Benefits April 26, 2006

Tardy Workers not Fooling the Boss

April 26, 2006 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Thirteen percent of workers say they arrive late to work at least once a week and 24% say they do so at least once a month, according to a survey by CareerBuilder.com.
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HR.BLR.com reports that the survey found that one-in-five workers make up fake excuses for being tardy. However, they are not always fooling the boss. Thirty-five percent of responding managers said they do not believe the tardy worker’s excuse most of the time.

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According to HR.BLR.com, Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources for CareerBuilder.com said, “Thirty percent of hiring managers say they don’t care if their employees come in late as long as their work is completed on time with good quality. However, one-in-ten hiring managers say they would consider terminating an employee if he/she arrives late once or twice in a given year. One-in-five say a pink slip may be in order if an employee is late three times in a year.”

Primary causes for tardiness, cited by employees, were traffic (27%), falling back to sleep (11%), and getting kids ready for school or daycare (10%). Other reasons cited included forgetting something at home, feeling sick, and not being able to find the house or car keys.

In addition, the survey found that most tardies occur on Mondays, according to 64% of hiring managers surveyed.

Benefits April 25, 2006

Texas Senator Proposes $100 Million Increase In Teacher Retirement Fund

April 25, 2006 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Texas State Senator Robert Duncan is proposing a $100 million infusion into the state's pension fund for public school employees, a group that has not had an increase in retirement benefits since 2001.
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‘s bill would increase the state’s contribution to the fund to 6.4% of pay, up from 6% percent now, which is the minimum under the state constitution, according to reports from the Austin American Statesmen. The senator said the plan does not call for immediate raises, but is meant to hike pension checks in 2009 if the fund continues to meet its investment targets.

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‘s proposal would put an extra $100 million into the fund for the fiscal year starting September 1. The state’s decreasing contribution, in percentage terms, is a big reason the fund has less money than it needs to pay promised benefits, according the American Statesmen article.

The teacher fund provides health insurance, pension checks and other benefits to 1.1 million active and retired teachers. The system paid out $5.4 billion in benefits last year, but recorded a $13.2 billion shortfall as of August 31.

The paper reported that the state Senate Finance Committee on Monday considered the matter but made no decision. The pension fund isn’t on the list of subjects Governor Rick Perry has allowed lawmakers to consider in the special session focusing on public school funding.

Other lawmakers have also proposed more generous legislation that would boost the state’s teacher retirement fund. Representative Craig Eiland has introduced legislation calling for a 7% contribution, which would cost the state $300 million in the next fiscal year.

In July of last year, the Texas governor signed a bill that would slightly reduce the pensions for the youngest two-thirds of state retirement system members and increase the retirement age would rise from 55 to 60 for teachers hired after September 1, 2007 (See Texas Governor Signs Pension Changes into Law ).

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