2015 Mid-Year Client Advisory
At this time of year many employers finalize welfare plan designs for 2016 and gear up for open enrollment. And this summer, many employers are in the process of reviewing updated pre-approved defined contribution plan documents provided by their record keeping firms. With those efforts in mind, this Client...
Where There’s Smoke There’s Questions: Designing Compliant Wellness Programs That Target Tobacco Use
The final regulations concerning wellness programs under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, as amended (HIPAA) continue to generate a number of questions and concerns for employers whose programs seek to promote employee health by curbing tobacco use. The compliance status of some programs is further complicated by...
EEOC Finally Releases Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for Wellness Programs
The final regulations concerning wellness programs under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, as amended (HIPAA) continue to generate a number of questions and concerns for employers whose programs seek to promote employee health by curbing tobacco use. The compliance status of some programs is further complicated by...
EPCRS Revisions: The Second Act
For the second time in under a week the Internal Revenue Service released a series of updates to its most recent restatement of the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS). Revenue Procedure 2015-28 modifies EPCRS by outlining new safe harbor correction methods for plans with automatic contribution features and...
IRS Clarifies the Correction of Overpayments under EPCRS
The IRS has clarified the correction of certain retirement plan operational failures under its Employer Plan Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS) and expanded certain elements of the program in ways that are helpful to retirement plan sponsors. The clarifications, contained in Rev. Proc. 2015-27 , address what the IRS believes...
Notice 2015-17: Small-Scale Excise Tax Relief for Small Employers
On February 18, 2015 the Internal Revenue Service issued Notice 2015-17 , which provides temporary relief from the excise tax under Code section 4980D for employer programs that reimburse employees for the cost of health insurance coverage purchased on the individual market (including coverage obtained through an Exchange). The...
When a “Termination” is Not a Termination
Employers grapple with the employee benefits consequences of employment terminations in a variety of contexts. In the retirement plan context when a vested participant's employment ends the most significant consequence typically will be the participant's right to receive a benefit distribution. In most cases – where there is a...
2014 Year-End Employee Benefit Plans Compliance Advisory
The 2014 end-of-year rush seems somewhat less frantic than in years past. Nevertheless, with a month left in the year many employers may find themselves scrambling to meet plan amendment and notice deadlines, and planning for 2015 may still be in process for some. This summary discusses a few...
Complimentary Webinar to Review Recent Legal Issues with Wellness Programs
Join Richard Moon and Chris Lockman on Thursday, November 20, from 9:00 – 10:00 a.m. for a complimentary webinar that will provide a general overview of the final wellness program regulations and recent EEOC litigation attacking certain wellness programs. The DOL, HHS, and the Treasury Department have released detailed...
CMS Delays HPID Application Deadline
On October 31, 2014, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a statement delaying enforcement of the health plan identifier (HPID) requirement. Specifically, Controlling Health Plans (CHPs) are no longer required to obtain HPIDs by the originally announced deadline of November 5, 2014, which has been delayed...
Are you Experienced? A Look at the HPID Application Experience
Under final rules issued September 5, 2012 by the Department of Health and Human Services under HIPAA, nearly all employer group health plans are required to obtain a unique health plan identification number (HPID) by November 5, 2014. (We summarize the final rules briefly here .) Health plans with...
Deadline Approaches for Business Associate Agreement Compliance Updates
Employer group health plans and other covered entities that have not already amended business associate agreements (BAAs) to incorporate changes required by the Final Omnibus Rule must do so by September 22, 2014. (You can read our prior blog post on the Final HIPAA Omnibus Rule here...
2014 Mid-Year Compliance Update
While 2014 has been a relatively quiet year in terms of new rules affecting retirement plans, the January 1, 2015 effective date for the Affordable Care Act employer shared responsibility mandate is now in sight. This summary discusses a few key developments regarding employee benefit plans – especially group...
2014 Mid-Year Supreme Court Case Review
The 2013-2014 term of the Supreme Court of the United States produced opinions that will have substantial effects on the design and administration of most employee benefits plans. This summary highlights three key decisions, one significant procedural ruling, and an emerging issue likely headed for Supreme Court review, all...
Fiduciary Committee Best Practices – Part 2: Preparing Meeting Minutes
In Part 1 of this two-part series we suggested that the key to compliance with the fiduciary requirements of ERISA can be boiled down to a simple proposition: follow a prudent process and document it. We used that proposition as a basis for offering five foundational steps that a...
Fiduciary Committee Best Practices – Part I: The Basics
Even in areas of law where the landscape of rules, regulations, and risks seems constantly to be changing, certain core concepts and basic principles hold fast. In the case of fiduciary responsibility under ERISA, the core concepts and basic principles can be boiled down to three key elements: (1...
Thirty Years of Church Plan Rulings Challenged
Within the past five months, two federal District Court judges have cast doubt on the validity of IRS letter rulings (and similar DOL opinion letters) issued to church-affiliated employers dating back to 1983. These federal judges – one in California and one in New Jersey – concluded that the...
IRS Guidance Confirms Treatment of Same Sex Spouses under Cafeteria Plans
IRSNotice 2014-01 , issued yesterday, provides helpful guidance for the administration of cafeteria plans after the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in the Windsor case. The guidance provides answers to a number of questions that employers and plan administrators have been asking, including the following: May a participant who was...
2013 Year End Benefit Plan Compliance Update and Reminders for Employers
As 2013 draws to a close and we look ahead to 2014, there is no shortage of benefit plan administrative challenges with which employers must contend. While the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 ("ACA") remains very much at the forefront of these challenges, retirement plan and...
Fort Halifax Redux: Identifying an ERISA Plan Made Simple Again
We are frequently asked by clients whether a severance policy or program is an "ERISA plan" and, thus, subject to ERISA's documentary, administrative, reporting, and disclosure requirements. A recent decision from the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico provides a helpful analysis of this re-occurring...
IRS Modifies Health FSA Rules to Permit Carryover of up to $500
Late last week the IRS released Notice 2013-71 , modifying the health flexible spending account ("health FSA") use-it-or-lose-it rule to allow participants to carry over up to $500 in unused health FSA funds. Although not unexpected (the Service has hinted at such a change a number of times over...
Selecting Investment Consultants for Pension Plans With Imperfect Information
An article in the business section of the New York Times last week reported some surprising conclusions reached by a recent study of the performance of pension plan investments. ("Doubts Raised on Value of Investment Consultants to Pensions," September 30, 2013.) The study, performed by two Oxford professors, revealed...
State Exemptions for Religious Organizations After the DOMA Decision and Revenue Ruling 2013-17
The "place of celebration" rule adopted by the IRS in Revenue Ruling 2013-17 means that legally married same-sex couples are now recognized as married for federal tax purposes regardless of the state in which they reside. This ruling clearly affects the design and operation of employer-sponsored benefit plans in...
IRS Releases Guidance on DOMA Decision
Yesterday Treasury and the IRS released much needed guidance regarding the U.S. Supreme Court's decision on the Defense of Marriage Act. Specifically, Treasury and the IRS ruled that they will adopt a "place of celebration rule" under which legally married same-sex couples will be recognized for federal tax purposes...
The Sun Capital Case Could Have Broader Implications for Employee Benefit Plans
The widely publicized case of Sun Capital Partners III, L.P. v. New England Teamsters & Trucking Ind. Pension Fund, No. 12-2312, __ F.3d __, 2013 WL 3814984 (1st Cir. July 24, 2013) , has made the private equity investment community a touch uneasy. In holding that a fund organized...
Mid-Year Health Plan Compliance Update
Developments in the employee health plan arena have come fast and furious in the first half of 2013, and there is no lack of compliance activities to occupy the time of human resources and employee benefits professionals. We offer this collection of key developments for employers to consider as...
Enforcement of Employer Mandate Delayed Until 2015
This evening the White House and U.S. Department of Treasury announced that the effective date of the employer shared responsibility component (also known as the employer pay or play mandate) of the Affordable Care Act will be delayed until 2015. Accordingly, businesses will not be penalized in 2014 for...
The Verdict on DOMA and Proposition 8: Impact on Employee Benefit Plans
Today the United States Supreme Court overturned Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act ("DOMA") and reinstated a California judge's order that Proposition 8 (the California ballot initiative defining marriage as between a man and a woman) is unconstitutional. Although it will take time to sort through the...
Seasonal Workers and Your Employee Benefit Plans
Summer is fast approaching and we find ourselves answering a number of questions regarding the coverage of seasonal workers in employee benefit plans. For employers planning to ramp up hiring for the summer season we offer this brief review of the treatment of seasonal employees for purposes of your...
HIPAA Compliance for Group Health Plans – Next Steps for Employers
In three previous posts devoted to the new Final Omnibus Rule under HIPAA we highlighted important changes regarding privacy breach notifications , business associates and business associate arrangements , and increased penalties and enforcement activity . We will complete our series regarding these significant new rules by suggesting steps...
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