In Depth -
On Friday, May 13, 2016, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) finalized regulations that provide explicit protections from discrimination on the basis of gender...more
5/26/2016
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Covered Entities ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Gender Identity ,
Health Insurance ,
Non-Discrimination Rules ,
OCR ,
Religious Exemption ,
Section 1557 ,
TPAs ,
Transgender
For the first time, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is suing private employers on behalf of employees alleging sexual orientation discrimination. On March 1, 2016, the EEOC issued a press release...more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently issued Notice 2015-86, which provides some additional clarification, in the form of questions and answers, on the treatment of same-sex spouses under tax-qualified retirement plans...more
On September 4, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled in Fontaine v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Company that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA), does not preempt...more
On June 26, 2015, in Obergefell v. Hodges, the Supreme Court of the United States determined that it is unconstitutional for a state to ban same-sex couples from exercising the fundamental right to marry. As a result of this...more
7/1/2015
/ Domestic Partnership ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Health and Welfare Plans ,
Health Insurance ,
Marriage ,
Marriage Equality ,
Obergefell v. Hodges ,
Popular ,
Same-Sex Marriage ,
SCOTUS
On December 3, 2014, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued a final rule prohibiting federal contractors from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. The final rule implements Executive Order (EO)...more
In a no-action letter dated February 18, 2015, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) extended relief from the application of Rule 482 of the Securities Act of 1933 to certain retirement plans that are exempt from...more
On February 23, 2015, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Wage and Hour Division published its final rule regarding the definition of “spouse” under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Specifically, the rule recognizes...more
The Supreme Court of the United States announced on January 16, 2015, that it would review four cases challenging the constitutionality of state laws banning same-sex marriage in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee. The...more
In November 2013, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin declared unconstitutional Section 107(2) of the Internal Revenue Code, which excludes from gross income rental allowances paid to ministers as...more
As federal and state agencies and courts further examine the implications of the Supreme Court of the United States’ ruling on same-sex marriage in U.S. v. Windsor, the laws and regulations governing employee benefits for...more
2014 presents particular challenges with respect to FBAR, the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts, for certain U.S. persons with interests in or signature authority over assets exceeding $10,000 held outside the...more
In January 2013, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) published final regulations under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). FATCA is intended to make it more difficult for U.S. taxpayers to conceal assets held in...more
The Internal Revenue Service recently established a one-year pilot program that provides plan administrators and plan sponsors of certain non-ERISA and foreign plans subject to the annual Form 5500 reporting requirements...more
The Internal Revenue Service issued Notice 2014-19 and a set of Frequently Asked Questions on April 4, 2014, clarifying certain retroactive retirement plan implications of the Supreme Court’s Windsor ruling. The guidance...more
On March 14, 2014, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released guidance clarifying the final regulations implementing Section 2702 of the Public Health Service Act...more
A federal court recently declared unconstitutional Internal Revenue Code Section 107(2), which excludes from gross income a rental allowance paid to a “minister of the gospel” as part of his or her compensation, on the...more
With same-sex marriages to begin in the state of Illinois next year, employers should expect an increase in requests for spousal benefit coverage from employees who have legally married their same-sex partners. The new law...more
The California state legislature recently enacted a law that may affect the taxation of benefits an employer provides to same-sex domestic partners in the state. California AB 362 excludes from gross income for California...more
Employers extending benefit coverage to employees’ same-sex spouses and partners should review their payroll procedures to ensure that such coverages are properly taxed for federal income and FICA tax purposes. Employers...more
Recent guidance issued by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) division of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) provides some initial...more
10/1/2013
/ Defined Benefit Plans ,
Defined Contribution Plans ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
DOMA ,
EBSA ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Healthcare ,
IRS ,
Retirement Plan ,
Same-Sex Marriage ,
SCOTUS ,
State of Celebration ,
US v Windsor
In Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Revenue Ruling 2013-17, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the IRS on August 29, 2013, ruled that legally married same-sex couples will be treated as married for federal tax purposes. ...more
Obergefell v. Kasich and Cozen O’Connor v. Tobits may reflect a growing trend of courts and other bodies to recognize same-sex marriages validly celebrated elsewhere even if the couple’s current state of residence does not...more
The Internal Revenue Service recently announced it was conducting “compliance checks” of Section 457(b) plans. This newsletter discusses what those compliance checks involve as well as the steps Section 457(b) plan sponsors...more
Recent complaints challenging the “church plan” status of certain pension plans maintained by church-sponsored hospital systems may signal the beginning of a new wave of lawsuits challenging underfunded church pension plans. ...more