employment benefits liability

• Lawmakers Want to Fix Public Retiree Health Costs

After defeating legislation earlier this year to pay down the state's $8 billion unfunded liability for future health-care costs for retired state and public school employees, some lawmakers said Tuesday they hope to have another plan ready to submit to the governor's office by next month. Sen. Brooks McCabe, D-Kanawha, co-chairman of the finance interim subcommittee, said Tuesday he would like to see the "other post- employment benefits" liability issue on the agenda for a planned special session on legislative redistricting, tentatively scheduled for August.

• Charleston Gazette
• June 15, 2011

• School Districts Line Up to Sue State Over Benefits

At issue is what exactly school districts are required to report in terms of their liability for providing state-mandated other post-employment benefits, or OPEB, for retired personnel, according to information provided by Howard Seufer Jr., an attorney with Bowles Rice McDavid Graff & Love of Charleston, which is representing the school districts.

• State Journal, The
• October 14, 2009

• Bills Introduced at City Council: Increase

Firefighters would no longer get sick leave that they can stockpile and convert to health insurance benefits, and sewer rates would go up throughout the city under bills introduced Monday at Charleston City Council. Mayor Danny Jones said he came up with the sick leave freeze for firefighters at a staff meeting Monday morning as a way to cut the city's huge other post-employment benefits (OPEB) liability.

• Charleston Gazette
• November 08, 2011

• Tomblin Delivers State of the State Address: ; Governors Speech Urges Drug Tests, Mine Safety

Inside Business, labor leaders laud speech / 10A Some lawmakers say address lacking in specifics / 10A Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin unveiled his legislative agenda Wednesday night by asking for mandatory drug testing of workers who try to enroll in taxpayer-funded job training programs, new mine safety regulations and new incentives to lure multinational petrochemical companies looking to settle here. Democrat Tomblins annual State of the State address marked the beginning of the 60-day legislative session. In a speech to House and Senate lawmakers in the House chamber, Tomblin continued to tout the governments stable fiscal position, which stands in contrast to budget cuts and public employee layoffs that have occurred in other states across the country since the economy dived several years...

• Charleston Daily Mail
• January 12, 2012

• State Nears Solution for Retiree Benefits Funding

BECKLEY - One cannot easily forget an $8 billion debt. Mindful of that, an interims panel has worked diligently, in the shadow of such legislative giants as Marcellus shale and redistricting, to come up with a plan to erase the staggering liability of Other Post-Employment Benefits.

• Charleston Daily Mail
• July 26, 2011

• 20 CFR 725.495 - Criteria for determining a responsible operator.

... the miner most recently, then the liability for any benefits payable as a result of such emplo...(4) If the miner's most recent employment by an operator ended while the operator was author...

• Code of Federal Regulations - Title 20: Employees' Benefits

• Group Grapples with $7 Billion Liability: ; W.Va. Only Socking Away Funds for Current State Retirees, Must Find Way to Fund Future Ones

If state government started saving up for the health premium costs promised to public workers in retirement - much like parents start saving for kids to go to college - it would need to sock away about $669 million beyond the $123 million it is projected to spend on current retirees this year, state officials say. That is the difference between the pay-as-you-go method the state has been using to cover retiree health costs and what it would need to begin covering the unfunded liability from other post-employment benefits, or OPEB, to amortize the pledge over 30 years. The unfunded liability is a moving target officials have recently estimated at $7 billion.

• Charleston Daily Mail
• September 01, 2009

• Working Mothers Don't Breast-Feed Enough

Many working mothers in this country and abroad do not breast- feed their babies, suggesting maternal employment can be a liability in providing infants with the benefits of breast milk, according to new research. A lot of new mothers start out breast-feeding [when they return to work]. But during the first two weeks, if they don't get the support they need [to continue breast-feeding], they quit," said Lori McBride, national coordinator of Nursing Mothers Counsel, a California-based group that encourages mothers to breast-feed.

• The Washington Times
• May 31, 2006

• Is This Crisis for Real?

Phil Kabler recently told readers the state's $8 billion unfunded retiree health-care liability, or Other Post Employment Benefits, represented "the biggest financial crisis facing the state. Lawmakers are now poised to set aside $600 million to help fund the liability. While it's hard to deny that this is a problem, we should respond judiciously and not overreact. A failure to do so could damage the state's ability to make the important investments in its people and infrastructure that form the foundation of our economy.

• Charleston Gazette
• June 15, 2010

• New York Court of Appeals Rules Self-Insured Employer May Be Liable for Um Benefits

Workers' compensation exclusivity does not bar a self-insured employer's liability for uninsured motorist benefits claimed by an employee injured in an automobile accident, New York's highest court has ruled in affirming judgment. The plaintiff was an employee of the defendant. He suffered injuries in an accident with an uninsured driver while driving a company car in the course of his employment.

• Lawyers USA
• December 28, 2011