10 Steps Employers Should Follow When Faced With Requests for Leave or Accommodation
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Eighth Circuit Delivers Guidance on Whether Rate Setting Amounts to Fiduciary Conduct
Courts have long struggled to set the boundaries at which point ERISA plan service providers exert sufficient control and discretion over plan assets to make them fiduciaries under ERISA 3(21). The significance of being an ERISA fiduciary is self-evident in the...
Agencies Release FAQs on Updated 2021 Summary of Benefits and Coverage Template
HHS, DOL and IRS (collectively, the "Agencies") have released FAQs discussing the recently updated version of the Summary of Benefits and Coverage ("SBC") template and related materials (i.e., instructions, coverage examples guides and narratives, and the optional SBC...
Regina Snow Mandl Appointed by the Supreme Judicial Court to the Position of Vice Chair of the Clients’ Security Board
Regina Snow Mandl Appointed by the Supreme Judicial Court to the Position of Vice Chair of the Clients’ Security Board - Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, February 7, 2020
Cafeteria Plan Need Not Provide Mid-Year Election Changes
The IRS has reiterated, in IRS Information Letter 2019-0028, that while a Section 125 cafeteria plan may allow participants to make a mid-year pre-tax contribution election change because of the occurrence of certain events (informally called change in status or...
The Impact of the SECURE Act on Estate Planning and Administration
Just before the end of 2019, the "SECURE Act," a bill that includes many changes to the federal tax code that apply to qualified retirement plans, such as a 401(k) or IRA, ("retirement assets") was signed into law. The provisions of the SECURE Act, which became...
De Novo Standard Does Not Save Participant’s Claim
Although the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, in Ariana v. Humana Health Plan of Texas, held that the "de novo" standard of review applies to a denial of benefits, this was not sufficient to save a group health plan participant's claim for denial of benefits. The...
Regina Snow Mandl Appointed Vice Chair of Massachusetts Clients’ Security Board
Evidence of Employer’s Mailing Procedures Does Not Prove COBRA Compliance
The United States District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana, in Randolph v. Baton Rouge Parish Sch. Bd., has ruled that an employer's declaration about its general business practices was insufficient to demonstrate it had met its obligations to timely notify...
#METOO in Medicine
#METOO in Medicine -David Gabor, American Medical Association, January 20, 2020