Summer is ending and fall is rapidly approaching. For employee benefit professionals with calendar-year health and welfare benefit plans that means preparing for annual enrollment and year-end compliance requirements. This...more
8/30/2024
/ Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Final Rules ,
Health and Welfare Plans ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Medicare Part D ,
Reproductive Healthcare Issues ,
U.S. Treasury
For the past few years, we have encouraged plan sponsors to focus on matters of fiduciary governance for their health and welfare benefit plans (see our 2021 blog post). Yet many plan sponsors overlook the fact that the...more
The opportunity to self-correct mistakes in maintaining a retirement plan has been dramatically expanded by the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (“SECURE 2.0”); see our February 10 blog post for details. However, IRS interim guidance...more
Certain provisions of the Transparency in Coverage Final Regulations and the Consolidated Appropriation Act, 2021 (“CAA”) require group health plans and/or their vendors to report information to federal agencies. On December...more
6/5/2023
/ Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Final Rules ,
Gag Clauses ,
Health Insurance ,
Health Plan Sponsors ,
New Guidance ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Transparency ,
U.S. Treasury
In a move akin to last-minute gift-giving, the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the Treasury (the “Departments”) released FAQ 56 on December 23, 2022, which provides relief regarding the Prescription Drug...more
12/28/2022
/ Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) ,
Data Collection ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Good Faith ,
Grace Period ,
Health and Welfare Plans ,
Insurance Industry ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Reporting Requirements ,
U.S. Treasury
Last month, the IRS extended the deadline for retirement plan sponsors to adopt amendments necessary to comply with the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (the “SECURE Act”) and the Bipartisan...more
The old adage “you can’t get where you’re going unless you know where you are” has never seemed more true than when applied to the current mélange of healthcare transparency guidance. Fortunately, a fading relic from...more
11/10/2021
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Drug Pricing ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Final Rules ,
Office of Personnel Management (OPM) ,
Price Comparisons ,
Public Disclosure ,
Transparency ,
U.S. Treasury
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, signed into law on March 27, 2020, includes a number of provisions that affect retirement plan sponsors and participants. These provisions are designed to...more
4/2/2020
/ Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
CARES Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Defined Benefit Plans ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Qualified Retirement Plans ,
Relief Measures ,
Required Minimum Distributions ,
Retirement Plan ,
Student Loans
Newly published Revenue Procedure 2019-19 modifies and supersedes prior IRS guidance regarding the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS) to allow plan sponsors to self-correct an expanded number of problems that...more
4/24/2019
/ 401k ,
403(b) Plans ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
EPCRS ,
IRS ,
New Guidance ,
Pension Plan Amendments ,
Retirement Plan ,
Revenue Procedures ,
Voluntary Compliance ,
Voluntary Correction Program
This Client Advisory highlights important developments in the law governing employee benefit plans and executive compensation over the past year. It offers insight into what these developments mean for employers and plan...more
12/18/2018
/ 401k ,
Affordable Care Act ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Breach of Duty ,
Burden-Shifting ,
Claim Procedures ,
Deadlines ,
Disability Benefits ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Contributions ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Executive Compensation ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Filing Requirements ,
Forfeiture ,
Hardship Distributions ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
HRA ,
IRA Rollovers ,
IRS ,
PBGC ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Proposed Rules ,
Safe Harbors ,
Student Loans ,
Tax Penalties ,
Wellness Programs
The first breach of fiduciary duty claim to survive to trial alleged that the NYU Retirement Plan Committee failed to consolidate recordkeeping services, failed to property manage the RFP process, failed to allow potential...more