Talking to Generation Z About Open Enrollment Many employees need help with open enrollment. This is particularly true among younger workers, who typically have less experience selecting benefits than older generations who have been in the workforce longer. Generation Z (Gen Z) accounts for a growing percentage of the workforce. These individuals, born between [...]
Deadline for Updating HIPAA Privacy Notices Is Approaching The HIPAA Privacy Rule generally requires covered entities (health plans, health care providers and health care clearinghouses) to provide individuals with a Notice of Privacy Practices (or Privacy Notice) to ensure they understand how their protected health information (PHI) may be used and disclosed, as well [...]
Significant Proposed Changes to the H-1B Visa Program On Sept. 24, 2025, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced a proposed rule amending its regulations governing the process by which the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) selects H-1B registrations. The proposed rule would implement a weighted selection process that would generally favor [...]
Workplace Impact of the Growing Gig Economy The gig economy is a system in which organizations engage individuals, often through digital platforms or intermediaries, for temporary or task-based work, rather than relying solely on full- and part-time employees. It’s quickly becoming a key component of the world economy. Organizations are increasingly turning to gig [...]
EEOC Increases Penalty for Violations of Notice-posting Requirements On Sept. 30, 2025, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) published a final rule increasing the maximum civil monetary penalty for violations of federal requirements for employers to post notices about fair employment laws in their employees’ workplaces. The EEOC is required to adjust these [...]
Key Drivers of 2026 Health Care Cost Increases Health care costs have been growing at an alarming rate in recent years, and they’re not slowing down. As such, surveys project that health care costs in the United States are likely to increase by 6.5% to, in many cases, as much as over 10% in [...]
Qualified Transportation Fringe Benefit Limits to Increase in 2026 The IRS has released Revenue Procedure 2025-32, which includes cost-of-living adjustments for employee qualified transportation fringe benefits for the 2026 taxable year, along with annually adjusted numbers for 2026 for other tax provisions. The combined monthly limit for transportation in a commuter highway vehicle and [...]
IRS Releases Health FSA Limits for 2026 On Oct. 9, 2025, the IRS released Revenue Procedure 2025-32 (Rev. Proc. 25-32), which includes the 2026 inflation-adjusted limit on employee salary reduction contributions to health flexible spending accounts (FSAs). For plan years beginning in 2026, the adjusted dollar limit on employees’ pre-tax contributions to health FSAs [...]
Why Health Care Costs Will Rise Significantly in 2026 Health care costs, and consequently employee benefit costs, have been growing at an alarming rate in recent years, and they’re not slowing down. Mercer projects that the total health benefit cost per employee is expected to rise 6.5% on average in 2026, which is the [...]
Federal Agencies Issue New Guidance on Offering Fertility Benefits On Oct. 16, 2025, the U.S. Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the Treasury (the Departments) jointly issued guidance that clarifies existing categories of excepted benefits that employers can use to offer fertility benefits. The guidance follows Executive Order 14216, which directed the [...]
