Legally Required Benefits.docx - Legally Required Benefits...

Legally Required Benefits
Origins of Legally Required Benefits
 Established to protect individuals from catastrophic events
 Disability
 Unemployment
 Protection programs to:
 Promote worker safety and health
 Maintain family income streams
 Assist families in crisis
 Enable retirees to maintain subsistence income levels

 Provided a form of social insurance
 Reasons for implementation
 Rapid growth of industrialization in early 1900s
 Hardships caused by the Great Depression in the 1930s
Four Categories of
Legally Required Benefits
 Social Security Programs
 Unemployment insurance
 Old Age, Survivor, and Disability Insurance (OASDI)
 Medicare
 Workers’ Compensation
 Family and Medical Leave
 Health insurance
Unemployment Insurance
 Temporary income for spells of unemployment that result through no
fault of the employee
 An employee who is terminated for cause (ex. poor performance) does
not qualify
 An employee who is terminated as part of a company layoff is eligible

Unemployment Insurance Eligibility
 Able and available for work
 Actively seeking work
 Has not refused suitable work
 Must be employed for the last four or five quarters prior to becoming
unemployed, known as the base period
OASDI
 Old Age, Survivor, and Disability Insurance (OASDI)
 Enacted in 1935 for retirement insurance
 Survivors’ insurance added in 1939
 Disability insurance added in 1965
OASDI Survivor’s Benefits
 Based on Eligibility Status and Relationship
 Deceased was fully insured
 Dependent, unmarried children
 Widows aged 60 and older
 Dependent parent aged 62 and older
 Average monthly benefit was $1,253 in 2015
Disability Benefits
 Worker was fully insured (40 quarters of coverage)
 Eligibility varies according to age and disability. Younger workers need
fewer quarters of coverage because they have fewer years to
accumulate quarters.
 Disability must last one year or be terminal
 Average monthly disability benefit was $1,146 in 2015
Medicare
 Health insurance coverage for citizens aged 65 and older
 Provided insurance coverage for:
 Hospitalization
 Convalescent care
 Major doctor bills
 Prescription drug costs

Options for Receiving Medicare
Workers’ Compensation
Workers’ compensation programs, run by states individually, are designed to
cover expenses incurred in employees’ work-related accidents.
Workers’ Compensation Objectives
 Provide income and medical benefits
 Reduce litigation
 Relieve charities’ financial drain
 Eliminate legal fees and time
 Encourage employer safety
 Promote accident study and avoidance
Family and Medical Leave
 Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
 12 weeks of unpaid leave for:
 Birth, adoption, foster care
 Serious family medical problems
 Worker’s serious medical problem
 Retention of:
 Seniority
 Health insurance
coverage
 Credit for previous
service
 Accrued retirement
benefits