COBRA isn’t real, like Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy. I’m not saying that companies don’t have to follow the law. I’m just saying that there isn’t a basket of COBRA snakes in Washington, DC administering your health insurance like the IRS administers taxes.

A health savings account (HSA) is an interest-bearing bank account where you can put pre-tax dollars in and use them for healthcare costs. But to be eligible to contribute to an HSA, you need a special high-deductible, high-premium health (HDHP) health plan.

Since employer group plans need to offer the same coverage to everyone, employer-sponsored plans are sometimes the only way that people with serious or chronic health conditions can get any disability or life insurance at all. 

Most states have regulations that fall into a few easy categories: Do you protect 12 weeks of leave, even if the company isn’t covered by FMLA? Do you have a state-paid program?

The game begins. You have one calendar year to spend the money. The company has a year to collect it back from you. If you both follow the plan, you’ll both walk away scot-free, with the taxes you didn’t spend still in your pocket.

When someone is paid for a day they didn't work, it MUST be entered into payroll as some kind of Paid Time Off type. Otherwise, there's no way to pay it. Most of the uncommon leave types don't allow negative balances in payroll systems. So if your time off isn't allocated to another bucket, it can't get paid. The discrepancy could even block payroll and prevent everyone from getting paid.

Did you know that if your company has more than 50 employees (100 in CA, CO, NY, and VT), the employer sees all the prescriptions people take?  They don’t know who, but if there are fewer than 100 people it’s pretty easy to guess who needed a prescription to control their excessive underarm sweating. Or who's on Lithium.

Worst of all, striking fear into every HR leader and PeopleOps specialist is the Parental Leave Policy 😱. Parental leave isn’t just about giving people 12 weeks off. 

Hourly workers often accrue time off based on the time actually worked, which may or may not be under their control.

Although 401(k) compliance is simple compared to the regulations around other benefits like time off or health insurance, employers who offe