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ARTICLE · 13 APRIL 2017

How Do You Construct WPA Creditable Benefits?

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Home care agencies in New York are experimenting with different packages of additional wages and benefits to meet the State's Wage Parity Act requirements.

United StatesEmployment and HR
Stephen Zweig
Stephen Zweig
Jeffrey Ashendorf
Jeffrey Ashendorf
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Executive Summary.  Home care agencies in New York are experimenting with different packages of additional wages and benefits to meet the State's Wage Parity Act requirements. This Act requires a minimum wage rate of $10.00 per hour and additional wages or benefits – a $4.09 per hour package in NYC and a $3.22 package in Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester counties (the "WPA Package").  Some agencies spend nearly all of the amount above the $10.00 base wage on additional wages, absorbing the additional employment taxes, which are not creditable against the WPA Package.  Other agencies combine additional wages with minimum value and minimum essential health plan coverage in order to avoid penalties under the Affordable Care Act. Still others expand into more items, going beyond additional wages and health plans to create benefit programs that provide everything from transportation benefits to cell phone plan reimbursements. Their goal is to deliver all these

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