Health & Welfare

The IRS has issued Notice 2018-94, which provides a 30-day extension to the deadline for Applicable Large Employers ("ALEs") to distribute the 2018 Affordable Care Act ("ACA") reporting forms to employees and covered individuals.

The IRS has issued Notice 2018-88 to provide guidance on its proposed Health Reimbursement Account ("HRA") regulations and their application to two Internal Revenue Code requirements: the Affordable Care Act ("ACA") employer mandate penalties (i.e., Code Section 4980H) and the nondiscrimination rules for self-funded group health plans (i.e., Code Section 105(h)). Background. IRS, DOL and HHS have ...

The IRS has released the 2019 inflation-adjusted limits for certain employee welfare benefit plans and the dollar amounts used for certain discrimination tests. Health FSAs. The limit for employee salary reduction contributions for health flexible spending account coverage for 2019 is $2,700, an increase of $50 over the amount for 2018. Health Savings Accounts. The 2019 limit on contributions to ...

A federal district court, in Browett v. City of Reno, has determined that a plaintiff's claim of discriminatory interference under the Family and Medical Leave Act ("FMLA") could be based on his employer's failure to promote him after he had complained about not being allowed to use his accrued sick leave as FMLA leave. Law. It is unlawful for an employer to: (i) interfere with the exercise of ...

Massachusetts has sent emails to many employers in the state, informing them that they are responsible for completing the new Health Insurance Responsibility Disclosure ("HIRD") form by the end of November. The HIRD form is a new annual state reporting requirement in Massachusetts and does not actually relate to certain prior filings, which were also called HIRD forms. The new HIRD form collects ...

HHS, DOL and IRS (the "Agencies") have jointly issued proposed regulations intended to expand the use of health reimbursement arrangements ("HRAs") by employers.

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, in Vest v. Resolute FP US Inc., has affirmed a district court's decision to dismiss a breach of fiduciary duty claim based on a sponsoring employer's failure to disclose information about conversion rights, because the plaintiff's complaint did not contain unique facts and circumstances that showed the employer knew its "silence might be harmful."

HHS has issued a final rule, effective October 11, 2018, to implement certain inflation adjustments to the civil monetary penalties imposed on violations of the administrative simplification rules of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act ("HIPAA"). Background. The inflation adjustments are required under the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 2015 (the "Act"). ...

In Hansen v. Group Health Plan Cooperative, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a state's unfair trade practices and mental health parity laws will not be preempted by ERISA unless certain requirements are met. Facts: A group of psychiatric service providers sued an insurance company under the state's unfair trade practices law, claiming that the insurer's use of certain screening ...

The IRS has issued Notice 2018-71 which provides additional guidance on the paid Family and Medical Leave Act ("FMLA") tax credit which was created by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.