The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued final regulations for required minimum distributions (RMDs) from certain retirement plans, including tax-qualified plans, Internal Revenue Code (Code) section 403(b) plans,...more
Last August, we summarized the string of cases filed against fiduciaries of401(k) plans that offer the BlackRock target date funds (TDFs) as investment options to plan participants. All of the complaints were nearly identical...more
On September 26, 2022, the IRS published Notice 2022-45, extending the deadline for required retirement plan amendments associated with qualifying coronavirus-related and disaster-relief distributions under Section 2202 of...more
On February 23, 2022, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas invalidated portions of Part II of the interim final rule (“IFR”) issued by the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor,...more
As 2021 winds down, retirement plan sponsors should confirm that their plan documents are amended by December 31, 2021, to comply with certain plan changes:
• Hardship Distributions. 401(k) plans and 403(b) plans must be...more
12/15/2021
/ American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
CARES Act ,
Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Deadlines ,
Discretionary Clauses ,
Employee Benefits ,
Hardship Distributions ,
PBGC ,
Retirement Plan ,
SECURE Act ,
Year-End Planning
If employees are required to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination or a timely negative COVID-19 test, and/or wear a mask as a condition of employment (COVID-19 Policies), and an employee is terminated for violating a...more
9/22/2021
/ COBRA ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Employment Policies ,
Executive Compensation ,
Health and Welfare Plans ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Notice Requirements ,
Severance Agreements ,
Severance Pay ,
Vaccinations
Claims-related audio recordings may need to be disclosed to claimants upon request, according to an information letter dated June 14, 2021 (“Information Letter”), issued by the Department of Labor’s (“DOL”) Employee Benefits...more
As discussed in our prior blog post, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP) requires employers that sponsor group health plans to provide a 100% COBRA subsidy for “Assistance Eligible Individuals” during the “Subsidy...more
As described in a recent blog post, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 amended the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) to require group health plans and health insurance issuers (collectively, “group...more
4/13/2021
/ Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Health Insurance ,
Mental Health ,
Mental Health Parity Rule ,
MHPAEA ,
NQTLs ,
Reimbursements ,
Substance Abuse ,
U.S. Treasury
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA), which was signed into law by President Biden on March 11, 2021, includes COBRA subsidy provisions that are significant – both for the individuals who will become eligible for COBRA...more
3/16/2021
/ American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 ,
Biden Administration ,
COBRA ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Health and Welfare Plans ,
Health Insurance ,
New Legislation ,
Notice Requirements ,
Relief Measures
As described in a prior blog post, last spring the Department of Labor and the Department of the Treasury (Agencies) issued COVID-19 pandemic relief that extended numerous deadlines under ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code...more
3/2/2021
/ Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Filing Deadlines ,
Health and Welfare Plans ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Relief Measures ,
Retirement Plan ,
Time Extensions ,
U.S. Treasury
As noted in our prior blog post, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (the Act) includes several types of relief for flexible spending accounts (FSAs), impacting both health FSAs and dependent care FSAs. The FSA relief...more
In July 2020, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) prepared a report for the Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions about Qualified Domestic Relations Orders (QDROs). QDROs are...more
When an ERISA plan delegates authority to the plan administrator to interpret the plan documents for benefit determinations, the plan administrator typically is entitled to a deferential standard of judicial review, and...more
On May 12, 2020, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued Notice 2020-29 (the Notice), an important piece of guidance for employers that sponsor health & welfare plans.
The Notice provides much-needed flexibility for...more
On May 12, 2020, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued Notice 2020-33 (the Notice), which increases the maximum health flexible spending account (FSA) carryover limit. The Notice also addresses a gap in existing guidance...more
5/21/2020
/ Cafeteria Plans ,
Carryover Basis ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employee Benefits ,
Flexible Spending Accounts ,
FSA ,
ICHRA ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
New Guidance ,
Popular
As described in our May 1 blog post, the Department of Labor (DOL) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently issued guidance (the “Extension Guidance”) providing relief to benefit plan sponsors and participants for...more
On April 28, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and the Internal Revenue Service issued a new final rule and additional guidance that together extend numerous deadlines under ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code (Code)...more
As of March 20, 2020, there has been no legislation or IRS guidance allowing plan sponsors to permit cafeteria plan participants to make COVID-19 related mid-year election changes, other than those which also meet the current...more
Since the end of the IRS’s cyclical determination letter program for individually designed retirement plans in 2017, plan sponsors have been able to request favorable determination letters for individually designed plans only...more
5/20/2019
/ 401k ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Determination Letter ,
Employee Benefits ,
Filing Deadlines ,
Filing Requirements ,
Hybrid Plan ,
IRS ,
Mergers ,
Public Comment ,
Qualified Retirement Plans ,
Retirement Plan ,
Revenue Procedures ,
Sanctions ,
Voluntary Correction Program