Every year starts with a flurry of new laws and regulations that California employers have to contend with. And 2022 is no different as the California legislature had a busy year and the stresses of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in more activity. The end result is another round of new laws that employers need to…
Employers looking for ways to decrease their group health insurance outlays over the past decade have been turning to high-deductible health plans as they offer lower up-front premiums. In 2021, 51% of the U.S. workforce was enrolled in one of these plans, according to a recent survey by ValuePenguine.com. But successfully coaxing your employees to…
Increasing construction project delays are combining with a hardening market for builder’s risk and liability insurance to create headaches for project owners and contractors. If your project suffers from delays, you may find it difficult or costly to extend the length of your insurance coverage as insurers have tightened their underwriting policies and some have…
As we enter 2022, there are a number of changes on the horizon that plan sponsors need to be aware of as they will affect group health plans as well as employees enrolled in those plans. Some of the changes concern temporary rules that were implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, new rulemaking is…
Trade secret theft by employees is a serious and growing problem in the U.S. According to an analysis of federal court cases, 85% of such theft is committed by employees or business partners. Lately, companies have been focusing on high value, high-tech cyber attacks by outsiders that breach databases, but threats from the inside are…
Studies have found that nine out of 10 employees opt for the same benefits every year and that around a third of workers don’t fully understand the group health plan benefits they are enrolled for. Staying in the same plan after year can be a waste of money if someone is in the wrong plan…
Last year, most companies cancelled their holiday parties as COVID-19 case rates started surging after the Thanksgiving holidays and as people started spending more time indoors. Cases have once again been rising in the run-up to December, so many businesses are approaching their holiday plans with the safety of their staff top of mind. If…
Businesses are getting better at beating ransomware extortionists and more victims are refusing to pay to unlock their systems, according to a new report. The ratio of ransoms that the cyber criminals demand to ransoms actually paid fell to just 12% in the third quarter of 2021, compared to 44% in the same period in…
One mistake more and more employers are making is failing to file the required Affordable Care Act tax-related forms with the IRS. If you are what’s considered an “applicable large employer” (ALE) under the ACA, you are required to file with the IRS forms 1094 and 1095, often separately and before your annual tax returns…
There could be significant changes coming for a number of construction dual-classification codes that could see the threshold for the higher-wage workers jump by as much as $5 per hour. Currently, 16 of the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau’s construction and erection class codes are divided into two separate classifications based on the hourly wage…