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Regulatory Requirements Employee Benefits Department of Labor (DOL)

Groom Law Group, Chartered

This Week From the Hill (July 27 – August 2, 2025)

Each week while Congress is in session, our Policy team delivers a key update to highlight a topical benefits, health, or retirement news item from the Hill, such as a newly introduced bill, a summary of a committee hearing,...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

I Love PEPs, But Some Guidance Would Be Great

While all the attention in the retirement plan world last week was on the One Big Beautiful Bill, cue the overly dramatic headlines and LinkedIn humblebrags—there was another important development flying under the radar. On...more

Snell & Wilmer

A Return to Form: Department of Labor Walks Back Crypto Warning for 401(k) Plans

Snell & Wilmer on

In Compliance Assistance Release 2025-01 (the “Release”), the Department of Labor (the “Department”) rescinded its prior guidance that cautioned fiduciaries against offering cryptocurrency investments in their retirement...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

DOL changes opinion letter program

The Department of Labor just announced that its Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) is giving its opinion letter program a much-needed facelift. For those of us who’ve been around the retirement plan block a few...more

Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg LLP

Parity on Ice: MHPAEA’s 2024 Final Rule Heads to the Penalty Box

Federal regulators have paused enforcement of the 2024 Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (“MHPAEA”) Final Rule (the “2024 Final Rule”, published September 23, 2024) while they reconsider the rule and defend...more

Husch Blackwell LLP

MHPAEA July 2025 Update: What Employers and Plans Need to Know about Federal Non-Enforcement

Husch Blackwell LLP on

The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA) was enacted to ensure that group health plans and health insurance issuers offering mental health and substance use disorder (MH/SUD) benefits do not impose...more

FordHarrison

DOL Relaunches Opinion Letter Program Amid Shifting Enforcement Priorities

FordHarrison on

On June 2, 2025, the Department of Labor (DOL) launched its Opinion Letter program. Opinion Letters are official written responses from the DOL that explain how it would apply statutes and regulations under particular facts...more

Steptoe & Johnson PLLC

The Intersection of FMLA and State Leave Policies: What Employers Need to Know to Ensure Compliance

Steptoe & Johnson PLLC on

Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued an opinion letter that addressed the Family and Medical Leave Act’s (FMLA) provision regarding the “substitution” of accrued paid leave and its application to state...more

Williams Mullen

PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Gag Clause Prohibitions

Williams Mullen on

On this episode of Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion, host Brydon DeWitt discusses prohibitive gag clauses under the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA). While intended to promote transparency, not all gag clauses are...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

Don’t Hire Your Payroll Provider As Your 401(k) TPA

I f you’re thinking of hiring your payroll provider to also serve as your 401(k) plan’s third-party administrator (TPA), stop. Think again. Then think again harder. I’ve been an ERISA attorney for more than 25 years. In that...more

Snell & Wilmer

Limited Mental Health Parity Relief for Plan Sponsors

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On January 17, 2025, the ERISA Industry Committee (“ERIC”) filed suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit asking the court to hold various key provisions under the 2024 Mental Health Parity Addiction Equity Act...more

Epstein Becker & Green

Hot Topics in Employee Benefits: A Primer for In-House Lawyers

“ERISA, you’ll need a lawyer for that.” Our practice group’s tagline is meant to be a shorthand for the alphabet soup of laws that apply to employee benefits, including the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)....more

Jackson Lewis P.C.

New DOL/EBSA Opinion Letter Program Offers A Path to Clarity for Plan Sponsors

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On June 2, 2025, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced a significant expansion of its compliance assistance tools by launching an Opinion Letter Program across five key enforcement agencies, including the Employee...more

Holland & Hart - The Benefits Dial

No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems… But Nonenforcement Policy Doesn’t Make Mental Health Parity Compliance Optional

The Departments of Labor, Treasury, and Health and Human Services (the “Departments”) recently announced a nonenforcement policy with respect to the 2024 Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (“MHPAEA”) regulations or...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

DOL Rescinds 2022 Guidance Cautioning Against 401(k) Plan Investments in Cryptocurrencies

On May 28, 2025, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued Compliance Assistance Release No. 2025-01 which rescinds the DOL’s prior Compliance Assistance Release No. 2022-1 which had warned 401(k) plan fiduciaries against adding...more

Groom Law Group, Chartered

Departments Pause Enforcement of MHPAEA Final Rule and Reconsider MHPAEA Enforcement Program

In a widely anticipated and welcome move, the Departments of Health and Human Services (“HHS”), the Treasury, and Labor (“DOL”) (collectively, the “Departments”), sought an abeyance of a lawsuit challenging the Mental Health...more

Bond Schoeneck & King PLLC

Administration Grants Welcome Reprieve From Certain NQTL Requirements

Administration Grants Welcome Reprieve From Certain NQTL Requirements - Earlier this month, the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Treasury (the “Departments”) announced that for the foreseeable future...more

Warner Norcross + Judd

Delayed Enforcement of Mental Health Parity NQTL Comparative Analysis Final Regulations

Warner Norcross + Judd on

Under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA), as amended by the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA), 2021, group health plans and health insurance issuers must conduct comparative analyses to show that...more

Foley & Lardner LLP

Mental Health Parity Alert - Non-Enforcement of Final Rules

Foley & Lardner LLP on

The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA), and its implementing regulations and guidance, prohibits health insurance policies and group health plans that cover mental health and substance use disorder...more

Woodruff Sawyer

​​​​​​Agencies Push Pause Button on Enforcement of MHPAEA 2024 Final Rule

Woodruff Sawyer on

On May 15, 2025, the Department of Labor, Department of Health and Human Services, and the Treasury Department (collectively, the “Agencies”) released a statement regarding the Agencies’ recent request for abeyance of a...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

ArentFox Schiff

Maryland Further Delays Implementation of FAMLI Program

ArentFox Schiff on

On April 8, Maryland enacted House Bill 102, further postponing the implementation of the state’s Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI) program. This latest delay, recommended by the Maryland Department of Labor, is...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Parity in Peril? Plan Sponsors Breathe Easier As Trump Administration Hits Pause on Enforcement of Mental Health Parity Final Rule

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on

On May 15, 2025 the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Treasury (the “Departments”) announced they will temporarily not enforce their new standards published under the mental health parity Final Rule last...more

Jackson Lewis P.C.

UPDATE – Departments issue nonenforcement policy statement!

Jackson Lewis P.C. on

On May 15, 2025, the Departments of Labor, Treasury, and Health and Human Services issued their anticipated nonenforcement policy regarding the 2024 Mental Health Parity regulations. As expected, nonenforcement is applicable...more

Morgan Lewis - ML Benefits

Mental Health Parity Non-Enforcement Statement Released

The US Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the Treasury (the Departments) announced their non-enforcement policy on May 15, 2025, indicating they will not enforce any new requirements imposed by the...more

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