The Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) of the US Department of Health and Human Services recently released a final rule (“Final Rule”) to update the HIPAA Privacy Rules for reproductive health care information. The Final Rule...more
Total student loan debt in the country is estimated to be over $1.7 trillion. These loans are often a great source of worry for employees and their families. Student loan repayments may be one of the largest regular...more
Many people, for one reason or another, are unable to start or expand a family. Some people look to assisted reproductive technologies (“ARTs”) to conceive a child. These ART treatments include in vitro fertilization...more
Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in June, employers have been evaluating ways to protect reproductive health care rights for their employees in those states which ban or...more
Last week we discussed on our ERISA Blog that the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA) has become a top agenda item for plan sponsors in 2021. In this next post we will discuss the next steps that...more
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (“ARPA”) includes a provision amending the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA) to provide COBRA premium assistance to eligible individuals. The ARPA COBRA...more
In May 2020, the Department of Labor jointly with the Department of Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (the “Agencies”) released guidance delaying and extending many common deadlines for employee benefit plans. In...more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released Notice 2020-76 on October 2, 2020, announcing a delay in the deadline for distribution of Forms 1095-B and Forms 1095-C to participants by employers, health insurers and other...more
The Department of Labor in connection with other agencies (the “Agencies”) have released guidance delaying and extending many common deadlines for employee benefit plans. In EBSA Disaster Relief Notice 2020-01, the DOL...more
In April 2011, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) requested information from the public on how the DOL could structure a new safe harbor for electronic disclosures under ERISA. The DOL received hundreds of comments from...more
As employers have noticed, there is a growing wave of COBRA notice class action lawsuits filed against large employers with at least six cases being filed in 2019 alone.
In each of the cases, the plaintiffs allege that the...more
On June 13, 2019, the Department of Labor (the “DOL”), along with the Departments of Treasury and Health and Human Services, released final regulations expanding the use of health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs). Since...more
On May 13, 2019, the Department of Labor released additional guidance addressing questions about the enforcement relief announced earlier by the Department pending its appeal of the district court’s ruling that invalidated...more
On April 26, 2019, the Department of Labor filed a notice of appeal in the case that invalidated key provisions of its Association Health Plan (AHP) regulations.
Released last summer, the AHP regulations loosened the...more
On March 28, 2019, in State of New York v. United States Department of Labor, a federal district court in the District of Columbia set aside key portions of the Department of Labor’s final rule (the “Final Rule”) which paves...more
Retirement Plan Limits -
The IRS updated very few of the retirement plan limits effective for the plan year that begins on or after January 1, 2018.
Social Security Tax and Wage Base -
For calendar year 2018, the...more
In July of 2015, the IRS announced that it would end its regular determination letter program for individually designed plans effective January 1, 2017. At the time of this announcement, many plan sponsors and other...more