RMI 320 Employee Benefits
Spring 2011
INSTRUCTOR: John A. MacDonald, Ph.D.
CONTACT INFORMATION: EMAIL:
ANGEL course mail
Phone: 315-312-2956
Office: 311 Rich Hall
OFFICE HOURS: TTh: 9 AM to 2 PM
W: 11AM to 4 PM
Other times by appointment
*Please note that professors are often scheduled into committee meetings, etc. during their office hours, so their absence is sometimes unavoidable. It is best to make an appointment in any event and to leave a message with the departmental secretary or by email or phone should you not be able to find the professor when you arrived for office hours.
Course Meets: TTH 3:55 – 5:15 PM in Rich 219
COURSE PREREQUISITES: RMI300 or FIN325 & MGT261 & BLW355.
COURSE OBJECTIVES: You will be able to explain various employee benefits that are offered. You will have the ability to explain how insurance serves employee benefit plans and what insurance is. You will be able to state and explain the chief legislation that exists with respect to employee benefits. You will be able to explain how premiums are determined. You will be able to explain how various countries deal with employee benefits.
Differences from Human Resource Management offerings: This course does NOT examine theory or policies of compensation or the process of staffing. This course does NOT examine motivation theory or practices or any sort of employee analysis. HRM provides the background and knowledge on HOW to work with and develop employees to produce top performance and satisfaction.
Statement of instructor’s teaching philosophy: I seek to have a variety of learning tools available to students in my courses. I expect students will avail themselves of all the resources available in building their knowledge of the finance topic.
REQUIRED COURSE MATERIALS:
Text: Employee Benefits: A Primer for Human Resource Professionals, 4th Edition by Joseph J. Martocchio, McGraw-Hill, ISBN 978-0-07-338129-9. (3rd Edition is acceptable.)
ANGEL supplied: Various course notes, assignments, discussions, handouts, articles and cases in PDF file format will be available through ANGEL.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS/GRADING:
Vehicle % of overall grade
Necessary Tasks 0%
Assignments 20%
Discussions 10%
Quizzes 50%
Final Exam during finals period 20%
100%
!! Submit ALL course work and email only through ANGEL !!
Submit once and be sure you have attached the assignment. I do not accept for grading a revision. Check to be sure you included everything required before submitting.
Grading:
“Necessary Tasks”: Necessary or required or fun, but no credit. Example: introducing yourself to the class on-line. Not doing “necessary tasks” will impact negatively on the course grade.
Assignments: There will a few assignments during the course. Normally, each should take an hour to three hours to complete. Assignments likely will examine your specific knowledge or introduce you to information on the web. Grading will be based on completeness and correctness of any solutions/answers. An example of an assignment might be: Visit the New York State Insurance website and discuss the section on health insurance. All assignments are in the Assignments folder on ANGEL. One assignment will be a small team presentation of the employee benefits & insurance for one country at the end of the semester.
Discussions: There will be a few questions, requests, or statements posted for your discussion with other members of the class on-line. You are expected to contribute significantly. Grading will be based on relevant points made, facts presented when appropriate, citations provided when appropriate, any comments based on additional readings you may have done, or from work experience. If the topic produces strong disagreements, we will agree to disagree in a professional manner. An example of a discussion question might be: What is the best way to address health care (risk) coverage? Supported opinion and statements (ex. Cite a website), receives a better grade than unsupported opinion.
Quizzes: There will be 2 types of quizzes. There will be short, on-line, chapter quizzes throughout the course. You may refer to your book and notes during these on-line quizzes, however they will be timed so you won’t have lots of time to look material up during the quiz. You are encouraged to keep up with readings. Most questions will be multiple choice or short answer, very few will be calculations. There will also be 3 in-class quizzes that will examine materials in the most recent chapters. The in-class quizzes will be longer and may include calculations. You may use 1 page (8.5x11, both sides) of notes for the in-class quizzes; otherwise, the in-class quizzes are closed book etc.
Final Exam-during the final exam week, in class. Questions will be directed toward general concepts and terms.
______
Course Content & Coverage: This course seeks to introduce the modern practices and trends in the management of employee benefits. Coverage: The prime coverage will be types of benefits and what insurance is and they types of insurances that are typically provided in a benefits package or mandated by law.
Course Goals:
1. To provide you with a way to look at employee benefit types;
2. To provide you with a basic knowledge of insurance;
Course Learning objectives:
A. Describe the structure and content of employee benefit plans
B. Articulate the reasons why employers offer employee benefit plans to employees and when the Federal or State governments provide benefits
C. Explain the tax and other incentives to the creation of employee benefit plans
D. Identify and briefly describe the scope of group insurance plans
E. Compare managed care plans with traditional health care financing
F. Identify and describe the sources of retirement benefits commonly available to U S workers
G. Compare defined benefit plans with defined contribution plans
H. Describe the role played by employee benefits in the compensation package provided to U S workers
I. Understand costs, benefits, and sourcing of various non-wage compensations
Web addresses of interest:
www.ebri.org www.worldatwork.org www.bls.gov www.ifebp.org www.aig.com www.ambest.com
Course Faculty/School expectations & Policies: An Oswego business student is expected to (1) be prepared for the class meeting as to reading and any assignments due, (2) show appropriate listening, participation, and dress etiquette, (3) evidence ethical behavior in dealing with other people in the educational process and in personal behavior related to course work, including avoiding cheating and plagiarism (See, Student Handbook or the full policy can be found at
http://www.oswego.edu/administration/registrar/policy_text.html#cpii), (4) show and apply computer and quantitative skills and to improve on them using opportunities afforded them, and (5) avail oneself of help opportunities from peers, faculty, and support staff so as to get the most of your educational opportunities.
Additional Course policies :
If you find a discrepancy between the notes, text, and/or study guide you are responsible for investigating it before the exam.
A maximum possible grade of 70% will is given for late work.
I reserve the right to give several versions of the exam.
I reserve the right to add materials to the course not mentioned in the text.
Students not using the required text take full responsibility for their decision to do so.
Time spent on a project does not equate to quality of the project.
Cheating in any way during exams will cause the exam to receive a grade of 0 and I will provide the appropriate Campus personnel the information related to one’s cheating and request they be expelled. Any student accused of cheating has an appeal procedure available to them.
Emergency Closing Information: Check the SUNY-Oswego website. Please note that I live on campus so will be in class if snow unless the University is closed.
Students with Special Needs: Contact 226 Hewitt Union Hall, 312-3358
Goals and Objectives of the course:
Aside:
What Makes a Great Student
>The student has read most material before it is discussed in class.
>The student raises questions about the topic at hand.
>The student takes responsibility for learning (professors, books, assignments, exams are just tools, not the reason for success or failure or mediocrity.)
>The student may go to additional sources, in addition to the assigned readings.
>The student is not concerned with grades, but rather focuses on improving the student’s own understanding and learning. (High grades usually are a product of such a philosophy.)
>The student knows that quality is the main criterion and objective of work, not the number of hours put in.
What Makes a Great Teacher
>The teacher teaches you how to learn.
>The teacher inspires you with their passion.
>The teacher opens you up to new experiences.
>The teacher has no selfish agenda.
>The teacher makes the complicated simple.
>The teacher gives clear explanations.
>The teacher shows you how everything ties together.
Tentative Coverage for Employee Benefits - Spring 2011
Chapter 4th (3rd) for 4th and 3rd editions of the text.
See ANGEL FOR ASSIGNMENTS AND DUE DATES
Date / Tentative Chapter Coverage / Topic(s)Jan 25 / Chapter 1 (1)
Insurance Handout / Overview of Employee Benefit Types and Insurance (general)
Jan 27 / Chapter 1 (1)
Insurance Handout / Overview of Employee Benefit Types and Insurance (general)
Feb 1 / Chapter 1 &
Insurance Handout / Overview of Employee Benefit Types and Insurance (general)
Feb 3 / Chapter 2 & 3 (none & 2) & Probability handout,
(Psychology handout) Tax handout / Economics, Psychology, Tax considerations, probability
Feb 8 / Chapter 2 & 3 (none & 2) &Psychology handout Tax handout / Economics, Psychology & Tax consideration
Feb 10 / Chapter 4 (3) / Regulation – Labor/workers
Feb 15 / Chapter 4 (3) / Regulation – consumers/insurance
Feb 17 / Chapter 4 (3) / Regulation – insurance/global issues
Feb 22 / Quiz on Materials So Far
Feb 24 / Chapter 5 (4) &
Handout on
Savings/annuities / Employer-Sponsored Benefits
Retirement
Mar 1 / Chapter 5 (4) &
Handout on
Savings/annuities / Employer-Sponsored Benefits
Retirement
Mar 3 / Chapter 5 & 6 (4 & 5)
Handout on ESOPs / Employer-Sponsored Benefits
Health
Life Insurance
Mar 8 / Chapter 5 & 6 (4 & 5)
Handout on ESOPs / Employer-Sponsored Benefits Health
Life Insurance
Mar 10 / Quiz on chapters 4-6
Mar 15 / Spring Break / Spring Break
Mar 17 / Spring Break / Spring Break
Mar 22 / Chapter 7 (6) & Handout / Government-Mandated Benefits
Mar 24 / Chapter 7 (6) & Handout / Government-Mandated Benefits
Mar 29 / Chapter 7 (6) & Handout / Government-Mandated Benefits
Mar 31 / Chapter 8 (7) / Services
Apr 5 / Chapter 8 (7) / Services
Apr 7 / Chapter 9 (7) / Services
Apr 12 / Chapter 9 (7) / Services
Apr 14 / Quiz on Chapters 7-9
Apr 19 / Handout (11) / Non-qualified plans
Apr 21 / Handout (11) / Non-qualified plans
Apr 26 / Chapter 12 / Global Employee Benefit Practices
Apr 28 / Chapter 12 / Global Employee Benefit Practices
May 3 / Chapter 12 / Global Employee Benefit Practices
May 5 / Remaining issues / Remaining issues
Finals Week / Essay Final
We are NOT covering Chapter 11 (10).
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