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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: benefits

benefits stories: 23 news summaries

1 - 20 of 23 Stories | 1 2 Next >>

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'Everything But Marriage' Law for Gays Passes in Wash.

Referendum 71 expands benefits for same-sex couples

Nov 5, 09 8:20 PM CST
(Newser) - A measure expanding benefits for same-sex couples, dubbed the “everything but marriage” law, has passed in Washington state, the first time such an equality measure has been approved at the state level by voters. Referendum 71 currently has about 52% of the votes, and a margin of 60,000,... More »

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gay rights • Washington state • benefits • domestic partnership • Referendum 71

(Newser) - Regardless of how health-care reform eventually shakes out, one industry will likely reap a windfall: health insurance companies, reports the Los Angeles Times. All the leading overhaul proposals would require all citizens to have health insurance, which would guarantee tens of millions of new customers. "It's a bonanza,"... More »

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health insurance • legislation • lobbyists • health care reform • benefits • Washington lobbyists • President Obama • health insurance industry

(Newser) - Years of tax and budget cuts have left the nation's unemployment system badly weakened just as it's most needed, the New York Times reports. At least a million applications are still stuck in the system and many applicants have to wait months for their first check. Sixteen states have... More »

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recession • unemployment • unemployment benefits • benefits • payroll taxes

Get a Checkup or Lose Your Insurance

One company tries forcing employees to get preventative care

Jul 8, 09 2:23 PM CDT
(Newser) - How far can a firm go to improve the health of its employees? AmeriGas Propane's insurance costs were rising, its work force was aging, and its employees weren't getting preventative care. The company began voluntary programs to encourage healthy behavior that didn't work. So AmeriGas gave its workers a simple... More »

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cancer • health insurance • preventative medicine • diabetes • liver • medical examiner • benefits • doctor visit

(Newser) - The new GI bill going into effect Aug. 1 is the biggest expansion of the program since World War II, but the benefits are far from uniform, the AP reports. The new system determines the money a vet gets for college on a state-by-state basis. Full tuition is guaranteed at... More »

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veterans • higher education • US military • university • college tuition • GI Bill • benefits • Veterans Administration • state school

Analysis

Obama Offers Gays Too Little, Too Late

Toothless federal-benefits gesture falls flat in LGBT community

Jun 17, 09 11:42 AM CDT
(Newser) - President Obama’s memorandum giving gay federal workers some of the benefits straight ones enjoy has gone over like a lead balloon in the gay community, Politico reports. Advocates say it’s a weak gesture because the Defense of Marriage Act—which the administration recently defended—prevents it from including... More »

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Barack Obama • gay rights • benefits • Obama administration • President Obama • Defense of Marriage Act • gay activists

TALK SHOW ROUNDUP



 Biden: 'Real 
 Doubts' About 
 Iran Poll Results 

Elsewhere, officials spar over pending health care proposals

Jun 14, 09 11:11 AM CDT
(Newser) - Vice President Joe Biden this morning expressed “some real doubt” that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad legitimately won re-election in Iran, Politico reports. “There’s an awful lot of questions about how this election was run,” he told Meet the Press. On health care, Biden reiterated President Obama’s reluctance... More »

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Iran • Joe Biden • Mahmoud Ahmadinejad • Chris Dodd • Charles Grassley • talk show • health care reform • Kathleen Sebelius • benefits • Iranian election • Mir Hossein Mousavi

 Globe Union to Vote on Pay Cut 

Rejection could spark legal battle

Jun 8, 09 11:11 AM CDT
(Newser) - The Boston Globe’s biggest union votes today on whether to accept a $10 million cut to their wages and benefits, including an 8.4% pay cut, or to mount a legal fight with parent the New York Times Co., the Boston Herald reports. If the contract is rejected, the... More »

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wages • union • New York Times Company • contract • Boston Globe • benefits • Boston Newspaper Guild

 Got Talent 
 Dancer, 73, 
 Collects 
 Disability 



Shows little sign of ailment in routine

May 25, 09 11:21 AM CDT
(Newser) - A 73-year-old breakdancing grandfather may have more skills than just the moves he's flashing on Britain's Got Talent, reports the Daily Mail. Fred Bowers also collects more than $100 a week in disability for a bum leg not evident on the British reality show. “I’ve no idea... More »

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television • reality TV • dance • disability • benefits • Susan Boyle • Britain's Got Talent • Fred Bowers • break-dancing

COMMENTARY

 'Gay Tax' Hurts 
 Couples Tying the Knot 

Federal inequality lands same-sex couples in the poor house

May 16, 09 4:13 PM CDT
(Newser) - First comes love, then comes marriage, then the taxman, who penalizes same-sex couples with the “gay tax,” Nancy Goldstein writes on NPR. The media’s morality play about gay marriage has overshadowed the economic costs of inequality, argues Goldstein, who calculates her annual tax at $1,820 for... More »

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gay rights • gay marriage • benefits • taxation • Defense of Marriage Act

(Newser) - Hobbled by the recession, millions of Americans are struggling to navigate benefit programs that dispense aid in often arbitrary and frustrating ways, the New York Times reports. In many cases, it's all about geography. Need food stamps? It's better to live in Missouri than California. Unemployment? The lucky live in... More »

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US states • unemployment benefits • benefits • food stamps

New Owner's Cost Cuts Change Flavor at Budweiser

Jobs, perks, executive suites disappear

Apr 29, 09 7:50 AM CDT
(Newser) - Things haven't tasted the same since InBev's takeover—and makeover—of Anheuser-Busch, the Wall Street Journal reports. Cost-cutting has become paramount at a firm once known for its cushy treatment of employees. Jobs have been sliced, executive suites knocked down, and benefits like free baseball tickets made rare. Anheuser-Busch Inbev... More »

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cost cutting • Budweiser • benefits • Anheuser-Busch • InBev

 Firms Shave Costs 
 Without Layoffs 

Some workers willingly take wage cuts to save their jobs

Dec 22, 08 9:00 AM CST
(Newser) - Some companies are finding creative ways to cut labor, and keep it, too. Brandeis University, for example, convinced 30% of its instructors to forgo 1% of their pay. "It can save a few jobs," reasons an English prof who's hardly alone. Many workers have accepted reduced hours, unpaid... More »

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layoffs • recession • unemployment • labor costs • benefits • financial crisis

 Bailed-Out Bank Execs 
 Made $1.6B Last Year 

Execs made average of $2.6 million; Merrill Lynch CEO made $83 million

Dec 21, 08 3:45 PM CST
(AP) - Banks that are getting taxpayer bailouts awarded their top executives nearly $1.6 billion in salaries, bonuses, and other benefits last year, an AP analysis reveals. Benefits at bailed-out institutions like Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, and JPMorgan Chase included cash bonuses, stock options, personal use of company jets and chauffeurs,... More »

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executive compensation • Goldman Sachs • Merrill Lynch • bonuses • John Thain • benefits • JPMorgan Chase • financial crisis • Wall Street bailout • TARP

Welfare Rolls Rising for First Time Since '90s

Tide of middle-class jobless could seriously strain program

Dec 17, 08 7:57 AM CST
(Newser) - Welfare numbers are rising in many states for the first time since public assistance was redefined more than a decade ago, the Washington Post reports. The numbers are still small compared to the days before welfare was retooled to steer people into jobs, but at least a dozen states say... More »

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unemployment • US economy • Federal aid • unemployment benefits • welfare • benefits

'Brit Fritzl' Impregnated Daughters for Child Benefits

Rapist father lived off pay for incest babies

Nov 28, 08 4:02 AM CST
(Newser) - A British man sentenced to life for raping his daughters over a 30-year period wanted them pregnant so he could collect child benefits from the government, his sister-in-law told the Daily Telegraph. The man, 56, impregnated his two daughters a total of 19 times, resulting in nine children, two of... More »

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rape • father • Britain • benefits • incest • child rape

Google Cuts Back on Its
Food Perks

Problems in the kitchen will send employees home for dinner

Aug 25, 08 12:43 PM CDT
(Newser) - Life at the Googleplex just got a little less delicious. Google is cutting back on its famously generous food benefits, taking free dinners and free snacks off the menu, Valleywag reports. It’s a surprising change, since Google has milked its cafeteria for publicity, and recently told shareholders to expect... More »

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food • Google • perk • benefits • cafeteria

Employers Use Law to Withhold Benefits

Think you're covered? Not if your company decides you're not

Jul 5, 08 6:41 PM CDT
(Newser) - Thomas Amschwand was dying, but made sure his wife would collect on his $426,000 life insurance policy. Yet when he died, his boss withheld the money, and his wife was powerless—because a federal law stops workers from suing employers for large sums of health, life, or retirement benefits.... More »

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health insurance • lawsuit • benefits • US Supreme Court • life insurance • retirement benefits • Employee Retirement Income Security Act

 Silda Steps Out of Hiding 

Spitzer wife schmoozes in first appearance since hubby's sex scandal erupted in March.

May 22, 08 10:30 AM CDT
(Newser) - While the fictionalized "Law & Order" version of her husband's infamous sex scandal was airing on NBC last night, Silda Wall Spitzer emerged from 2 months of self-imposed exile to attend the Manhattan benefit for Children for Children, the Daily News reports. The wife of prostitute-patronizing former New York... More »

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New York City • sex scandal • charity • Eliot Spitzer • benefits • Silda Wall Spitzer

Military Death Payments Trouble Families

$500,000 windfalls for next of kin can cause confusion, discord

Mar 22, 08 8:23 AM CDT
(Newser) - The military pays $500,000 to the next of kin of every soldier killed in Iraq or Afghanistan, but the sudden injection of cash during a time of grief often throws survivors off balance. Young military spouses can struggle with money management and long-lost friends and relatives sometimes appear asking... More »

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War on Terror • US military • military spouses • compensation • benefits • military families • Iraq war • life insurance • Afghanistan war

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