Offering telemedicine could raise employer issues: Offering telemedicine services to employees can raise a number of legal issues, the most common being compliance with federal laws such as ERISA, COBRA, and HIPAA, as well as state laws concerning medical licensure and practice and informed consent.  Employers offering a telemedicine program to all employees regardless of their group health plan enrollment status could inadvertently create a separate ERISA group health plan. If the program provides primary care or prescription drug services, it would qualify as a separate group health plan under ERISA, COBRA, HIPAA and other federal laws, and would therefore be subject to those requirements under law. Further, all telemedicine programs are subject to HIPAA's privacy, security, and breach notification requirements.  Additionally, each state has medical licensing laws that may preclude or restrict a provider who isn’t licensed in the state from delivering telemedicine services and may also restrict the scope of benefits that providers can deliver over the telephone or internet. The best way to minimize the risk of creating a separate group health plan may be to permit only those employees who are enrolled in a group health plan to use the telemedicine benefits.  Employers should work with their attorneys to ensure compliance with all laws.  Source:  Fisher Phillips 2/1/18

More money or more recognition, what do employees want? A new Korn Ferry survey reveals that nearly half of professionals would prefer recognition over extra compensation. In the December 2017 survey of more than 850 professionals, 46% said they would prefer a promotion with no raise, with 54% saying they would prefer a raise with no promotion. Unfortunately, according to the survey, many organizations are not doing an adequate job of creating clear advancement opportunities for professionals. More than half (57%) of respondents who did not get a promotion within the last 12 months cited “bottleneck or nowhere to go” as the main reason. Nearly one-quarter (24%) said “office politics” got in their way of moving up the ladder. 35% of respondents said they did receive a promotion within the last year, and nearly half (47%) said they expect to receive a promotion in the coming year.  If they were passed over for a promotion, nearly one-third (29%) said they’d be on the job hunt, either immediately or as a passive job seeker. In terms of timing for promotions, 46% said they thought it was appropriate to be promoted after 2-3 years on the job. About a quarter (26%) said they should get a promotion after 1-2 years in a role, and 6% felt they should be promoted even if they’ve been on the job for a year or less.  Source:  CCH 2/7/18

Job movement highest since 2001: The U.S. Labor Department's monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) report published last week came on the heels of news that annual wage growth in January was the strongest in more than 8-1/2 years. The labor market is almost at full employment. The number of workers willingly leaving their jobs increased by 98,000 to 3.259 million, the highest level since January 2001. The quit rate increased to 2.2% from 2.1% in November. This rate, which the Federal Reserve looks at as a measure of job market confidence, has rebounded from a low of 1.3% in late 2009. The JOLTS report also showed that job openings, a measure of labor demand, decreased 167,000 to a seasonally adjusted 5.8 million. Still, job openings are not too far from a record high of 6.2 million touched in September. The decline in job openings in December was led by the professional and business services sector, which saw a decrease of 119,000. Job openings in the retail trade sector fell 85,000 while vacancies in construction dropped 52,000.  But job openings in the information sector increased 33,000 and the federal government had an additional 13,000 vacancies in December. The jobs openings rate slipped one-tenth of a percentage point to 3.8% in December.  Source: Reuters 2/6/18

Should I pay my employees in bitcoin? For the first time, a large, publicly traded company, Japanese web-business GMO Internet, announced that it will soon offer its 4,000 employees the chance to receive their pay in the world's most popular cryptocurrency: bitcoin. The single biggest advantage of bitcoin is its ease of use. When a payment is made, it's received instantly by the payee. There are minimal waiting periods for payments to clear, and administrative or processing fees are lower. Moreover, there are no exchange rates to navigate or other hurdles to clear when it comes to making payments across international borders.  However, federal and state law may not allow you to use bitcoin to pay employees' salaries. The federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires payment to employees in "cash or negotiable instruments payable at par," and because an employee in receipt of a certain number of bitcoins may not be reasonably capable of spending the currency as they see fit, it could create an illegal hurdle. It's crucial that the employees' base compensation is provided in standard currency that meets state and federal limits for minimum wage and overtime. For non-exempt employees, it may also be necessary to use the correct bitcoin value to determine the employee's average regular rate for purposes of calculating overtime.  Source: Fisher Phillips LLP 2/2/18

Employers may have to increase educational benefits for employees and their children: Americans enrolling in college over the next decade would receive about $15 billion less in subsidies than under current law if House Republicans pass their education bill. The bill would eliminate debt-forgiveness programs for future borrowers and allow interest on student loans to accrue sooner. But it would also boost grants—which don’t have to be repaid—for financially strapped borrowers and eliminate fees the government charges borrowers when loans are made.  In total, the changes would reduce government spending on student-aid programs by $14.6 billion over the next decade, compared with current law, the Congressional Budget Office said last week. Starting in 2019, no student who takes educational loans would be eligible for any loan forgiveness as those programs (10 years public, 20-25 years private employment) would be eliminated.  Employers may have to step up to ensure that they can recruit a qualified workforce as less may go to college due to costs, even though the complexities of all jobs grow.  Source:  The Wall Street Journal 2/7/18

Financial wellness training may be a more important benefit for employees today: Financial adviser Joseph Kelly visited a client who had seen the value of his retirement savings soar, thanks to a surging stock market.  "He said his account was up 18%, and he asked me, 'What should I do with it?'" recalled Kelly, who works in Berkeley Heights, N.J. His client was modestly wealthy, but Kelly still suggested holding tight.  The client had another idea: He wanted to take out $75,000 to help his son buy a house.  Why the worry?  The average annual return for 401(k)s hit 15.7% by the third quarter of 2017, according to Fidelity. Retirement assets - including annuity reserves, pensions, and defined contribution plans such as 401(k)s and IRAs - exploded in the United States from $11.6 trillion in 2000 to $27.2 trillion as of Sept. 30, 2017, according to the Investment Company Institute. Leah Daniels, 37, owner of Hill's Kitchen in Washington, said she likes seeing the rising balances in her retirement accounts. Yet it remains an abstraction because her retirement is years off.  "It feels like funny money," Daniels said.  The time has likely come for employers to provide financial training for their employees.  The market can turn, and today’s passion could cause tomorrow’s inability to retire.  Source: Chicago Tribune 1/29/18