Providing employee benefits is one of the ways a company must compete in today's market to retain old employees and attract new ones. These benefit packages can range from offering basic health insurance to discretionary benefits and additional benefits such as vacation and retirement packages. Benefits often represent a large portion of employee costs, and federal mandates require an employer to offer and deliver certain benefits even if it offers nothing else. Federally mandated benefits represent about a quarter of the costs associated with employer-provided benefits. Some of these mandatory benefits include Social Security, workers' compensation insurance, and the Family Medical Leave Act. Social Security as well as Medicare are tax benefits that are paid equally by the employer and employee in the form of a payroll tax. This tax makes up the largest portion of benefits imposed by the federal government and its purpose is to “help provide financial support to workers and their families when workers retire, die or become disabled.” Medicare provides medical assistance to older workers and long-term disabled people...often called FICA (Federal Insurance Contributions Act) or OASDI (Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance) for Social Security and MHI (Medicare Hospital Insurance) deductions. )” (BLS.org, 2005). In other words, Social Security and Medicare meet the needs of individuals and their families. This program protects aging people and people with disabilities from expenses they cannot afford and that could deplete their savings. Social Security is an insurance system administered by the federal government and, as previously stated, it is mandatory for both employees and employees for longer periods of time. These fringe benefits provide certain assurances to both the employee and the employer and should therefore remain the obligation of the individual and the company providing them. Benefits must be competitive to attract and retain quality employees, but the federal government recognizes that “edge” benefits will not prepare or support employees for everything. Federally required benefits paid for by both the employer and employee, such as Social Security, Workers' Compensation Insurance, and the Family Medical Leave Act, are important benefits to our society by providing certain assurances for a stable future. .bls.gov/opub/ooq/2005/summer/art02.pdfhttp://www.primepay.com/insurance-benefits/mandated-employee-benefits.aspxhttp://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/benefits -leave/fmla.htm