Hot button ERISA fiduciary issues remain a focus for investment committees of 401(k) plans in 2022. From “excessive” fee litigation – including litigation over the duty to monitor the fees charged by various mutual funds made available to plan participants (the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed this duty in January 2022) – to the U.S. Department
The 2021 Mental Health Parity Grades Are In – Everybody Failed
Most group health plan sponsors understand that the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) requires that coverage for mental health conditions and substance use disorders be no more restrictive than coverage for other medical and surgical conditions. In 2020, Congress changed the law to require plans to perform and document comparative analyses of
It’s Almost the End of 2021. Do You Know Where Your Healthcare Dollars Go?
The CAA Transparency Rules Will Let Plans and Participants Know. The Department of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the IRS (collectively the Departments) recently released the Interim Final Rules with a request for Comment (IFC), Prescription Drug and Health Care Spending. These rules implement Section 204, Title II, another phase of the transparency provisions
Mental Health Parity – Don’t Be Left Out in the Cold!
News Flash: There’s no actual statutory mandate that employers offer group health coverage at all, much less coverage for specific conditions. However, federal law requires health plans that provide mental health and substance use disorder coverage to ensure that the financial requirements (like coinsurance) and treatment limitations (like visit limits and provider access) applicable to
DOL Plan Audits Updated to Include Several Questions About Compliance with Its Cybersecurity Guidelines
In April, we posted about the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) issuing cybersecurity guidance for employee retirement plans. That is, April 14, 2021. Shortly thereafter, the DOL updated its audit inquiries to include probing questions for plan fiduciaries about their compliance with “hot off the press” agency guidelines.
So, what
Musings of Retirement Plan Fiduciaries on Cybersecurity: Episode One
By now, plan fiduciaries and their service providers likely have heard about the DOL’s cybersecurity guidance. The Department of Labor’s stepping into cybersecurity in this way – a posting of best practices on the agency’s website – has left plan fiduciaries with some questions. Here are a few:
- “When is this effective?”
- “Does this
DOL Issues Cybersecurity Best Practices for ERISA Covered Retirement Plans
Today, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) issued much anticipated cybersecurity guidance for employee retirement plans. This comes more than four and a half years after the ERISA Advisory Council, a 15-member body appointed by the Secretary of Labor to provide guidance on employee benefit plans, shared with the federal
Expanding the Safe Harbor for (Certain) Electronic Disclosures
We previously wrote about the Department of Labor’s proposed expansion of its safe harbor for electronic delivery of certain retirement plan disclosures required under ERISA. The wait is finally over, with publication of the final rule (the “New Rule”) helped along by the DOL’s desire to alleviate some of the “disclosure-related problems being reported by
COBRA Compliance Through a COVID-19 Lens
Over the last few weeks, we have seen significant changes affecting COBRA compliance. Employers should contact their COBRA administrators to discuss the best practices in light of these developments, which include the Department of Labor’s publication of new model COBRA notices and COVID-19 notice and premium payment extensions. We have a helpful article that discusses
New Model COBRA Notices and Emergency Extensions to COBRA Deadlines Require Employers to Take Action
The Department of Labor (DOL) and other federal regulators released updates and clarifications related to employee benefits, including updates to model COBRA notices and an extension of certain statutory deadlines intended to minimize the possibility of participants and beneficiaries losing benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic. This article highlights the DOL’s recent changes and updates relating