by James Benthusen | Apr 29, 2015 | Uncategorized |
Employment practices Liability Insurance (EPLI) Employment practices liability insurance covers you against claims made by your employees or candidates for employment that you did not hire. No matter the size of you company you are subject to federal, state and local laws regarding employment practices. Large companies are generally the target for these types of lawsuits but 40% of the lawsuits involve companies that employee 1-15 employees. Some examples of what these lawsuits can stem from are claims of: Sexual harassment Workplace bullying Discrimination Wrongful termination Breach of employment contracts Emotional stress The good news is you can take steps to reduce your risk of being involved in these types of suits. By establishing guidelines for management and employees you will not only be protecting your business but making it a great place to work. Employee handbooks are a great way to establish best practices for your management and employees. The handbook should consist of ways to communicate with management on harassment and other grievances. There needs to be an established procedure for dealing with employee discipline as well. Handbooks should also contain all of the federal, state and local regulatory compliance information as well. As a sign of the times you should also address your policy on social media and the workplace. There should be a requirement for all employees to read the handbook and acknowledge that they have read the handbook. There should be a record kept of that acknowledgement in case any future need may arise. For employment you should develop clear and defined job descriptions. These descriptions should include all of the required capabilities to...
by Yolanda Mercado | Mar 29, 2015 | Uncategorized |
Yes, you can. One of our clients who currently offers an HRA wanted to add an HSA to their benefit program. Before we go into the mechanics, let’s define an HRA and HSA . An HRA is a Health Care Reimbursement Account which is “funded” solely by the employer. The account is not actually “funded” but is set up as “pay as you go” to reimburse employee claims. Employees cannot contribute to an HRA and the reimbursed expenses are not considered taxable income for the employee. An HRA can only be implemented along side a group health plan – no stand alone HRA’s allowed. An HSA is a Health Savings Account. This account belongs to the employee but can be funded by either the employer or the employee or both. You can only participate in an HSA plan if you have a high deductible health plan. HSA’s have annual pre-tax contribution limits. For 2015, the maximum contribution is $3,350 for singles and $6,650 for families. Here’s the trick to using an HSA when an HRA is available. Before you can submit expenses for HRA reimbursements, you must meet the minimum annual HRA deductible which is $1,300 single and $2,600 family for 2015. For example, in 2015 I contribute $3,350 pre tax to my HSA for single coverage. I have a medical procedure which costs $2,300. I have to pay the first $1,300 to satisfy the HSA minimum deductible and then I can submit the remaining $1,000 of charges to my HRA for reimbursement. I am still able to keep the balance of $2,050 in my HSA for 2015. Although it...
