Compensation benefits
Mandatory benefits
Employees earning less than $23,600 an year are guaranteed overtime protection for work hours exceeding 40 hours per week at pay of at least half of their regular pay. Unemployment compensation is a temporary and partial wage replacement for employees who lose jobs involuntary; it is paid within the terms and conditions of relevant federal and/or state laws. Hazard pay is a mandatory pay benefit to pay employees higher than their normal wage when they work on a work duty that causes extreme stress and/or physical discomfort. However, terms and condition of the pay structure is subject to the discretion of the employer.
The federal government has set the minimum wage at $7.25 an hour though different states may set a higher minimum wage, which the employee is entitled to the higher of the two. One of the exceptions to minimum wages occurs in workplaces where employees receive tips: the employer is mandated to pay a minimum of $2.13 an hour. However, the state/federal minimum wage less the tips should not exceed the employer’s pay in such cases. Additionally, workers below age 20 have a minimum of $4.25 an hour for first 90 days of employment and $5.85 an hour thereafter. Sub minimum wage rates are provided to individuals issued department of labour’s wage and hour division; the eligible individuals include vocational students, full time students (employed at retail, service, agricultural or higher education institutions) and individuals impaired by physical and mental disability (United States Department of Labor, 2013).
Family and medical leave benefits
Mandatory benefits
Family and medical leave act mandatory benefits cover employees of firms with more than 50 employees in 75-mile radius. Eligible employees must have been employees of the organisation for more than a year. The benefit provides eligible employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave in the following circumstances: birth and care of new born child; placement of a foster care or adopted child with the employee; care of immediate family member with serious health ailment; medical leave for employee during a serious health ailment. Furthermore, in case an employee has an immediate family member in the military, the employee can receive an up to an additional 14 weeks per year for their care in a qualified medical emergency on active military duty. During period of FMLA leave, employees are entitled to continue receiving benefits of health insurance of their place of work. Finally, the act allows for flexible work schedules allowing part-time work to be calculated in the work days (DeCenzo and Robbins, 2012).
Consolidated omnibus retirement reconciliation act (COBRA) provides for the employee and his or her dependants to continue to enjoy group health benefits when they lose their health benefits as a result of a loss of job, divorce and death among other reasons. COBRA benefits are mandatory for health plans covering more than 20 employees and are provided for a limited period of time up to 18 months. However, even after the job loss the individual receiving the benefits should continue paying premium for the health cover.
Work accident and Disability benefits
Mandatory benefits
Workers compensation benefits are mandatory benefits for covering lost wages and medical bills for injuries of employees at place of work. Additionally, an employer may provide disability insurance, which is a mandatory benefit in the states of California, Hawaii, New York and Rhode Island; the mandatory benefits range according to state of residence. Social security disability benefits are also mandatory and cover only total disability for eligible jobs types among other requirements for the benefits (Dessler, 2013).
Voluntary benefits
Short-term disability policies cover employees for medical bills and loss of income against short-term disabilities at their place of work, depending on the terms and conditions of the policy. Dental policies cover employees’ dental costs to given degrees as per policies at medical facilities to cover x-ray, emergency oral evaluation, can even include surgery. Vision policies are also emerging as an important staple of health voluntary benefits policies. In addition to this, the firm may provide a health cover to cover general medical expenses to given considerations for employees and their immediate dependants (Met Life, 2013).
Important Voluntary benefits
Critical illness, accident and life insurance benefits
Life insurance provides dependants of an employee with their immediate and future financial needs in case of death of employee. Critical illness and accident insurance covers employees in case of occurrence of critical illness and occurrence of accident respectively. Critical illness includes covers for among others cancers and heart attack. The benefits can be paid in full or partially (requiring employee to top up a given amount). Over 20% of firms of all sizes (larger than 10 employees) across the United States provide these three voluntary benefits thus along with health insurance are considered a basic staple before provision of other forms of voluntary benefits to employees (Eastbridge Consulting Group, Inc. , 2012).
Retirement benefits and paid time off
Retirement programs either fully paid (defined benefit plans) or partially paid (defined contribution plans) monthly contributions accumulating in a fund, which is paid to employees plus interest as a fixed, variable or/and lump-sum income during retirement. Paid time off benefits secures wages during holidays, sick and vacation leaves (DiBella, 2009).
Emerging voluntary benefits
Financial and legal advisory benefits
An employer can provide legal advisory benefits paid by the employer fully, partly or at a discounted rate after negotiation with an advisory firm. It may include will and estate planning, personal dispute, housing purchase and divorce among others. Debt and financial counselling provides employees are emerging as important to firms as it reduces employee financial stress. Concierge services help employee have a work life balance it includes day care services, gym and sport facilities club membership programs. Other voluntary benefits programs include Pet insurance; allowing employees to work from home on given days; 24/7 nurse hotlines and virtual telemedicine; unlimited vacation programs; tuition re-imbursement (Mannino, 2013).
References
DiBella, J. (2009). The emergence of voluntary benefit plans: what you need to know. Employee benefits consulting. Retrieved from http://www.connerstrong.com/resources/site1/news/emergence%20of%20voluntary%20benefits%20plans.pdf
Dessler, G. (2013). Human resource Management. 13th edition. Prentice Hall.
DeCenzo D.A. and Robbins, S.R (2012). Fundamentals of Human Resource Management, Tenth edition. Wiley Publishing.
Eastbridge Consulting Group, Inc. (2012). Trends in Voluntary Employee Benefits. Eastbridge Consulting Group, Inc Retrieved from http://www.shrm.org/multimedia/webcasts/Documents/12lowerre.pdf
Mannino, B. (2013). The New Voluntary Benefits Companies are offering to Lure Top Talent. Fox business. Retrieved from http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2013/08/26/new-voluntary-benefits-companies-are-offering-to-lure-top-talent/
Met Life (2013). Voluntary benefits. Met life. Retrieved from https://www.metlife.com/brokers/benefit-products/voluntary-employee-benefits/index.html?WT.mc_id=vu1582
United States Department of Labor (2013). Wages. United States Department of Labor. Retrieved from http://ww.dol.gov/doi/topic/wages.htm
