During the next several weeks, we will publish a series of articles that dive deeply into “health plan hygiene” relating to health and welfare benefit plan fiduciary issues and how employers can protect themselves in this quickly evolving area.
Section 408(b)(2) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) requires certain disclosures regarding
A recent Alabama Supreme Court case, LaPage v. Center for Reproductive Medicine, has made headlines and raised questions about the legal implications of providing in vitro fertilization (IVF) benefits. During IVF, eggs are fertilized outside the body to create an embryo, and in the case at hand, the parents sued after several embryos were
On July 17, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued an advance version of Notice 2023-54 (the Notice) which will include transition relief for plan administrators in connection with the change in the required beginning date for required minimum distributions (RMDs) under §401(a)(9) of the Internal Revenue Code (Code) under §107 of the Setting Every Community
On December 29, 2022, President Biden signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, and Division T of the Act contains legislation dubbed the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (SECURE 2.0). SECURE 2.0 contains an important provision regarding the eligibility of part-time employees to participate in an employer’s 401(k) plan or ERISA-governed 403(b) plan. The fundamental principle
On August 3, 2022, retirement plan sponsors welcomed IRS Notice 2022-33 (“Notice”), which extends the deadline for adopting amendments to comply with the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (“SECURE Act”), Section 104 of the Bipartisan American Miners Act (“Miners Act”), and certain provisions of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic
On May 2, 2022, a draft opinion from the U.S. Supreme Court case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health was leaked to the press, and as a result the Court is expected to overturn Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, effectively leaving the issue of abortion rights to the states. Thirteen states currently
As employers consider implementing a vaccine mandate to encourage employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19, we have recently discussed the merits of imposing a “vaccine surcharge” on monthly health insurance premiums for those employees who remain unvaccinated. There were unanswered questions about specific legal issues, but now the Department of Labor (DOL), Health and Human
In light of the lingering COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on employee productivity and health care expenses, employers are considering imposing a premium surcharge on employees participating in the company’s health plan who are not vaccinated against COVID-19.
As we have discussed here, several federal laws must be taken into consideration when designing such
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced Monday it now interprets—and will enforce—Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, effective immediately. Section 1557 generally prohibits discrimination based on race, color, national origin, sex, age, and disability in any health program or activity
As a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we are observing all sorts of never-before-seen changes in the fully-insured group health plan space. Many insurers are liberally waiving their normal rules to accommodate the continuation of coverage to employers and employees in their time of need. Although the accommodations are welcome, employers need to exercise