Employers have now had a year to assess the cost impact of extending healthcare coverage to their employees’ adult children (up to 26 years of age) as required under the Affordable Health Care Act. Research out of the HR consulting firm Mercer suggests that the new requirement has led to an approximately 2% increase in overall healthcare plan enrollment so far. As a result, employers are starting to strategize around how to structure their employees’ premium contributions to minimize costs while balancing the burden fairly across their employee populations.

A member asks, “We have a two-day no-call absence policy that results in termination if an employee fails to provide notice of his/her absence and reason for it. Does this policy cause us any problems with disputing the employee’s unemployment compensation claim?”