Employee Benefits

Employee benefits are the pay and protections that come with a job beyond wages, such as health coverage, retirement plans, paid leave, and insurance. Employers provide most of them, federal law sets some requirements, and government agencies offer their own benefit packages to public workers. The Department of Labor and the Internal Revenue Service oversee many of the rules.

People usually bring questions about what benefits come with a job, how leave after a child's birth works, and how insurance for federal, state, and local government employees differs from private coverage. They also ask how benefits are taxed and what happens to them after a job ends.