In This Issue:

- Will You Be Ready For 2013? By Callan Carter (San Francisco) and Patricia Harris (Atlanta):

2013 will mark not just the start of a new calendar year, but also new compliance obligations for employee benefits professionals. Now is the time to review your employee benefit plans and take the steps necessary to ensure continued compliance in 2013. We have outlined a number of key provisions impacting welfare, benefit, and retirement plans below, including some that may need to be implemented prior to 2013. Will you be prepared?

- Are You Using “Culturally Appropriate” Language? By Callan Carter (San Francisco):

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) requires group health plans to distribute four-page plan summaries to enrollees. These Summaries of Benefits and Coverage (SBCs) are subject to a “culturally and linguistically appropriate” standard, meaning that when the SBC is distributed to an enrollee at an address in a county where, according to the federal government, at least 10% of the citizens are fluent only in the same non-English language, the summary must include a prominent offer of language assistance in that non-English language...

- Deadline to Correct 409A-Covered Documents Involving Employee Releases Is December 31, 2012 By Callan Carter (San Francisco):

Internal Revenue Code Section 409A governs deferred compensation, which includes, with some exceptions, practically all agreements or plans in which an agreement is made in one year to pay an amount in a later year. Its most common form is a non-qualified deferred compensation plan in which the employer makes an unfunded promise to pay a dollar amount to the employee at a later time (termination of employment, specific age, etc.)...

- FSA Rules Changing By Sandra Mills Feingerts (New Orleans):

Beginning in 2013, employee pre-tax contributions to a flexible spending account (FSA) will be limited to $2,500. In the past, companies could impose their own limits on these employee contributions. Here’s what you need to know...