Last week the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled that the deadline imposed under ERISA for plan administrators to decide on benefit claims is a “bright line” rule. The court held that when a plan administrator misses this deadline, the “substantial compliance” exception to statutory compliance does not apply and the plan … Continue Reading
Contributing employers to multiemployer pension plans (“MEPPs”) are commonly surprised that their obligations to such a plan can extend well beyond the contributions required under a collective bargaining agreement (“CBA”) negotiated with a union. The most significant extra-contractual obligation is withdrawal liability, a statutory exit fee imposed on employers that leave a plan that has … Continue Reading
The list of the federal courts of appeals enforcing unambiguous anti-assignment provisions in ERISA health benefit plans continues to grow: almost exactly one year ago, the Third Circuit joined its sister circuits in holding “that anti-assignment clauses in ERISA-governed health insurance plans as a general matter are enforceable.” As the Third Circuit opinion noted, every … Continue Reading
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Tax Act”) significantly changed the federal income tax rules. Several of these changes impact income tax withholding, including changes to the tax rates and brackets, increasing the standard deduction, and eliminating personal exemptions. Normally, employees must provide their employers with an updated Form W-4 within 10 days of … Continue Reading
The nature of work is changing with more and more individuals choosing to be “gig” workers rather than employees. This change fundamentally alters the availability of employee benefits, as well as the applicable taxation reporting and withholding requirements. It is no surprise to us that the Treasury Department has found that the underreporting of self-employment … Continue Reading
The Internal Revenue Service recently announced its cost-of-living adjustments applicable to dollar limitations for retirement plans and Social Security generally effective for Tax Year 2019 (see IRS Notice 2018-63). Most notably, the limitation on annual salary deferrals into a 401(k) plan will increase from $18,500 to $19,000. The dollar limits are as follows: LIMIT 2018 … Continue Reading
Employers in Illinois with at least 25 employees must comply with the Illinois Secure Choice Savings Program Act (Secure Choice) or offer employees an employer-sponsored retirement plan. Secure Choice is set to roll out in November 2018. Secure Choice applies to Illinois employers that do not sponsor a qualified retirement plan. The program, adopted in … Continue Reading
Blockchain is a revolutionary technological tool in the way it tracks and stores data, decentralizes information, establishes trust in electronic files, and dispenses of intermediaries. This technology powers virtual currencies, also known as cryptocurrency or virtual tokens. Companies are raising money using “initial coin offerings” (ICOs) and using tokens to compensate and incentivize founders, directors, … Continue Reading
Some of you may remember that back in 2015, we published an article entitled Arbitration of ERISA Claims – Yes You Can! A link to that article can be found here. In that article, we suggested that one key reason for adding ERISA claims to your arbitration agreement was to avoid class actions through the … Continue Reading
In 2017, the IRS released the 2018 inflation-adjusted figures for contributions to Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). The contribution limits for HSAs associated with High Deductible Health Plans was increased to $3,450 for individuals with self-only coverage and to $6,900 for individuals with family coverage. In December, the President signed the tax reform bill commonly known … Continue Reading
Premiums for Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace coverage continue to sky rocket, with the average cost of a benchmark plan in the individual market place rising 20% this year. There is very different news for employer-sponsored plans. According to the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation, in 2016 annual family premiums rose on average a modest 3% … Continue Reading
On October 27, the DOL published guidance on the new prohibited transaction exemptions (“PTEs”) issued under the DOL’s rule redefining “fiduciary” in the context of providing investment advice (See “Guidance,” here). Intended as a means to provide protections to retirement investors, the Fiduciary Rule and related PTEs require all those providing retirement investment advice to … Continue Reading
Leave Donation. In mid-September, the IRS announced income tax relief for individuals who donate through their employers to aid victims of the Louisiana storms that began on August 11, 2016. See IRS Notice 2016-55 (Sept. 16, 2016). To get this special relief — similar to that provided for leave donation aid given after the September … Continue Reading
The Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) has recognized that marriages of couples of the same sex should be treated the same as marriages of couples of the opposite sex for federal tax purposes. On September 2, 2016, the IRS issued final regulations — in furtherance of the Supreme Court’s decisions in Obergefell v. Hodges and Windsor … Continue Reading
Employers who cease contributing to an ERISA multiemployer pension plan are liable for their allocable share of any underfunding, or “withdrawal liability.” For a variety of reasons, withdrawal liability has become both prevalent and significant. Indeed, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (the federal agency tasked with the enforcement and regulation of the withdrawal liability rules) … Continue Reading
An employer can adopt what is called a “safe harbor” 401(k) plan. Such a plan requires an employer to commit to making a specific contribution to each plan participant. In doing so, the plan is deemed to pass the annual Actual Deferral Percentage (ADP), the Actual Contribution Percentage (ACP), and the Top Heavy tests, which … Continue Reading
On December 9, 2015, the IRS issued Notice 2015-87 [link below], which provides guidance on the application of the recent United States Supreme Court (“SCOTUS”) decision in Obergefell v. Hodges [link below] to qualified retirement and health and welfare plans. Prior to the 2013 SCOTUS decision in United States v. Windsor [link below], Section 3 of the … Continue Reading
Since the enactment of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), larger employers have wondered about an auto-enrollment provision that the ACA added to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Under that provision, employers that are subject to the FLSA and which employed more than 200 full-time employees would have been required to automatically enroll new full-time employees … Continue Reading
Today the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) published long-awaited proposed regulations on wellness programs (Proposed Regs) that are intended to harmonize certain provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) with long-standing rules concerning wellness programs applicable to group health plans under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and more recently, the Affordable … Continue Reading
The Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) added section 4980I to the Internal Revenue Code (“Code”). Code section 4980I applies to tax years after December 31, 2017, and provides a tax on high cost employer-sponsored health coverage – if the aggregate cost of employer-sponsored coverage (referred to as “applicable coverage”) provided to an employee exceeds a statutory … Continue Reading
Little more than a month ago, we reported to you about the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC’s) first lawsuit against a Wisconsin employer concerning its wellness program. On October 1, the EEOC announced a second lawsuit against another Wisconsin employer. EEOC v. Flambeau, Inc. (W.D.WI, filed October 1, 2014). Based on the report, the agency’s … Continue Reading
The EEOC could sue my company over the wellness program that is part of our medical plan? Yes, that agency recently sued an employer in Wisconsin claiming the penalty the employer imposed for nonparticpation in its program was too significant, causing the medical inquiries under the program to be involuntary for purposes of the Americans … Continue Reading
Moody's Investors' Service has started to recalculate the states' debt burdens to include the unfunded pension obligations owed to state employees… Continue Reading
