Benefits September 13, 2011

Seattle City Council Mandates Paid Sick Leave For Workers

 September 13, 2011 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – The Seattle City Council approved legislation yesterday requiring businesses to offer their workers paid sick leave, Seattle PI reports. 

 
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 According to the article, the measure, which takes effect September 2012, specifies the amount of sick time offered to employees would vary by the size of the business. The legislation mandates:

•  Employers with between one and four employees would not be required to offer sick leave. 

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•  Students in work-study jobs would also not be eligible. 

•  Businesses with up to 49 workers would have to offer up to one hour of sick time for every 40 hours worked. 

•  The biggest companies—250 or more employees—would also need to give paid time off equivalent, one hour for every 30 hours worked. 

•  The biggest businesses that already give PTO that combines sick time and vacation time into a "single pot" wouldn't have to offer 1.5 hours of paid time off for every 30 hours worked. 

•  Shift swapping would be allowed, and employees would have to work a minimum number of days to qualify. 

•  There's also now a requirement for an independent evaluation to assess what the impact of the new law on employers is, which will be overseen by the City Auditor. 

•  New businesses (those less than two years old) would be exempt. 

•  The right to sick leave could be negotiated away, with consent of unions.

Seattle PI reports that the Economic Opportunity Institute estimates nearly 200,000 workers in Seattle now get no paid sick days. 

Benefits September 13, 2011

Survey Shows Medical Insurance Costs on the Rise for the Not-For-Profit Industry

 September 13, 2011 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – The 2011 Compensation Data Not-For-Profit Survey results show organizations reported an average medical insurance premium increase of 9.9%. 

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 More than 70% of respondents indicated they pay more than $9,600 annually for an employee plus family plan.

“The rising cost of insurance premiums is something that continues to be an issue for employers,” said Amy Kaminski, Director of Marketing for Compdata Surveys. “To counteract these rising costs, organizations have to look in different directions in order to continue providing quality coverage for their employees.” 

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Premium costs remain high for not-for-profit organizations as 74.5% pay more than $7,200 for an employee plus spouse plan. Nearly 64% of survey respondents report paying more than $7,200 in premium costs for an employee plus children plan. Employee only plans cost employers between $2,400 and $7,200 per year. 

Employers are often forced to shift some of the cost to their employees in an effort to offset the increasing outlay. Organizations increased the employee portion of the premium at a rate of 54.4%, whereas 41.5% have increased deductible levels. More than 82% of organizations report utilizing coordination of benefits in an effort to avoid overlap of benefit costs. 

One way to reduce costs to the employer is through the type of plan offered. More organizations are beginning to offer a high deductible health plan (HDHP) to employees. In 2011, 20.7% of not-for-profit organizations reported offering HDHPs compared to just 13.2% in 2009. The most prevalent coverage offered among organizations is a PPO plan, offered at a rate of 82%. HMO plans are the second most common, offered by 41.1% of respondents. 

TheCompensation Data 2011 Not-For-Profit surveyed more than 100 industry-specific job titles and 350 benchmark titles ranging from entry-level to top executives. Data was collected from more than 400 not-for-profit employers reporting on nearly 1,300 locations across the country. The results provide a comprehensive summary of pay data, benefit information and pay practices with an effective date of March 1, 2011. 

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