Seyfarth Synopsis: As employers look for ways to help employees impacted by the current pandemic, one option to consider is permitting employees to donate their accrued, but unused paid time off (PTO) to fellow employees in...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: On April 11, the IRS, DOL and HHS issued a series of FAQs clarifying the scope of the FFCRA/CARES Act mandates relating to COVID-19 testing for group health plans and health insurance issuers. This post...more
4/18/2020
/ CARES Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Financial Stimulus ,
IRS ,
Popular ,
Relief Measures ,
Sick Leave ,
Sick Pay ,
Tax Credits
Seyfarth Synopsis: Several deadlines established by the IRS to adopt amendments or restatements to employer-sponsored retirement plans, and in this instance specifically, to 403(b) plans maintained by tax-exempt entities and...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: On March 27, 2020, the House of Representatives followed the Senate’s lead in voting overwhelmingly to pass the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. The President signed the...more
3/28/2020
/ CARES Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employee Benefits ,
Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) ,
Financial Stimulus ,
HDHP ,
Health and Welfare Plans ,
Relief Measures ,
Student Loans ,
Telehealth ,
Vaccinations
Seyfarth Synopsis: On March 19, Senator McConnell introduced the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. While the Act largely focuses on economic relief for businesses and individuals, it did contain...more
3/23/2020
Seyfarth Synopsis: As we have been raising in our series of blog posts and Legal Updates, the impact of the coronavirus is far-reaching, and there are a number of concerns relating to employer-sponsored retirement plans to...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: On March 19, Senator McConnell introduced the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. While the Act largely focuses on economic relief for businesses and individuals, it did contain...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: On Wednesday afternoon, the Senate voted 90-8 to approve HR 6201 without changes. The law generally takes effect no later than 15 days after HR 6201 is signed (expected soon) and would sunset on December...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Late Monday night, the House passed a technical corrections package to HR 6201. While most of the changes related to the Bill’s paid sick leave, unemployment insurance and tax credits provisions (click here...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Late Friday evening, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill (HR 6201) targeted to provide relief for individuals impacted by the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes...more
3/16/2020
/ Business Continuity Plans ,
China ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Crisis Management ,
Emergency Management Plans ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Public Health ,
Relief Measures ,
Sick Leave ,
Sick Pay ,
Trump Administration
Seyfarth Synopsis: One of many COVID-19 benefits-related concerns focused on the ability of individuals covered under High Deductible Health Plans to have services to diagnose or treat the coronavirus covered before their...more
3/13/2020
/ Clinical Laboratory Testing ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Cost-Sharing ,
Crisis Management ,
Deductible Expenses ,
Emergency Response ,
Employee Benefits ,
HDHP ,
Health and Safety ,
Health Insurance ,
HSA ,
Infectious Diseases ,
IRS ,
New Guidance ,
Public Health ,
Relief Measures
Seyfarth Synopsis: Because everything has a coronavirus angle now….this blog post covers various issues and considerations plan sponsors and administrators should keep in mind as the coronavirus outbreak continues to...more
3/6/2020
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
China ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Crisis Management ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Privacy Rights ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employment Policies ,
Government Agencies ,
Health and Safety ,
Health Insurance ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Infectious Diseases ,
OSHA ,
Personal Protective Equipment ,
PHI ,
Plan Administrators ,
Public Health ,
Workplace Safety
Seyfarth Synopsis: Recent changes to the federal rules governing confidentiality of substance use disorder (SUD) patient records may require updates to agreements between group health plans and their third-party vendors....more
1/31/2020
/ Confidential Information ,
Deadlines ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Health Insurance ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Medicaid ,
Medical Records ,
Medicare ,
PHI ,
SAMHSA ,
Service Agreements ,
Substance Abuse ,
Third-Party Relationships
Seyfarth Synopsis: The IRS recently issued somewhat helpful guidance to plan administrators on what to do about the constant problem of uncashed benefit checks from qualified retirement plans. The initial excitement upon...more
For several years now we’ve been keeping you updated on the long and winding road of the Department of Labor’s (“DOL”) Fiduciary Rule....more
6/26/2018
/ Best Interest Contract Exemptions ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Fiduciary Rule ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Management ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Retirement Plan ,
Vacated
On May 7, 2018, the Department of Labor (the “DOL”) issued a temporary non-enforcement policy regarding its investment advice fiduciary regulation (the “Fiduciary Rule”) in Field Assistance Bulletin 2018-02. This guidance was...more
5/9/2018
/ Best Interest Contract Exemptions ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Fiduciary Rule ,
Field Assistance Bulletins ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Management ,
Retirement Plan
Last year, the IRS published the calendar year 2018 health savings account (HSA) contribution limits for individual and family coverage. Rev. Proc. 2017-37, I.R.B. 2017-21 (5/4/2017). ...more
The Department of Labor’s new regulations governing disability claims and appeals published on December 19, 2016 will go into effect on April 1, 2018, as announced by the DOL on January 5, 2018.
...more
1/10/2018
/ Administrative Appeals ,
Affordable Care Act ,
Claim Procedures ,
Denial of Benefits ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Disability Benefits ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Final Rules ,
Plan Administrators ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Retirement Plan
This is the fourth issue in a planned series of alerts designed to provide an in-depth analysis on topics related to tax reform. This Tax Reform Management Alert issue focuses on executive compensation and employee benefits...more
12/21/2017
/ Compensation & Benefits ,
Corporate Taxes ,
Employee Benefits ,
Executive Compensation ,
Fringe Benefits ,
Hardship Distributions ,
Income Taxes ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Pending Legislation ,
Retirement Plan ,
Section 162(m) ,
Tax Deductions ,
Tax Rates ,
Tax Reform ,
Trump Administration
This is the second issue in a planned series of alerts for employers on selected topics on tax reform. The series of Tax Reform Management Alerts is designed to provide an in-depth analysis of executive compensation and...more
12/11/2017
/ Compensation & Benefits ,
Corporate Taxes ,
Deferred Compensation ,
Executive Compensation ,
Fringe Benefits ,
Hardship Distributions ,
Income Taxes ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Retirement Plan ,
Section 162(m) ,
Tax Deductions ,
Tax Rates ,
Tax Reform ,
Trump Administration
This is the first issue in a planned series of alerts for employers on selected topics on tax reform. The series of Tax Reform Management Alerts is designed to provide an in-depth analysis of executive compensation and...more
11/27/2017
/ Compensation & Benefits ,
Deferred Compensation ,
Employee Benefits ,
Executive Compensation ,
Individual Mandate ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Medical Expenses ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Retirement Plan ,
Section 162(m) ,
Tax Deductions ,
Tax Rates ,
Tax Reform ,
Trump Administration
On Tuesday, August 22, the US District Court for the District of Columbia ordered the EEOC to revisit its controversial rules placing certain limits on employer-sponsored wellness programs under the Americans with...more
8/30/2017
/ AARP ,
Affordable Care Act ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Discrimination ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Genetic Discrimination ,
GINA ,
Health Insurance ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Non-Discrimination Rules ,
Wellness Programs
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Republican’s efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act may be dead on arrival. The defection of a total of four Senators from support of BCRA 2.0 means that bill has no chance of passage. ...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The epicenter of the health care repeal and replace effort has moved from the House of Representatives to the Senate. After several weeks of drafting behind closed doors, the Senate introduced the Better...more
This is the one hundred and ninth issue in our series of alerts for employers on selected topics on health care reform. This series of Health Care Reform Management Alerts is designed to provide an in-depth analysis of...more
5/9/2017
/ Affordable Care Act ,
American Health Care Act (AHCA) ,
Cadillac Tax ,
CBO Report ,
Employer Mandates ,
Essential Health Benefits ,
Flexible Spending Accounts ,
Health Insurance ,
Health Insurance Exchanges ,
Health Savings Accounts ,
Medicaid ,
Medicare ,
Premium Subsidies ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Repeal ,
Trump Administration