Nexstar Increasing Benefits

Here is some good news for Nexstar employees from Uncle Perry.

Starting next year, Nexstar is enhancing their benefit package for company employees.

It is nice to see when a company does something for the people that help keep the business running.

Here is the internal email sent to the staff and obtained by FTVLive:

Next month, Nexstar will conduct our annual Open Enrollment for employee benefit participation in 2022.  You will receive a comprehensive online benefits guide detailing the changes to our 2022 benefit plans shortly, but I wanted to take a moment now to highlight some of the most significant enhancements we plan to make. 

 Beginning in 2022:  

• Nexstar will greatly enhance our “Paid Parental Leave Program” for full-time employees. Under this new program—

  • Eligible employees, regardless of gender, experiencing a birth, adoption or foster care placement during the year will be able to take up to six weeks of leave at 100 percent of pay.

  • Birth mothers can take Paid Parental Leave in addition to using short-term disability benefits.

• We will increase the maximum benefit amount paid for employees on short-term disability from $500 per week to $1,000 per week.

• Employees paid on a commission basis will now be paid any commissions earned while on a job-protected leave of absence (FMLA or state/local equivalent) upon their return to work.

• We will change the administrator of the Flexible Spending Accounts and Commuter Benefits programs and, as a result, participating employees will be provided with a debit card for their use with these programs.

• As communicated earlier, we will raise the minimum wage we pay to $15 per hour.

For the last three years, Nexstar has kept employee contributions to its healthcare costs flat; we haven’t increased employee contributions for medical, vision or dental coverage since 2019.  We’ve also held our co-pay for doctor office visits at $10.  During this same three-year period, Nexstar’s medical costs have increased almost 19 percent, and they are projected to go up 8 percent next year.  As a result, we will be increasing employee contribution rates for medical insurance by 12 percent. 

 While announcing increases in benefit costs is never welcome news, Nexstar will still be covering the lion’s share of your medical insurance and healthcare expenses in 2022, just as we have done historically.  Next year, Nexstar will cover roughly 76 percent of your medical insurance and healthcare expenses, with employees covering the remaining 24 percent.  By comparison, the national average at companies across the United States is much higher, with employees responsible for approximately 34 percent of their total medical insurance and healthcare expenses.

 The online benefits guide will have much more detail about our benefit plans, so please plan to take some time to review it.  As in past years, Open Enrollment will be “active,” meaning that you must actively enroll in order to be covered by Nexstar’s benefit plans next year.  Your current benefit elections for 2021 will not automatically roll-over to 2022.  If you have any questions please reach out to your local HR contact.

 Thank you for all you do, and for your continuing dedication to the Nexstar Nation.

 Sincerely,
Perry