Popular, Employee Benefits, Corporate Counsel

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

Husch Blackwell LLP on 8/6/2025

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

Wave of Deregulation Hits DOL: What Employers Need to Know About the 60+ Rules on the Chopping Block

Fisher Phillips on 7/9/2025

The U.S. Department of Labor just quietly launched one of the most sweeping deregulatory efforts in recent memory, advancing over 60 proposals that could reshape workplace rules across industries. From overtime and minimum...more

End of NY Legislative Session Leaves Employers Watching Key Workplace Bills

Fisher Phillips on 7/3/2025

New York’s two-year 2025-2026 legislative session hit its midpoint in June, with lawmakers wrapping up the first year by passing a slew of workplace-related bills that now await action from Governor Hochul. As federal labor...more

Employer Cheat Sheet for Workplace Laws Taking Effect July 1

Fisher Phillips on 6/24/2025

Most employers are prepared for new laws at the start of each year – but did you know that a heap of new workplace laws take effect at the halfway point? Here’s your employer cheat sheet to prepare for July 1 effective dates…...more

What Employers Should Know About Tobacco Surcharge Litigation

UB Greensfelder LLP on 11/22/2024

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

Restricting Remote Work Interfered With Employee's FMLA Rights

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP on 9/20/2024

The Family and Medical Leave Act does not require employers to allow qualified employees to work remotely. While such requests may fall under the Americans with Disabilities Act’s reasonable accommodation obligation, the FMLA...more

July is Still the New January! Littler’s Workplace Policy Institute’s Mid-Year Legislative Report

Littler on 6/21/2024

Hot off the press – here is Littler’s mid-year report! As federal regulators, states and cities continue to pass new workplace regulations through the calendar year, we summarize each state’s notable labor and employment law...more

The ESG Investing Debate: 2023 Year-end Updates

Morgan Lewis on 1/15/2024

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing has been subject to increased US state and federal regulation over the last several years, and 2023 continued that status quo. As of January 1, 2024, 20 states have...more

California Set to Extend COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave Until End of Year

Fisher Phillips on 9/1/2022

Just as thousands of California employers thought COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave (SPSL) was about to come to an end, Governor Newsom is set to sign an extension into law – which will push the current expiration date of...more

DOL Cybersecurity Investigations: The Trap Door to Endless Document Requests?

Groom Law Group, Chartered on 8/29/2022

Parties involved in a Department of Labor (“DOL”) Employee Benefits Security Administration (“EBSA”) investigation often ask a simple question: how much information am I obligated to provide the DOL in response to an...more

SECURE Act 2.0 Passes the House: Which Retirement Plan Rules Would Change?

Miller Canfield on 4/1/2022

Key Takeaways - ..SECURE Act 2.0 passed the U.S. House of Representatives on March 29, 2022. ..SECURE Act 2.0 would make changes to employer-sponsored retirement plans to expand coverage and increase savings, as well as...more

Fiduciary Duty IS Coming to Privacy – Through Your Benefit Plans!

Kilpatrick on 7/22/2021

While all businesses have been grappling with cybersecurity challenges for years, cybersecurity has recently come into focus for retirement plans, health and welfare plans and other ERISA plans due to a new Department of...more

DOL Begins Its Cybersecurity Audit Initiative – And It’s a Doozy

Morgan Lewis - ML Benefits on 6/11/2021

We repeatedly warned over the past few months, that officials at the highest levels of the DOL were signaling that the DOL would begin an audit initiative focusing on retirement plan cybersecurity practices. ...more

EBSA Speaks: New Guidance for Mitigating Retirement Plan Cybersecurity Risk

Epstein Becker & Green on 4/19/2021

On April 14, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor’s (“DOL’s”) Employee Benefits Security Administration (“EBSA”) issued its first cybersecurity best practices guidance for retirement plans. The guidance is set forth in three...more

ERISA Plan Sponsors – Watch Your Participants’ Data! DOL Issues New Cybersecurity Guidance for Retirement Plans

Akerman LLP - HR Defense on 4/16/2021

In response to a recent General Accounting Office (GAO) report recommending federal guidance to mitigate cybersecurity risks in retirement plans and to respond to ever-increasing cyber threats to plan participant data and...more

IRS Announces 2021 Employee Benefit Plan Limits

McDermott Will & Schulte on 10/26/2020

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 2021. Nearly all of the dollar limits...more

IRS Provides Additional Clarity on Key SECURE Act Provisions

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on 9/10/2020

On December 20th, before the outbreak of COVID-19 and the resulting pandemic, President Trump signed into law the Setting Every Community Up For Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (the “SECURE Act”) and the Bipartisan...more

IRS Approves Additional Leave-Based Donation Programs for COVID-19 Relief

Snell & Wilmer on 7/20/2020

We previously posted about two leave-sharing programs available to employers during the COVID-19 pandemic: major disaster leave-sharing programs and medical emergency leave-sharing programs. These leave-sharing programs may...more

Hazard Pay During COVID-19 – Who May Be Entitled And What To Do Next

McManis Faulkner on 4/15/2020

The current COVID-19 crisis has many employees asking (if not demanding) that they receive additional compensation for work that may put them at an increased risk of exposure to the coronavirus.[i] Although their requests...more

Is Foresight 2020? Employers Confront New Laws Taking Effect in the New Year

Littler on 11/14/2019

As the year draws to a close, employers are assessing the next wave of labor and employment laws and regulations they will face in 2020 and beyond. Most new laws taking effect at the end of 2019 and throughout 2020 are at the...more

Is There Anything Improper About Taking a Vacation During FMLA Leave?

Jackson Walker on 9/18/2019

While posting vacation photos on Facebook during a leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is probably not a stellar idea, the question of whether an employee can take a vacation during FMLA leave may not be so...more

2019: The Year Ahead For Employers

Jackson Lewis P.C. on 1/8/2019

Labor and employment law saw a flurry of activity in 2018 as the Trump Administration’s deregulation and pro-business policies took effect across the country. State and local governments responded in a variety of ways to ...more

What Will A Governor Newsom Mean for California Employers?

Fisher Phillips on 11/7/2018

While much of the attention this midterm election has been focused on Congress and federal issues - the “blue wave” and a “referendum” on the Trump presidency - California employers know all too well that employment and labor...more

Preparing for Tax Reform: The Current State of Play on Proposed Changes to Executive Compensation and Employee Benefits

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP on 11/20/2017

On November 16, 2017, the House of Representatives voted to approve its version of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The Senate is expected to vote on its version of the bill following the Thanksgiving break, which would require a...more

Timing is Everything: Tenth Circuit Overturns Insurer’s Disability Decision as Arbitrary and Capricious

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on 11/6/2017

Even when a claims administrator approves a claim for disability benefits, its job is not done. That principle was again demonstrated in the recent case Owings v. United of Omaha Life Insurance Co., No. 16-3128 (10th Cir....more

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