Sample Answer for HRM-635 Topic 7 DQ 2 Included After Question
What are legally required benefits and why are they required by law? Can any of these benefits be waived? Provide an example. Provide one additional benefit that should be made into a legally required benefit.
A Sample Answer For the Assignment: HRM-635 Topic 7 DQ 2
Title: HRM-635 Topic 7 DQ 2
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In the United States, legally required benefits are social security, unemployment insurance, worker’s compensation and family medical and leave act(FMLA). The benefits are required by law to as a source of insurance and safety net for employees and their families. These legal benefits mostly cannot be waived as they are mandated by the federal government but certain individuals of religious groups can opt for a waiver of the social security tax. A benefit that should be a legally required by law is paid maternity leave. A lot of mothers unfortunately have to leave the workforce after giving birth to a child because they aren’t supported by their employers. Parental leave is an important benefit, about half of workers are women, about 80% of them will become pregnant during their work lives. (Dessler. 2020) With my 5 year old I took a 6 month leave from work that was 90% unpaid because, at the time, my employer did not have a maternity leave policy in place until 2019 and I felt it was important to bond with my newborn.
Dessler, G. (2020). Human resource management (16th ed.). Pearson/Prentice Hall.
Phillips & Gully (2019) state that there are three types of benefits: mandatory, customary, and optional. There are a multitude of legally mandated benefits afforded to employees. Depending upon where you live and work will dictate certain specific benefits that may not be applicable to someone in another geographic location. Federally, employees are entitled to social security benefits, Medicaid, and unemployment insurance for example. There are now further programs such as Paid Family Medical Leave, workers compensation, health insurance based upon number of employees, and paid sick leave. Additionally, there are jurisdictions with heavy unionized governments where these individuals are entitled to greater benefits simply for having a good government job. Optional benefits are where companies get to compete for employees based upon benefit that they choose to offer to their workforce. These types of optional benefits are more important than ever with how competitive the labor market is. Greater access to a better benefits packages also address the issue of attrition too. When I discuss the future with people my age, what happens in retirement, or rather when we can retire is a common theme. Folks who have government jobs or work in other unionized sectors, have some of the best retirement benefits available to workers. Unless I manage to make $100,000 per year here in Los Angeles for the foreseeable future, I will never come close to the retirement potential of someone who has a pension plan afforded to them. Social security income by the time I can even retire will not be sufficient to support myself. This leads me to another completely off topic, that according to the social security administration, I have put in my share of taxes to support what I will receive. This happened before I turned 40 this year. Everything I continue to pay is just extra that I will never see. I think having some way to mandate pension or 401k plans to those employees not eligible for them based upon the sector of work should be mandated. How that works is above my pay grade because I know it has to be paid somewhere, and the cost will be high.
Reference:
Phillips, J. M., & Gully, S. M. (2019a). Human Resource Management. Chicago Business Press.
Legally required benefits are mandated by state and federal law because they are focused on providing workers with basic welfare and security. (Armstrong & Mitchell, 2019) Legally required benefits include social security, Medicare, Medicaid (namely some level of health insurance), worker’s compensation, family and medical leave, state disability insurance, and unemployment insurance. Social Security is calculated based on number of years worked and earnings over that time frame, eligibility for this benefit starts at age 62. Medicare was developed to protect seniors from the increasing costs of health care not only system wide, but as individual needs change throughout aging and retirement. Eligibility for Medicare starts at age 65, which is the standard retirement age in our country. (Armstrong & Mitchell, 2019)
Ironically, legally required benefits only represent approximately 8% of costs for employers when it comes to employee compensation. (Dessler, 2019) Furthermore, some benefits can be waived by the employee, but may require proof of health coverage under another qualifying plan. For example, my family and I are covered under my husband’s medical insurance through his place of employment. Because of that coverage, I waive health insurance at my place of employment and am allowed to do so upon proof of insurance under my husband’s plan.
One benefit that should be considered legally required is paid time off to cover sick time, holidays, vacation, and specifically paid time off for jury duty. Jury duty is a civic obligation that most people are required and called to participate in at some point. Having a way to prevent that duty from being detrimental to a household income seems equitable for those who may be impacted.
References
Armstrong, S., & Mitchell, B. (2019). Chapter 6 – Benefits. In S. Armstrong, & B. Mitchell, The Essential HR Handbook, 10th Edition. Career Press. Retrieved from https://library-books24x7-com.lopes.idm.oclc.org/assetviewer.aspx?site=C3VGQ&bookid=141667&chunkid=127726560&rowid=206
Dessler, G. (2019). Human resource management (16th ed.). Pearson Education.
