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An Employer’s Guide To Managing PTO Donation Requests In The COVID-19 Age

As the pandemic continues to scar wide portions of our society, a number of employees have expressed to their employers an interest in donating their own PTO to help co-workers and community members adversely impacted by...more

Group Health Plan Sponsors Receive Welcome Guidance On COVID-19 Testing Coverage Provisions

A second round of FAQs recently issued by the Labor Department, the IRS, and the Department of Health and Human Services provides plan sponsors and insurers with additional implementation guidance relating to health coverage...more

San Francisco Unveils Plan To Allow Employees to Use Employer Healthcare Funds For Food, Rent, And Utilities During The COVID-19...

Mayor Breed just announced a plan to allow employees in San Francisco to now use funds their employers have contributed in compliance with San Francisco’s Health Care Security Ordinance for necessary expenses such as food,...more

A Guide To Unemployment Benefits In California During Covid-19

California's Unemployment Insurance (UI) program pays benefits to individuals who have become unemployed or partially unemployed and who meet the program's eligibility requirements. The eligibility requirements include that...more

CARES Act Stimulus Will Permit Business Loans To Cover Payroll, Expand Unemployment

Businesses struggling with the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis received good news late last night when the Senate passed an unprecedented piece of legislation aimed at providing a massive stimulus to...more

Stay Tuned: Federal Government Announces COVID-19 Relief For Small And Midsize Businesses

In an apparent effort to ease some of the anxieties surrounding the impact of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act on employers, the Department of Treasury, IRS, and Department of Labor issued a press release on...more

Congress Finalizes COVID-19 Coronavirus Response Act: Prepare To Provide Paid Sick Leave And FMLA

The Senate passed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act today, an economic stimulus plan aimed at addressing the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on Americans and introducing paid sick leave and an expanded family and...more

SCOTUS ERISA Ruling May Open Floodgates For Increased Lawsuits

In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court just declined to limit the timeframe in which disgruntled employees could bring suit challenging the investment decisions made by plan fiduciaries. While the Employee Retirement...more

Health Reimbursement Arrangements: What Employers Need To Know And Avoid

Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs) are account-based health plans funded with employer contributions to reimburse eligible participants and dependents for medical expenses. Prior to the Affordable Care Act, HRAs were...more

3 Options For Providing Wellness Program Incentives In 2019…And Beyond

Employers are about to enter into limbo when it comes to maintaining wellness programs, and you will soon need to make a decision about how you will implement any such programs at your workplace. As of January 1, 2019, the...more

No Such Thing As A Free Meal? Employers May Be Prohibited From Offering Free Food To Workers

As free meals have become the norm at technology companies, an unexpected byproduct of such a perk is the decreasing customer base for local restaurants. In an attempt to thwart this trend, Mountain View and San Francisco...more

The Next Wave Of ACA Penalties Is Here

As you may recall, a previous article recently published in the Benefits Update newsletter reviewed the letters that employers were beginning to receive regarding potential liability for employer shared responsibility...more

HSA Limit Changes

Every year, the IRS announces the annual limits for various types of employee benefits, such as Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). The IRS has already changed the 2018 annual limits for HSAs twice this year, which may have...more

Reference-Based Pricing: Another Self-Insured Option for Employers

As health care costs increase, employers have been exploring new types of health coverage options, one of which is reference-based pricing (RBP). This method typically does not involve a traditional insurance carrier or...more

What Every Employer Needs To Know About The Tax Reform Law

Late last year, Congress passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Act”) and it was quickly signed by the President. The Act seeks to reform the current tax system and contains numerous provisions that may be significant to...more

IRS Will Enforce Employer Mandate Regardless Of Any Executive Orders

You may recall that President Trump signed an executive order on the day of his inauguration directing all agencies to minimize the economic burden of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) pending its repeal. You may recall also that...more

Documentation Relief For Hardship Distributions

Retirement plans are permitted, but not required, to provide in-service distributions of elective deferrals to participants if they can show financial hardship, which is defined as a hardship that is “deemed to be on account...more

Telemedicine: Proceed With Caution

One of the hottest benefit trends in 2017 is the adoption of free or low-cost “telemedicine” programs to provide employees easy and affordable access to medical care. However, you need to proceed with caution when introducing...more

A New Employer Healthcare Plan: Qualified Small Employer Health Reimbursement Arrangement (QSEHRA)

Until very recently, employers were at risk of receiving steep fines if they reimbursed employees for non-employer sponsored medical care – the Affordable Care Act (ACA) included fines of up to $36,500 a year per employee for...more

What Employers Need To Know About Mandatory Payroll Deduction Savings Programs

Administering and providing retirement benefits can present difficulties to employers. If you offer such benefits, you must choose and monitor service providers, offer prudent investment options, and administer benefits,...more

The Clock Is Ticking – ACA Nondiscrimination Rules Will Take Effect January 1

Earlier this year, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) published a final rule to implement Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Most prominently, this rule...more

California’s New State Sponsored Retirement Program to Debut Soon: California Employers Blog

In September 2016, the California legislature amended the California Secure Choice Savings Trust Act of 2012 (“Secure Choice”). This law will eventually require employers with at least five employees, and which do not offer...more

Upcoming Benefit Plan Deadlines

As the end of the calendar year approaches, so does the fiscal year or “plan year” for many employee benefit plans. Between complying with continuing annual deadlines while integrating new rules and regulations, employers...more

Error Messages And The ACA: A Practical Guide To Handling Missing And Incorrect TINs

A number of employers have reported troublesome Social Security Number (SSN) issues cropping up when filing Affordable Care Act (ACA) notices with the IRS. Many have received “AIRTN500” error messages, which indicate...more

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