Legally Required Benefits
How does Family and Medical Leave under FMLA protect workers?
What is workers can take time off without having to worry about being fired?
- FMLA covers birth of a child, caring for an immediate family with a serious/chronic medical condition, or caring for oneself with a serious heath condition. FML can be paid or unpaid depending on the state, but CA Family Leave is paid for up to 8 weeks with 60-70% of your weekly wages.
Is a company required to pay for your health care?
No, not all employers offer health insurance.
-If employers have 50 or more full-time employees then they are required to offer some form of health insurance benefit. Some pay for all of the insurance, others a portion.
What is the age you have to be to receive full benefits if you were born after 1960?
What is 67?
- Age is 67, but if you choose to retire early, your benefits will be reduced
What is a union?
What is a group of people working in the same or similar occupations, organized for the benefit of all.
Sexual Harassment is the only type of harassment to address
- HR will address sexual, physical, and emotional harassment, discrimination in the workplace, and more.
When can you start using your paid sick time in CA?
What is it depends on your employment.
-You start earning sick time immediately, but depending on your employer, you might not be able use it until 90 days after the start of your employment.
If you have medical insurance and gets injured, do you have to pay any out-of-pocket fee? If yes, what would you have to pay?
What is co-payment?
- Pay attention to the cost of co-payment, because that's the cost that is not covered by insurance.
What is the utilities industry?
They are one the few with pensions (guarantee pay each month until death -- not for a particular # of years)
If you have a problem at work and you have a union, who do you go to for help?
What is the business representative?
- The business rep will represent you as a perk of being in a union.
How is PTO (paid time off) accrued?
What is PTO varies between companies and it is important to ask.
- Some are accrued each pay period, quarterly, annually, or it's unlimited but it may or may not be asked/used regularly.
What is the length of unemployment compensation?
What is 26 weeks?
- Unemployment is administered by state and can very whether it's paid/unpaid and how long. In CA, it's 26 weeks, based on your average wages with payments up to $450/week.
This law ensures confidentiality of patient health information.
What is HIPPA?
- Because of HIPPA, patient confidentiality is kept regarding allergies, health history, etc.
What is Pensions, 401k/403bs/IRA's, and Profit Sharing Plans.
- Pensions have a fixed income for life (i.e. defined-benefit plan), rather 401k and IRA's employees put in what they want (employers may contribute) (i.e. defined-contribution plan). Profit sharing plans give employees a share of a companies of the company's profit based on company earnings, but it is up to the company how much of its profits to share.
How does pay increases work in apprenticeships?
What is Employment-at-Will?
Name 3 legally required federal benefits.
What is Medicare, Social Security, Workers' Compensation, Unemployment, and Family and Medical Leave.
Until what age can you still be under your parents' medical insurance?
What is 26 years old.
- It depends on the state/plan, but some states/plans are slightly different, so it can be the day you turn 26 or through Dec 31 of the year you turn 26.
How do you receive your full retirement account?
What is a strike?
What is when a group of workers stops working and withholds labor from the employer - putting economic pressure for the employer to take some action.
- unions tend to stand other unions to "not cross the picket line"
What are 2-3 important answers to know before accepting a job?
What is expectations about the job, onboarding, benefits: How long is the initial training period, probation, what is the realistically expected # of working hours each week? Is there room for advancement?
Name 4 employee benefits that are not federally required
What is retirement benefits, professional development stipends, fitness incentives, employee assistance programs, childcare benefits, sign-on benefits or pet insurance.
What is the most common healthcare plan for an organization?
What is a PPO (Prefer provider organization)?
- The 2 main types of healthcare plans are PPO and HMO (health maintenance organizations). The main difference is cost and choice. HMO is cheaper per month and the out-of-pocket cost is a little less than PPO. PPO have higher flexibility for providers without a referral. Kaiser is HMO.
What percentage of an employee's total compensation is benefits?
Benefits make up an average of 32% of an employee's total compensation in the US.
- Unions average ~40.5% of total compensation vs non-union at ~28.4%. Paying attention to benefits, emplyees may prefer to receive more in benefits than higher salary.
- According to US Bureau of Labor Statistics: Union average: $48.57, $19.65 is cost of benefits; Non-union: $34.16, $9.71 is cost of benefits
What is collective bargaining agreement? Name 3 items usually included
What is a written contract between an employer and a union that represents a group of employees (bargaining unit) in a workplace
- it usually addresses wages, benefits: health insurance, sick days, vacation, safety issues, and procedures for resolving disputes
What do you do in the event you don't agree with your performance review?
Schedule another meeting. Take some time to reevaluate the conversation, brainstorm examples, and prepare to discuss again.