Benefits July 27, 2007

If You've Ever Emailed in Church…You Might be an Email Addict

July 27, 2007 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - AOL's third annual "Email Addiction" survey has found more Americans than ever are using portable devices to keep tabs on their email day and night and from virtually anywhere, including bed, cars, bathrooms and church.
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According to a press release on the survey results, the average email user checks mail about five times a day, and 59% of respondents with portable devices said they are using them to check email every time a new message arrives. Forty-three percent of email users with portable devices surveyed said they keep the device nearby when they are sleeping to listen for incoming mail.

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Fifty-nine percent of people emailing from portable devices confessed to checking email in bed while in their pajamas; 53% in the bathroom; 37% while they drive; and 12% check email while in church. Forty-three percent of email users surveyed said they check their email first thing in the morning, and 40% have checked their email in the middle of the night, the release said. Despite these findings, only 15% of all survey respondents described themselves as “addicted to email.”

Many of Americans surveyed are even planning their vacations with email access in mind. About four in ten email users said it is “very” or “somewhat” important to them to think about email accessibility when they are planning a vacation, and eighty-three percent of email users admitted to checking email once a day while on vacation.

In addition, the survey found 60% of people who email check their personal email at work an average of three times a day. Only 15% of those who do so have been “busted” by their bosses, but 28% said they feel guilty about doing it.

Intervention

If you feel you are an email addict and are in need of an intervention, Regina Lewis, AOL Online Consumer Advisor, offered some tips in the press release:

  • Organize: Use folders provided to file messages appropriately. Simple drag and drop technology allows you to file your messages by category, and can help avoid repetitive communication.
  • Use the away message: If you feel compelled to answer every email as it comes in, use your away message to let people know that you have stepped away from email for the day (or night), and will respond when you return.
  • Follow the Rule of Three: If you have emailed back and forth with the same person on the same topic more than three times, it is time to pick up the phone and have a conversation.

Interviews for the survey were conducted online with 4,025 Americans age 13 and over June 9-19, 2007. More information is at www.switched.com .

Benefits July 26, 2007

San Francisco Claims Solution to ERISA Preemption of Health Care Law

July 26, 2007 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Lawyers for the San Francisco City Attorney's Office claim they have found a way to overcome federal pre-emption of the city's new universal health care mandate.
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A deputy city attorney defending San Francisco’s law in federal court says recent laws in Maryland and New York were defeated in court because they required businesses to pay the government without the government directly giving them anything in return, according to The Recorder. The San Francisco law requires employers who do not offer private insurance to pay an amount to the government and in exchange the city would provide their employees discounted health benefits.

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A district court and the 4 th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a universal health care law in Maryland, ruling that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) prohibits states from regulating employer benefits (See MD Abandons ‘Wal-Mart’ Health Care Bill Fight). A district court in New York struck down the Suffolk County Fair Share Health Act for the same reason (See ERISA Preempts New York Health Care Law Targeting Wal-Mart).

In November, a restaurant association filed a lawsuit against the city of San Francisco, claiming it too is preempted by ERISA (SeeSan Francisco Restaurants Rally Against New City Health Plan). The Recorder reports that an attorney for the Golden Gate Restaurant Association said he does not think there’s any “functional difference” between San Francisco’s plan and the “pay-or-play” policies that came before.

The plan “does what other pay-or-play laws already did, which is require employers to pay a certain amount or a certain percentage in order to fund employee health benefits. As noble as the city’s goals are, it’s an area that Congress intended was going to be regulated on a national basis,” said Richard Rybicki, according to the newspaper.

The city claims the difference between the San Francisco ordinance and those that have come before is that employers are allowed in the city’s plan to comply however they want, rather than having a method of compliance imposed or them or facing a fine.

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