Who has the biggest HSA balances, FMLA don’ts, and how your wellness program could win you a trip to the White House: 3 things you need to know this week

Wealth a bigger driver of HSA balances than health status

Remember all of those detractors who claim health savings accounts are only for the healthy and wealthy? They may be on to something, according to new research from the Employee Benefit Research Institute.

The organization reveals this week that an analysis of HSAs shows that account balances increase with household income and that people who exercise have higher balances than those who don’t.

By comparison, people who don’t exercise, are obese or have household incomes of less than $50,000 post smaller HSA balances.

Also, for all of you who tie wellness incentives to HSA contributions: EBRI finds little difference in account balance between people who participated in a wellness program compared to those who didn’t.

Calling an employee on FMLA could land you in court

Feeling tempted to make a quick phone call to an employee on Family and Medical leave with just one teensy question? Don’t dial! According to a story from HR Benefits Alert, that call could send you to court.

Case in point: Vess v. Select Medical Corp.

Julie Vess, a former employee at Select-owned Regency Hospital in Ohio, was on FMLA leave recovering from knee surgery but says she had to field phone calls from colleagues, her boss and the employee covering for her—and that one such call lasted about an hour. Vess also claims she had to complete a training course, data entry and performance reviews for her direct reports.

Then, when she returned to work, she was terminated for reasons unrelated to her leave. However, she filed suit, claiming her FMLA rights were interfered with.

A court ruled Vess’ statements about the work she had to do while on leave were enough to show she may have been denied FMLA benefits, clearing the way for the case to go to trial.

The folks at HRBA offer a few tips to keep employers from speed-dialing their way into a courtroom, most about proper pre-leave planning like passing along institutional knowledge—client/customer information, technology passwords, upcoming deliverables and so forth.

Sound advice. But the easiest rule of thumb to follow is: If you don’t want a trial, you don’t want to dial.

This week’s hidden gem: Brag about your wellness achievements, get a trip to the White House

Everybody wants to win something, especially a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. How does a trip to the White House sound?

The Obama administration is calling for nominations for its “Champions of Change” distinction. Got a particularly strong wellness champion at your workplace or in your community? Throw their hat in the ring! The White House seeks to celebrate “local change-agents, whose exemplary leadership is helping to improve health outcomes and reduce health disparities” at a Champions of Change event next month.

Specifically, the administration is looking for people who are taking “innovative approaches to support longer, healthier lives in communities across the country.” A potential Champion’s work might involve:

• Supporting community and clinical prevention efforts to address chronic disease, increase education and outreach, and integrate primary and behavioral health;
• Creating healthy and safe communities by promoting healthier schools, homes, and workplaces that make the healthy choice the easy choice;
• Working to address health disparities and empower all Americans to make healthy choices by addressing health concerns that disproportionately affect certain populations;
• Strengthening public health infrastructure and improving public health’s capacity to detect and control disease and other threats;
• Increasing the uptake of important preventive services.
• Promoting tobacco prevention. 

The nomination deadline is Friday, Aug. 9.