On Monday, June 15, 2020, the US Supreme Court held in Bostock v. Clayton County that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects transgender, gay and lesbian employees (and prospective employees) from workplace...more
6/23/2020
/ Altitude Express Inc v Zarda ,
Bostock v Clayton County Georgia ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Corporate Counsel ,
EEOC v RG & GR Harris Funeral Homes ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Gender Identity ,
Hiring & Firing ,
LGBTQ ,
SCOTUS ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Orientation ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Title VII ,
Transgender
On June 12, 2020, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) finalized a rule under Section 1557 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (the 2020 Final Rule) that...more
6/18/2020
/ Altitude Express Inc v Zarda ,
Bostock v Clayton County Georgia ,
Civil Rights Act ,
EEOC v RG & GR Harris Funeral Homes ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Gender Identity ,
Hiring & Firing ,
LGBTQ ,
SCOTUS ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Orientation ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Title VII ,
Transgender
Under the final rule published by the US Department of Labor on May 21, 2020, retirement plan administrators can choose to deliver required disclosures electronically by complying with the conditions of a new safe harbor. The...more
The Internal Revenue Service recently announced cost-of-living adjustments to the applicable dollar limits for health savings accounts and high-deductible health plans for 2021. Some of the dollar limits currently in effect...more
In response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, on May 12, 2020, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued Code Section 125 (cafeteria plan) guidance (see IRS Notice 2020-29 and Notice 2020-33) that allows employers to...more
On May 1, 2020, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued updated Frequently Asked Questions and revised model notices under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA). COBRA is a federal law that permits...more
The US Department of Labor, in conjunction with the Internal Revenue Service and US Department of the Treasury, issued guidance and deadline extensions applicable to ERISA-governed group health and welfare plans. The guidance...more
The Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and the Treasury have jointly issued an FAQ regarding implementation of the various requirements for group health plans under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act and...more
In the ongoing effort to help individuals impacted by COVID-19, Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Securities Act (the “CARES Act” or “Act”) on March 27, 2020. The President signed the Act into law the...more
4/1/2020
/ Business Interruption ,
CARES Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Federal Loans ,
Financial Stimulus ,
Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) ,
Payroll Taxes ,
Relief Measures ,
SBA ,
SBA Lending Programs ,
Small Business ,
Tax Credits ,
Tax Relief ,
Unemployment Insurance
Coronavirus (COVID-19) raises serious concerns for employers of all shapes and sizes, across all industries and in every business sector. As the impact of COVID-19 continues to grow, many employers are faced with new...more
As part of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (the “Act”), Congress eliminated patient cost-sharing for Coronavirus (COVID-19) diagnostic testing and related services provided under employer-sponsored group health...more
A new IRS notice will allow individuals to receive testing and care for COVID-19 without jeopardizing their ability to contribute to a health savings account (HSA). The IRS issued the notice due to the public health threat...more
An increasing number of jurisdictions around the country, including parts of California, New Jersey and Washington, DC, are mandating that employers provide commuter benefit programs that allow employees to pay for commuting...more
The SECURE Act, signed into law on December 20, 2019, is the broadest piece of retirement legislation passed in 13 years. It aims to enhance and expand retirement security for more Americans, in part, by encouraging plan...more
1/15/2020
/ 401k ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Employee Benefits ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Required Minimum Distributions ,
Retirement ,
Retirement Plan ,
Retirement Plan Providers ,
SECURE Act ,
Webinars
The IRS recently announced the cost-of-living adjustments to the applicable dollar limits for various employer-sponsored retirement and welfare plans for 2020. Nearly all of the dollar limits currently in effect for 2019 will...more
11/7/2019
/ 401k ,
403(b) Plans ,
457(b) Plans ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Contribution Limits ,
Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) ,
Defined Benefit Plans ,
Employee Benefits ,
Health Savings Accounts ,
IRS ,
Popular ,
Retirement Plan ,
Summary Plan Description
The Department of Labor (DOL) issued a proposed rule that, if finalized, would expand its existing guidance and liberalize rules for electronic disclosure of retirement plan notices under ERISA. The proposed rule, which sets...more
10/31/2019
/ Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Comment Period ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Electronic Disclosure ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Notice Requirements ,
Plan Administrators ,
Proposed Rules ,
Public Comment ,
Retirement Plan ,
Safe Harbors
An employer learned the full cost of ambiguity when a Connecticut federal district court agreed with an employee’s widow that the word “maximum” was ambiguous in the company’s life insurance plan, thus making the widow...more
9/12/2019
/ Ambiguous ,
Beneficiaries ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Contract Interpretation ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Death Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Equitable Interests ,
Insurance Industry ,
Insurance Litigation ,
Life Insurance ,
Summary Judgment ,
Widows
The IRS issued a private letter ruling (PLR) this week indicating that an FSA (and presumably an HSA and HRA) may reimburse a portion of the purchase of genetic testing and reports regarding ancestry and health. The IRS noted...more
The Departments of Labor, Treasury, and Health and Human Services have released final rules removing the prohibition on pairing HRAs with individual health policies. The final rules also allow certain HRAs and other...more
7/30/2019
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Final Rules ,
Health Insurance ,
HRA ,
Pay or Play ,
Qualified Small Employer Health Reimbursement Plan (QSEHRAs) ,
U.S. Treasury
A new IRS notice will allow many with chronic health conditions who participate in high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) with health savings accounts (HSAs) to receive necessary care that may otherwise be out of financial...more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently announced cost-of-living adjustments to the applicable dollar limits for health savings accounts and high-deductible health plans for 2020. Nearly all of the dollar limits currently...more
On Friday, March 24, 2019, the US Department of Health and Human Services issued a proposed rule (along with a related fact sheet) under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that would make significant changes to the...more
The IRS recently released an updated version of EPCRS, the IRS’s program for correcting errors that occur under tax-qualified retirement plans. The latest version of EPCRS makes it easier for plan sponsors to self-correct...more
5/22/2019
/ Audits ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Employee Benefits ,
EPCRS ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Retirement Plan ,
Revenue Procedures ,
Self-Correction Programs ,
Voluntary Correction Program
On March 28, a District of Columbia federal court agreed with a New York-led challenge by a group of 11 states and the District of Columbia and found that the Department of Labor’s (DOL) 2018 association health plan (AHP)...more
In an Information Letter dated February 27, 2019, the Department of Labor (DOL) clarified that an ERISA plan must include any procedures for designating authorized representatives in the plan’s claims procedure and summary...more