Section 204 of Title II of Division BB (“Section 204”) the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (the “Act”) requires group health plans and health insurance issuers offering group health insurance...
Articles
2021 ERISA/EMPLOYEE BENEFITS LEGAL COMPLIANCE CHECKLIST
Tax Qualified Plans Plan document: Required amendments 401(k) and 403(b) plans – Amendments to comply with the IRS final hardship distribution regulations must be adopted by December 31, 2021...
Is PBGC Adding “Early Warning” and “Follow-On” to its Toolbox for Multiemployer Plans?
By Israel Goldowitz Corporate sponsors of defined benefit pension plans may be familiar with the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s (PBGC) Early Warning program and its Follow-on policy. Under...
Retirement Plan Post-2021 Opportunities
By Jon Schultze Employers and plan sponsors of retirement plans need to be aware of some responsibilities and opportunities that are available as we head into 2022. Adopting a New Plan – Employers...
CMS Announces Medicare Part A Deductibles and Part B Premiums for 2022
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) has announced the 2022 premiums, deductibles and coinsurance amounts for the Medicare Part A and Part B programs. Medicare Part A covers...
Agencies Issue Two Rounds of No Surprise Billing Guidance
By Roberta Casper Watson, Dannae Delano and Barry Salkin The No Surprises Act (“Act”), part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, enhances the ACA’s consumer protections by prohibiting...
Year End Reminders for Retirement Plans 2021 Edition
As the end of 2021 approaches, employers and plan sponsors of retirement plans need to be aware of their year-end responsibilities and some of the issues they will need to consider going into 2022....
Multiple Employer Welfare Arrangement in California Allowed to Continue Large Employer Rating for Small Employers Per New California State Legislation
Biocom, an employer association for employers in the biotech life sciences based in San Diego, established a health plan for its member employers in 2012. The Beyond Benefits Life Science...
IRS Releases 2022 Welfare Benefit Plan Limits
The IRS has released Revenue Procedures 2021-25, and 2021-45 which set forth the 2022 inflation-adjusted limits for certain employee welfare benefit plans and the dollar amounts used for certain...
Insurer Not Bound By Employer’s Errors
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled, in Talasek v. National Oilwell Varco, L.P., that an insurer was not required to pay a supplemental life insurance claim merely because of...
Retirement Plans in Bankruptcy
Retirement Plans in Bankruptcy - Thomas Clark, Jr., Israel Goldowitz and Jordan Mamorsky, Thomson Reuters Practical Law, November 5, 2021
Employer May Terminate Employee Because It Corrected FMLA Irregularities
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has ruled, in Watson v. Drexel University, that an employer may terminate an employee for taking unauthorized leave because it had previously...
IRS Announces Cost-of-Living Adjustments Affecting Retirement Plans for 2022
The Internal Revenue Service announced cost-of-living adjustments affecting certain dollar limitations for pension plans and other retirement-related limitations for 2022 in Notice 2021-61. The...
Misuse of Participant Confidential Data
As we explained in our recent Law Alert, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) has become highly focused on the cybersecurity practices of plan sponsors and their service providers and has begun asking...
DOL Drops ‘Bomb’ On Advisors Who Give Advice To IRA Owners
DOL Drops ‘Bomb’ On Advisors Who Give Advice To IRA Owners - Km Shaw Elliott, InsuranceNewsNet, October 22, 2021
What Mandatory Auto-Enrollment IRAs Actually Mean
What Mandatory Auto-Enrollment IRAs Actually Mean - Izzy Goldowitz, Mark Greenstein and Jon Schultze, 401(k) Specialist, October 16, 2021 (PDF)
Pooled Employer Plans
What Employers Need to Know About Biden’s COVID-19 Action Plan and Vaccine Mandate
President Biden recently issued a six-pronged action plan that requires vaccines for employees of federal contractors and employers with 100 or more employees, and an executive order requiring all...
Do You Have Questions About How To Comply With The New DOL Fiduciary “Investment Advice” Prohibited Transaction Exemption? Part 2
Do You Have Questions About How To Comply With The New DOL Fiduciary “Investment Advice” Prohibited Transaction Exemption? Part 1
IRS Updates Guidance Regarding Correction of Tax-Qualified Plan Errors under the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS)
Mistakes happen, even with respect to tax-qualified plans and 403(b) plans that have implemented internal controls designed to reduce, if not eliminate, the likelihood of plan failures. Under the...
Some Additional Standing Issues Under ERISA
Primer on the Code’s Required Minimum Distribution Rules: Post-SECURE Act
Do You Have Questions About How To Comply With The New DOL Fiduciary “Investment Advice” Prohibited Transaction Exemption? Part 2
Liability-Driven Investing and Other De-risking Strategies for Pension Plans
View Printable PDF This practice note discusses defined benefit plan de-risking techniques that defined benefit plan sponsors can use to manage the volatility inherent in defined benefit plan...
US Department of Labor Announces New Cybersecurity Guidance for Plan Sponsors, Plan Fiduciaries, Record-Keepers and Plan Participants
View Printable PDF
COVID-19 Resource Center
Below is a collection of vital COVID-19 resources that we have assembled to assist during this difficult time: ANNOUNCEMENTS The Wagner Law Group Creates COVID-19 Rapid Response Team and Resource...
Disclosure to Welfare Plan Participants: A Fiduciary Duty
View Printable PDF Introduction When ERISA was enacted in 1974, its primary focus was on employee pension plans, which is understandable since its enactment was a response to highly publicized...
Update to Connecticut Paid Family Medical Leave Act
Our January 6, 2021 law alert, An Overview of New Laws Impacting Employers in 2021, indicated that the Connecticut Paid Family Medical Leave Act (PFMLA) is effective July 1, 2021. The Connecticut...
Significant Changes to Payroll Protection Program Made Under Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021
One of the significant components of last year’s Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (“CARES”) Act was the Payroll Protection Program (“PPP”) which was intended to provide relief for...
An Overview of New Laws Impacting Employers in 2021
As we usher in 2021, we should be mindful of new laws impacting the employer-employee relationship. Changes include increases to state minimum wage rates, the end of mandated FFCRA leave,...
Benefits Plan Sponsors Face A Tough Year On Compliance
View Printable PDF Given the chaos of 2020, many ushered in the new year with open arms. The pandemic, remote work and changing needs have created unique and novel challenges that have necessarily...
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Issues Guidance Regarding COVID-19 Vaccinations
On December 16, 2020, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (the “EEOC”) updated and expanded its technical assistance publication by adding a new section about how required COVID-19...
PEPs Will be Up and Running by January 1, 2021
View Printable PDF On November 16, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued a final rule at 85 Federal Register 72934, providing an electronic filing procedure for interested entities to meet...
Federal Contractors and Diversity and Inclusion Training
On September 22, 2020, President Trump issued an Executive Order (the “Order”) stating that companies doing business with the federal government (“Federal Contractors”) are barred from promoting...
IRS Issues Guidance on Qualified Birth or Adoption Distributions
View Printable PDF By Barry Salkin and Livia Quan Aber In 2020, most of the IRS guidance with respect to employee benefit plans has addressed issues arising under the CARES Act, but in recently...
Divorce in the Age of Corona, Part 1: Parenting Plans
Parents who were in the midst of the divorce process when the pandemic began, or who have only recently decided to separate, recognize that the parenting arrangements they develop for today may not...
Do Employers Need COVID-19 Waivers?
Employers who are considering resuming their operations (or employers who have already resumed operations) should consider the benefits of putting in place a COVID-19 waiver for employees and...
Independent Analysis of EEO-1 Component 2 Pay Data
On July 16, 2020, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced that it is funding an in-depth statistical analysis on the EEO-1 Component 2 pay data collected for FY 2017 and...
What You Need to Know About the SEC’s New Form CRS
On June 30, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC”) new “relationship summary,” known as Form CRS, took effect. Form CRS — which broker-dealers and SEC-registered investment advisers...
Silver Lining: Advisors Can Urge Clients to Give More to Charity
Remote Online Notarization Becomes Law in Massachusetts During COVID-19 Emergency
On April 27, 2020, the Virtual Notarization Act (the “Act”) was signed into law by Massachusetts Governor, Charlie Baker, and was effective immediately. The Act allows Massachusetts notaries, using...
REG BI Compliance Deadline; Financial Relief Considerations for RIA Firms
By Stephen Wilkes, Livia Quan Aber and Seth Gaudreau I. The SEC Will Not Delay Reg BI and Form CRS Compliance Date Last week, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) Chairman, Jay...
Managing From Afar: Effectively Adapting to Telework
One of the realities created by the COVID-19 pandemic is that more employees are working remotely than ever before. This change raises legal and business issues that have caught many companies off...
The Families First Coronavirus Response Act Updated to Include Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act Provisions
by Roberta Watson, Barry Salkin and Virginia Peabody This Law Alert serves as an update to the Law Alert sent out on March 19, 2020 concerning the paid leave and group health plan provisions of The...
Withdrawals and Loans from Defined Contribution Retirement Plans
View Printable PDF In reaction to the current volatility in the economy due to the coronavirus pandemic, we have been receiving a large number of questions from defined contribution plan sponsors...
PANDEMIC and Broker-Dealer/Recordkeepers and Advisors… Chances Are, Your Business Continuity Plan Did Not Fully Address This…
By Stephen Wilkes, Kimberly Shaw Elliot and Seth Gaudreau In uncertain times like these where the novel coronavirus or COVID-19 seems to be impacting everything, broker-dealers, investment advisory...
Planning and Implementing a Temporary Layoff in the Age of COVID-19
During these uncertain times, layoffs, both long term and temporary, are on the rise. Naturally, it is very important for employers to plan layoffs carefully, even when they must be implemented...
The Families First Coronavirus Response Act
by Roberta Watson, Barry Salkin and Virginia Peabody Effective no later than April 2, 2020, the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act (the “Sick Leave Act”) and the Emergency Family and Medical Leave...
Five Steps to Help Avoid Mistakes in Light of COVID-19
Allowing employees to telecommute is an excellent accommodation. While this option supports continued business productivity, be sure to properly track the time worked so that you do not expose your...