News & Analysis as of

Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) Employer Group Health Plans

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Gone But Not Forgotten: How to Handle Final Pay and Benefits When an Employee Passes Away, Part 2

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on

Benefits and Beyond: What Happens to PTO, Health Insurance, Retirement Plans, and other Benefits?...more

Bricker Graydon LLP

What Happens to Health FSA Balances When COBRA Coverage is Elected?

Bricker Graydon LLP on

While most plan sponsors understand that their plans must offer continuation coverage under COBRA for their medical benefits, many administrators find themselves on less solid ground when it comes to COBRA coverage and health...more

Foley & Lardner LLP

Tricky Compliance Issues for Companies When an Executive Terminates Employment: Post-Termination Benefit Promises

Foley & Lardner LLP on

Executive employment relationships are rarely permanent. When an executive or other senior-level employee terminates employment, companies often must deal with difficult tax, equity, and benefits issues that arise in...more

Husch Blackwell LLP

Employers Continue to Face ERISA Tobacco Surcharge Lawsuits, With Mixed Results

Husch Blackwell LLP on

Recently, companies have seen a spate of class action lawsuits challenging the legality of tobacco cessation wellness programs and related tobacco surcharges imposed by their employer-sponsored health benefit plans....more

Morgan Lewis - ML Benefits

One Big Beautiful Bill: Impact on Welfare Benefits

President Donald Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) into law on July 4, 2025. The OBBB is a wide-ranging piece of legislation that introduces significant reforms across multiple areas of federal policy, including...more

McDermott Will & Schulte

Key updates on the US health benefits and reimbursement landscape

The world of health benefits is constantly evolving. Recent policy shifts and legislative developments are expected to impact the economic landscape and have significant implications for employer plan sponsors, insurers,...more

McAfee & Taft

Employer health plan surcharges pose litigation risks

McAfee & Taft on

Many employers implement wellness programs into their employee health plan offering. Wellness programs have varying designs but commonly offer premium discounts to participants who are tobacco-free or achieve certain...more

BCLP

Closing the Gap: Health and Welfare Compliance

BCLP on

Even the most well-managed employee benefit plans may have certain compliance blind spots. From outdated documentation to missed filing deadlines, we have highlighted a few areas below where we often see gaps....more

Littler

The Parity Paradox: MHPAEA Compliance for Employers and Insurers During the 2024 Enforcement Pause

Littler on

The U.S. Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Treasury have announced that they will pause enforcement of the 2024 Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) Final Rule (the “2024 Final Rule”) for...more

Quarles & Brady LLP

Departments Will Not Enforce 2024 Final Rule under MHPAEA

Quarles & Brady LLP on

The Trump Administration has just announced that it will pause enforcement of the September 2024 final rule (“Final Rule”) under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (“MHPAEA”)....more

Epstein Becker & Green

Federal Regulators Announce Non-Enforcement of the 2024 Rule for Mental Health Parity

Epstein Becker & Green on

On May 9, 2025, the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Treasury (collectively, “the Departments”) asked the D.C. federal court to suspend litigation while they consider whether to rescind or modify the 2024...more

McDermott Will & Schulte

Special Report: Examining Group Health Coverage Alternatives for Small Employers - Update

Originally published in February 2025, this updated report provides new material on physician practice management (PPM) arrangements, reference-based pricing arrangements, minimum essential coverage (MEC) and MEC+ plans, and...more

Morgan Lewis - ML Benefits

Tobacco Surcharge Lawsuits: Considerations for Plan Sponsors

A growing number of class action lawsuits have been filed against employer-sponsored self-insured group health plans alleging that tobacco cessation wellness programs violate key provisions of the Employee Retirement Income...more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

Employer Group Sues to Block Mental Health Parity Rules

Only weeks after the principal effective date for the final 2024 federal mental health parity rules for employer-sponsored health benefit plans, those rules—and specifically some key features that are frustrating...more

McAfee & Taft

Challenge to copay assistance strategy, another PBM ERISA preemption lawsuit, and other compliance issues for 2025

McAfee & Taft on

The end of 2024 gave group health plan sponsors several new lawsuits to watch in 2025. Gurwitch v. SAVE ON SP LLC - On December 26, 2024, a class action complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District...more

Morgan Lewis - ML Benefits

Fiduciary Considerations Raised By the Use of AI in Group Health Plans

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the administration of group health plans is nothing new: AI has been used for a number of years to analyze data, improve risk assessment, identify fraud, and streamline claims...more

Ward and Smith, P.A.

Part 2 in Heatwaves of Drama: A Case Study in "What Not To Do" for Southeastern HR Professionals

Ward and Smith, P.A. on

The session used the firm’s signature Live-Action Role-Play (LARP) technique to feature insights from Ken Gray, leader of the Labor and Employment Law Group, Amy Fitzhugh, a professional licensing attorney, and Hayley Wells,...more

Holland & Hart - The Benefits Dial

Smoke ‘Em One By One … Navigating the Wave of Tobacco Surcharge Lawsuits

Over the past several months, numerous large employers and their health plan fiduciaries have faced lawsuits regarding their health plan’s tobacco surcharge. A tobacco surcharge wellness program typically charges a higher...more

Alston & Bird

2024 Health Benefits Year: A Year to Remember

Alston & Bird on

The year was packed with developments for health and welfare benefits plans. Our Health Benefits Team reviews 2024, from new data privacy rules to disaster tax relief....more

Holland & Knight LLP

Understanding the Recent Wave of Litigation Targeting Tobacco-Free Wellness Programs

Holland & Knight LLP on

The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) prohibits employers who offer health and welfare benefit plans from discriminating against plan participants on the basis of a health status-related factor, such as a...more

Wiley Rein LLP

PBM Contracting and Administration: What Are the Rules of the Road for Self-Insured Employees?

Wiley Rein LLP on

In February 2024, a group representing (among others) the Johnson & Johnson Group Health Plan and its component plans (Plaintiffs) sued Johnson & Johnson and The Pension & Benefits Committee of Johnson and Johnson (J&J) over...more

Fisher Phillips

Rising ERISA Class-Action Lawsuits Over Tobacco Surcharges in Health Plans: What Employers Need to Know + 6 Steps to Stay...

Fisher Phillips on

A wave of ERISA class-action lawsuits is challenging tobacco surcharge programs in employer-sponsored health plans across the U.S. These cases center on potential fiduciary breaches, with plaintiffs arguing that surcharges...more

UB Greensfelder LLP

What Employers Should Know About Tobacco Surcharge Litigation

UB Greensfelder LLP on

Tobacco surcharges have become the focus of class action litigation in recent months. Although corporate wellness programs are commonplace, employers that impose a tobacco surcharge (or other premium discount) in connection...more

Williams Mullen

Annual Employee Benefits Compliance Checklists: Plan Administrators of Governmental and Church Plans

Williams Mullen on

Administrators of governmental plans and church plans that are not subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) should review the following actions to be taken before the end of 2024 and address what...more

Alston & Bird

Final Mental Health Parity Rules: A Plan Sponsor’s Implementation Guide

Alston & Bird on

Our Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Group discusses what health plan sponsors need to know about the final rule on nonquantitative treatment limitations (NQTLs) and NQTL comparative analysis under the Mental Health...more

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