PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - DOL’s Guidance on Continued COVID-19 Timeframe Relief
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - COVID-19 Edition - Deadline Extensions Impacting HIPAA, COBRA and ERISA
What's Next for the Paycheck Protection Program? by Lindsey Berwick and John Wittenberg
In early 2023, we issued a client alert reminding clients that they had until March 3, 2023 to file objections to the Center for Investigative Reporting’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request that was submitted to the...more
If you have been following the implementation of the No Surprises Act independent dispute resolution (IDR) process, you have likely seen a bunch of new rules, guidance documents and deadline extensions come out recently and...more
The Canadian Intellectual Property Office has announced that as of December 1, 2023, updates to the Practice Notices for trademark opposition proceedings and section 45 (non-use cancellation) proceedings will come into...more
Sunday, October 1, 2023: OFCCP Discrimination Enforcement Statistics Hit New Lows - As federal Fiscal Year 2024 began on October 1, Fiscal Year 2023 ended on a down note for OFCCP as its enforcement statistics went even...more
Does your company's health plan provide prescription drug coverage? If so, you have until October 15, 2023 to send a notice to individuals who are enrolled in Medicare Part A or Part B and are eligible for the company's...more
Our recent briefing note explained that CE product safety marking, which is required to sell certain types of goods in the European Union, was being replaced by the UKCA mark in Great Britain (GB) following Brexit. The...more
No one can deny that the fall months have a certain allure. With the changing leaves, American author Jim Bishop noted that “Autumn carries more gold in its pocket than all the other seasons.” Of course, Autumn isn’t the only...more
On April 12, 2022, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra again renewed the declaration of a Public Health Emergency (PHE) under the Public Health Service Act, averting an April 16, 2022...more
The Provider Relief Fund was established in the CARES Act to reimburse eligible health care providers for increased expenses or lost revenue attributable to the Covid-19 pandemic. As a condition of receiving funds, providers...more
On Feb. 17, 2022, the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA or the Agency) held a public board meeting to address several topics, including the rulemaking under the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA). Although the CPRA...more
What Happened? I Thought This Was Gone! On Friday, December 17, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit lifted the nationwide Stay that had been previously put in place by the United States Court of...more
The White House released a Fact Sheet on November 4, 2021, aimed at covered federal contractors announcing they now have until January 4, 2022 for their covered employees to obtain their final vaccination dose. Under...more
In welcome news for government contractors, the government contractor vaccine mandate continues to soften. In a statement issued by the White House this morning, the deadline for complying with the mandate will be extended...more
We recently provided an update on the looming end date for COBRA and other deadline extensions and the uncertainty that continues to add to the administrative burdens without more clarity from the DOL and IRS. Message...more
In May of 2020, the Department of Labor (DOL) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released joint-agency guidance that extended several important deadlines for employees, including COBRA election and payment deadlines, HIPAA...more
Employers are facing uncertainty as to the expiration of the COVID-19 relief the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued in a joint guidance on May 4, 2020. The joint guidance requires...more
In response to the ongoing delays and uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Brown signed House Bill 4212 into law in June 2020. The law contains a number of remedial measures affecting the functioning of local...more
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) extended its June 2021 deadline for certain small, non-IP, and other voice service providers to implement STIR/SHAKEN call authentication to reduce illegal and unwanted robocalls...more
The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) quietly released a Post-Payment Notice of Reporting Requirements (Notice) over the weekend, which provides some initial details regarding the reporting requirements...more
China's New Coal Projects Make Up 90% of Global Total for First Half of 2020: Study - "Global coal-fired generation capacity saw a net decline of 2.9 gigawatts from January to June, the first drop on record for a six-month...more
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act created opportunity zones as an economic development tool to stimulate investments in distressed communities. This tool extends tax advantages to investors in qualified opportunity funds, provided...more
The Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) has announced a second application extension for its Medicaid Provider Relief Fund disbursement. As we previously discussed, the deadline was initially July 20, 2020, but was...more
Already pushed back once, the Brazilian General Data Protection Law, Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados Pessoais (LGPD), was scheduled to go into effect on August 16, 2020. Yet, there have been separate government actions in...more
About a month ago, I predicted on this blog that Food and Drug Administration’s November 2020 enforcement discretion deadline announced as part of its Comprehensive Regenerative Medicine Policy Framework would most likely not...more
There has been a recent flurry of regulatory guidance issued affecting employee benefit plans. Most of the guidance addresses challenges specifically created by the COVID-19 pandemic, while other guidance is applicable...more