative health coverage although the procedure for doing so is quite complicated. n nDiscussed first is what constitutes the various forms of alternative health  more...