On Friday, September 6, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor confirmed that its cybersecurity guidance applies to all employee benefit plans, including health and welfare plans. In 2021, the DOL issued guidance providing best...more
As employers look back at 2023 and ahead to 2024, there are so many compliance-related items to consider relating to their employee benefit plans. The rules employers are supposed to be complying with keep growing and...more
12/19/2023
/ Attestation Deadlines ,
Beneficiaries ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Compliance ,
Contribution Limits ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Filing Deadlines ,
Gag Clauses ,
Mental Health Parity Rule ,
Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Retirement ,
Student Loans
While many were out last week finishing up their last-minute Christmas shopping, Congress passed the highly-anticipated retirement plan legislation known as “SECURE Act 2.0” and the U.S. Departments of Labor, Health and Human...more
Ten years ago, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published a final regulation under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) that required retirement plan service providers to disclose information about...more
Late last Friday afternoon, the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the Treasury issued some new frequently asked questions (FAQs) regarding implementation of the transparency in coverage (TIC) regulations...more
Today, the U.S. Department of Labor announced new guidance for plan sponsors, plan fiduciaries, recordkeepers and plan participants on best practices for maintaining cybersecurity, including tips on how to protect retirement...more
Just yesterday, the U.S. Department of Labor issued a series of frequently asked questions regarding the COBRA provisions of the American Rescue Plan of 2021 (ARP) — along with four model COBRA notices. The FAQs clarify a...more
Late last week, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA), which makes COBRA continuation coverage free for certain qualifying individuals and their families from April 1, 2021 to September 30, 2021....more
You might recall that in December 2020, Congress passed the year-end funding bill known as the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CAA), which contained provisions that provide significant flexibility for flexible spending...more
On December 6, 2020, we posted an article titled “RADICAL new transparency rules likely apply to your health plan in one year.” The regulations are a little more than 150 PDF pages long. The following is intended to provide a...more
New rules published last month likely require your employer health plan to phase-in certain disclosures over a three-year period beginning in one year:
1. January 1, 2022 (three files must be disclosed): For plan years...more
If you only read this first paragraph, that is okay. One of the most common issues we face with DOL investigations of employer health plans involves mental health parity compliance. For those of you who sponsor a qualified...more
Your employees likely have more student loan debt than any other kind of consumer debt, except mortgage debt. If you run an internet search using “amount of student loan debt,” you will quickly learn that Americans owe more...more
Last week the IRS announced that 401(k) plans and certain similar employer-sponsored retirement plans can make loans and hardship distributions to help victims of Hurricane Harvey....more
9/7/2017
/ 401k ,
Donations ,
Employee Benefits ,
Hardship Distributions ,
Hurricane Harvey ,
IRS ,
Loans ,
Natural Disasters ,
Paid Leave ,
Retirement Plan ,
Unpaid Leave
Almost 40 years ago now, a young mother had the courage to give me up for adoption to my parents who could not themselves have children. All of my life, I have reaped the almost-unbelievable benefits of my biological mother’s...more
It is rumored that President Reagan once referred to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) as Every Ridiculous Idea Since Adam. ERISA serves important purposes in our society, but it also presents...more
On Monday, the Treasury Department finally issued its much-anticipated final regulations on the Affordable Care Act’s employer mandate, under which certain employers have to offer affordable, minimum-value health coverage to...more
In 1996, as states were beginning to consider the concept of same-sex marriage, and before any state had acted to permit it, Congress enacted the Defense of Marriage Act. Section 3 of DOMA defined the term “marriage” as “a...more