How Employers Can Create Effective Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives
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DOL Reinstates Five-Part Fiduciary Status Test and Proposes Class Exemption
By Livia Quan Aber, Barry Salkin and Stephen Wilkes On June 29, 2020, the DOL issued a rulemaking package consisting of a final rule (“Final Rule”) implementing the vacatur of the DOL’s 2016 regulation defining who is a fiduciary under ERISA...
Multiple Employer Plans and Participating Employers Given the Opportunity to Contribute to Guidance Development on Pooled Employer Plans under the SECURE Act
On June 18, 2020, the Department of Labor took the next step toward providing guidance for multiple employer plans (MEPs) by issuing a Request for Information (RFI) seeking public comment on whether the DOL should issue a class exemption to provide a safe harbor for...
Agencies Issue Further Guidance on COVID-19
The Department of Labor, Department of Health and Human Services, and the IRS (the “Agencies”) have issued Frequently Asked Questions #43 (“FAQs”) regarding implementation of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (the “FFCRA”), the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and...
1557 Rule Changes and Bostock
The Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) announced on June 12, 2020, as part of a new final regulation (the “Final Rule”), that it had eliminated Obama-era nondiscrimination rules under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) that defined the term...
Massachusetts Announces Individual Mandate Figures for 2021
Although the penalties under the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate were eliminated in 2017, Massachusetts has continued its own individual health insurance mandate as well as associated penalties for failure to comply. In Administrative Information Bulletin...
Roundtable Discussion on Effective Work-Related Communication
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IRS Issues Guidance on COVID-19 Leave Donation Programs
The IRS has issued Notice 2020-46 to explain the tax consequences of employer-based COVID-19 leave donation programs. Background. The IRS recognized that, in response to the need to provide relief to victims of the COVID-19 pandemic, many employers have adopted, or...
DOL Offers Guidance to Fiduciaries Considering Private Equity Investments in Defined Contribution Plans
By Barry Salkin, Livia Quan Aber and Stephen Wilkes One of the key tasks for fiduciaries of a participant-directed individual account plan is selecting appropriate investment options. Reminding readers that “plan fiduciaries have duties to prudently select and...
ACA Out-of-Pocket Limit and PCORI Fee Announced
HHS and IRS have announced inflation-adjusted out-of-pocket (“OOP”) limits that will apply to non-grandfathered health plans for plan years beginning in 2021, and the indexed PCORI fee. The OOP limit includes the plan’s deductible and cost-sharing amounts for benefits...