PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - New IRS Guidance on SECURE 2.0 Act Student Loan Employer Contributions
#WorkforceWednesday: SECURE Act 2.0 - What 401(k) Plan Sponsors Need to Know - Employment Law This Week®
ROCK OF AGES video
Three Timely Benefits Items Everyone Should Know
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Student Loan Benefits
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - New Hardship Distribution Regulations for 401(k) Plans
No matter the size of your organization, at some point in time employees leave. As we noted previously, it behooves human resources and other departments to provide departing employees with an exit letter that includes...more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) decreased the Affordable Care Act (ACA) affordability percentage for 2024 to 8.39%. This percentage is used to assess whether an applicable large employer’s (ALE) lowest-premium health plan...more
Several important updates to the Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave law (“PFML”) go into effect on January 1, 2023. Background on the PFML - Beginning in 2021, the PFML began providing paid family and medical...more
Important updates to the Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave law (“MA PFML”) are going into effect January 1, 2023. Employers should take steps now to ensure that their payroll systems reflect the revised contribution...more
Effective April 1, 2022, high-deductible health plans can once again offer first-dollar coverage for telehealth and other remote services without making participants ineligible for health savings account (“HSA”)...more
As the harsh realities of the coronavirus pandemic, along with its widespread impact on all aspects of daily life, continue to shock and numb us all, many cities have already been identified as “high risk” from a financial...more
There are many more than 10 issues that are of concern to employers in connection with the current crisis. Nevertheless, employers are dealing with certain recurrent matters....more
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
As part of our ongoing series on the final regulations expanding the availability of health reimbursement accounts (“HRAs”), we discussed the newly-created Individual Coverage HRAs, which generally allow for employers to...more
Effective January 1, 2020, employers may put aside pre-tax funds into a health reimbursement arrangement (“HRA”) that can be used by an employee to pay for premiums and other out-of-pocket costs related to the purchase of an...more
Use of Forfeitures for Safe Harbor Contributions, QNECS and QMACS - The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently issued final regulations allowing forfeitures in 401(k) plans to be used to fund safe harbor contributions,...more
Responding to widespread resistance—principally on the part of small businesses—to the increase in the Employer Medical Assistance Contribution (“EMAC”) contributions and the addition of an EMAC supplemental contribution,...more
In a series of blog posts going back to last August, we reported on certain amendments to the Massachusetts Employer Medical Assistance Contribution (EMAC) rules. As we previously explained, the EMAC contributions are...more
In a series of recent posts, we discussed the expanded Massachusetts Employer Medical Assistance Contribution (EMAC) requirements, including the adoption of a new EMAC supplemental contribution. Among other things, we...more
As we reported in a previous post, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker in August 2017 signed into law H. 3822, “An Act Further Regulating Employer Contributions to Health Care” (the “Act”). Among other things, the law...more
In a November 20, 2017 post, we reported on Massachusetts’ passage of H. 3822, “An Act Further Regulating Employer Contributions to Health Care,” (the “Act”), the purpose of which is to shore up the finances of the...more
On August 1, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker signed into law H. 3822, “An Act Further Regulating Employer Contributions to Health Care” (the “Act”). The purpose of the Act is to shore up the finances of the...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: On August 1, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker signed into law a measure intended to help the state pay for the costs of the Commonwealth’s Medicaid program, referred to as MassHealth, which covers...more
In an effort to make up for a funding shortfall in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Medicaid program, state policymakers have proposed solutions that include a “play-or-pay” option under which employers who fail to offer...more
New Jersey’s Public Employee Relations Commission (“PERC” or the “Commission”) has weighed in on the issues of (1) when health insurance contributions become negotiable once the fourth tier of contributions under Chapter 78...more
Please see Chart below....more
The Sixth Circuit held that GM was not obligated to contribute $450 million to fund retiree health benefits for UAW members because the most recent contract between the UAW and GM extinguished GM’s former obligation to...more
Yesterday, in a unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court held that courts must apply ordinary rules of contract interpretation when determining whether retiree healthcare benefits vest for life pursuant to the terms of a...more
The IRS’ reasoning is that such reimbursement arrangements, often referred to as “employer payment plans” are “group health plans.” All group health plans must meet the Affordable Care Act’s “market reform” requirements, such...more