Benefits April 15, 2011

College Faculty Embrace Social Media in the Workplace

April 15, 2011 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - College faculty are twice as likely as other workers to use social media as part of their job, according to a new survey from the Babson Survey Research Group and Pearson.
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The survey of nearly 2,000 faculty found that more than 90% of college faculty use social media in the workplace, compared to 47% of employees in other industries.  According to a press release, 80% of respondents report using social media for some aspect of their course.  Of those, nearly two-thirds use social media within their class session, and 30% post content for students to view outside of class.    

More than 40% of faculty say they require students to read or view social media as part of a course assignment, and 20% assign students to comment or post to social media sites.  Almost half of faculty use video and other sites in their teaching, with another one-third using video only, the press release said.  

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The greatest number of faculty using social media to support professional career activities use YouTube, Facebook and blogs.  Facebook daily use at 11% exceeds all other sites.  The majority of faculty report visiting more than one social media site for personal use, and nearly 30% visit three or more sites. Facebook and YouTube are the sites most visited for personal use.  

In addition, faculty say concerns about privacy, the integrity of students’ submissions and the time required of faculty are important or very important barriers to social media use. Still, the overwhelming majority believe there is value in social media for teaching, with YouTube, other online video and podcasts seen as the most valuable for class use, followed by blogs.
Compliance April 14, 2011

Court Rules Death Benefits Should Go to Estranged Ex

April 14, 2011 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – A federal court has found a deceased woman’s estranged ex-husband is due her employer-sponsored life insurance benefits.
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According to the Courthouse News Service, although Robert Alsager had signed a separation and property-settlement agreement with his ex-wife releasing claims to her estate or property, a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said it leaned heavily on the 2009 decision for Kennedy v. Plan Administrator for DuPont Savings & Investment Plan, in which the U.S. Supreme Court concluded that a claim for benefits must stand or fall by the terms of the plan.  

“We see no need and possess no warrant to unwind Kennedy and make a puzzle of plan administration … inasmuch as MetLife did what the law required it to do, the case against it must be dismissed and the judgment of the district court must be affirmed,” Wilkinson wrote, the news report said.  

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Courthouse News Service reports that Emma C. Boyd was an employee of Delta Airlines and participated in a life insurance plan administered by MetLife. When she joined the program, she designated her then-husband, Alsager, as the primary beneficiary of the plan, and designated her mother as the contingent beneficiary n the event that Alsager refused to take the benefits.  

In spite of their separation and property-settlement agreement, Boyd never changed the beneficiary designation on file with MetLife. When she died in 2008, the Boyds filed a claim for the benefits from the life-insurance policy, as did Alsager, despite his having signed the settlement agreement. 

Relying on the plan documents on file, MetLife determined that the benefits should be paid to Alsager and denied the Boyds’ claim. A lower court agreed this was correct. 

 

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