Health and Welfare Plans Archives - Page 64 of 128

New Legislation Extends Future Form 5500 and 990 Deadlines, Affects Veterans Health Benefits and Extends Excess Pension Asset Transfer Rules

by Jeffrey Holdvogt and Sarah L. Engle | Oct 30, 2015 | Benefit Controversies, Employee Benefits, Health and Welfare Plans, Retirement Plans

The recently enacted Surface Transportation and Veterans Health Care Choice Improvement Act of 2015 includes provisions that will extend the deadlines for filing future Form 5500 and Form 990 series information returns. In addition, the legislation modifies rules relating to the ability of veterans to participate in health savings accounts (HSAs), allows employers to disregard employees receiving certain veterans benefits when determining whether they are subject to the shared responsibility requirements of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and further extends the ability of employers to use excess pension assets to pay for retiree health and group-term life insurance.

Read the full article.

IRS Adjusted ACA Fee Amounts for the 2015/2016 Policy or Plan Years and Additional Payment Options

by McDermott Will & Emery | Oct 27, 2015 | Employee Benefits, Employment, Health and Welfare Plans

The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) fee was established under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to advance comparative clinical effectiveness research. The PCORI fee is assessed on issuers of health insurance policies and sponsors of self-insured health plans. The fees are calculated using the average number of lives covered under the policy or plan, and the applicable dollar amount for that policy or plan year.

Read the full article.

IRS Announces Employee Benefit Plan Limits for 2016

by Diane Morgenthaler, Jeffrey Holdvogt and Jacob Mattinson | Oct 23, 2015 | Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs), Health and Welfare Plans, Retirement Plans

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently announced the cost-of-living adjustments to the applicable dollar limits for various employer-sponsored retirement and welfare plans for 2016. Although some of the dollar limits currently in effect for 2015 will change, the majority of the limits will remain unchanged for 2016.

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Navigating Legal Issues in Connection with Employer Sponsored On-Site Health Clinics

by McDermott Will & Emery | Oct 13, 2015 | Employment, Health and Welfare Plans

On-site clinics can be a valuable addition to an employer’s overall health care strategy with respect to promoting prevention, improving quality outcomes and reducing the employer’s overall trend in health care spending. However, given the myriad laws that apply to such clinics, an employer is well-advised to develop a comprehensive legal compliance strategy in designing and implementing the structure and operation of its onsite clinic.

Read the full article here.

Further Guidance on the ACA’s Cadillac Tax

by McDermott Will & Emery | Oct 6, 2015 | Benefit Controversies, Employee Benefits, Employment, Health and Welfare Plans

Effective for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2018, an excise tax of 40 percent will be imposed on the cost of employer-sponsored health coverage that exceeds an annual limit. This tax is informally known as the “Cadillac Tax” and will impose a penalty on employers, health insurers and “persons who administer plan benefits” with regard to high-cost health care coverage.

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Seventh Circuit Continues to Apply Federal Successor Liability Doctrine to Multiemployer Pension Plan Withdrawal Liability

by Alan D. Nesburg, PC and McDermott Will & Emery | Oct 2, 2015 | Employee Benefits, Employment, Health and Welfare Plans, Retirement Plans

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit recently addressed the notice requirement of the federal successor liability doctrine where withdrawal from a multiemployer pension plan occurred after a sale of assets.

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EEOC Proposed Rules Provide Long-Awaited Guidance for Wellness Programs

by McDermott Will & Emery | Sep 15, 2015 | Employment, Health and Welfare Plans

Susan M. Nash wrote this bylined article about the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) long-awaited guidance on when it will enforce the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) against employers who sponsor certain types of employee wellness programs. “Although still in proposed form, the proposed rule provides insight into EEOC’s approach toward regulating employer wellness programs,” Ms. Nash wrote.

Read the full article in Corporate Wellness Magazine.

California Amends Its Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Law

by Chris C. Scheithauer and Michael T. Graham | Aug 14, 2015 | Employee Benefits, Employment, Executive Compensation, Health and Welfare Plans, Labor

As previously reported, California’s Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014 (California’s Sick Leave Law) took full effect on July 1, 2015, although some provisions were effective as of January 1, 2015. The new law generally requires most employers to allow employees to accrue paid sick leave. This On the Subject discussed requirements employers must meet, including Assembly Bill 304, which amends California’s Sick Leave Law to make immediate changes.

Read the full article.

Affordable Care Act Reporting Penalties Significantly Increased

by McDermott Will & Emery | Aug 6, 2015 | Employment, Health and Welfare Plans

On June 29, 2015, President Barack Obama signed the Trade Preferences Extension Act (the Act) into law. In addition to containing several revenue offsets, the Act significantly increased penalties for incorrect information returns, including those required by the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) may impose penalties for both failing to file and filing incorrect or incomplete information returns and/or payee statements after the due dates for such forms pursuant to Internal Revenue Code Section 6721 and 6722. These penalty provisions apply to a variety of information reporting requirements including Forms W-2 and 1099, and now more recently to Forms 1094-B, 1095-B, 1094-C, and 1095-C relating to compliance with the ACA.

Read the full article.

Privacy and Security Concerns for Employee Benefit Plans with Service Provider Relationships

by Anthony A. Bongiorno, Andrew Liazos and Amy C. Pimentel | Jul 21, 2015 | Benefit Controversies, Employment, Fiduciary and Investment Issues, Health and Welfare Plans, Labor, Privacy and Data Security, Retirement Plans

Recent cyber-attacks on health insurers have heightened awareness that sensitive participant and beneficiary information may not be adequately secure. There will undoubtedly be other attacks on databases maintained by service providers to employee benefit plans, which raises an important question for Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) fiduciaries: what should be done now to protect participant and beneficiary information entrusted to service providers against future attacks and unauthorized disclosure? While the extent of a fiduciary’s responsibility to protect personal identifiable information of participants and beneficiaries is unclear, the fiduciary provisions of ERISA can be interpreted to impose a general duty to protect this information when it is part of a plan’s administration. In addition, plan fiduciaries also may have obligations under other federal and state laws governing data privacy and security that are not preempted by ERISA. This article addresses the nature of the problem, identifies the types of data breaches that can occur with employee benefit plans, provides an overview of relevant law that may apply, and sets forth practical steps that can be taken by plan fiduciaries with service providers to address privacy and security concerns.

Click here to read the full article from Benefits Law Journal.

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