Last week, the U.S. Departments of Labor and Treasury issued a Joint Notice requiring the extension of certain benefit plan deadlines for individuals affected by Hurricanes Helene and Milton and Tropical Storm Helene.[1] The...more
11/13/2024
/ Beneficiaries ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
COBRA ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
EBSA ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
FEMA ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Hurricane Season ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
Natural Disasters ,
Notice Requirements ,
U.S. Treasury
Earlier this week, the Departments of Labor, Treasury, and Health and Human Services (the “Departments”) jointly issued guidance confirming that most COVID-19-related benefit coverage mandates, as well as the special tolling...more
The Biden Administration recently announced that the COVID-19 National Emergency will end on May 11, 2023. This means that the requirement to extend various benefit plan deadlines due to the COVID-19 pandemic will end as...more
Remember the DOL/Treasury relief that tolled the COBRA election and payment deadlines for up to one year due to the COVID-19 pandemic (referred to below as “Tolling Relief”)? If you have been wondering whether, under that...more
10/8/2021
/ COBRA ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Health and Welfare Plans ,
Health Insurance ,
Infectious Diseases ,
IRS ,
Premiums ,
Relief Measures ,
Tolling ,
U.S. Treasury
In our February 12th blog post, we raised the question of how to interpret the duration of the DOL/Treasury relief tolling certain benefit plan deadlines due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Without guidance from the agencies, it...more
As discussed in an earlier blog post on the DOL/Treasury relief extending benefit plan deadlines due to the pandemic, plans have to disregard an “outbreak period” when determining deadlines for COBRA elections and premiums...more
A few weeks after the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) stated that it will apply a “place of celebration” rule in recognizing same-sex spouses for purposes of the Internal Revenue Code (including with respect to employee...more