Health & Welfare

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.

The federal district court for the Eastern District of California has ruled, in Bommarito v. Northwestern Mutual Life, that a group of individual insurance policies are an ERISA-covered plan because of the employer's actions regarding the purchase of the policies.

Much has been written about the #MeToo movement over the past several months, and, justifiably, this will continue to be the case until such time as sexual harassment is no longer plaguing our society. The attention this movement has gotten has not gone unnoticed by politicians at both the state and local level, resulting in efforts to address workplace sexual harassment through legislation ...

The First Circuit Court of Appeals, in Doe v. Harvard Pilgrim Health Care ("HPHC"), has held that the district court erred in upholding a benefit claim denial because it neglected to enforce an agreement between the parties to supplement the record to include information generated during a post-complaint benefits review.

The IRS has been sending letters to certain employers to request information about whether they satisfied their ACA reporting obligations for 2015 and 2016. Specifically, the letter is entitled "Request for Employer Reporting of Offers of Health Insurance Coverage" or "Letter 5699."

The U.S. Department of Labor ("DOL") has released Opinion Letter FMLA 2018-2-A confirming that organ donation surgery can qualify as a "serious health condition" that is eligible for protection under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 ("FMLA"). The DOL's opinion comes in response to an inquiry it received from Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA, 3rd District).

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, in Ramsay v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, has upheld the Tax Court's determination that the value of employer-paid group term life insurance was taxable compensation for an employee despite his claim that he neither requested nor wanted the coverage.

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Dolgencorp, LLC, d/b/a Dollar General Corporation serves as a critical lesson of what can happen when managers are not properly prepared. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals held in this case that Linda Atkins, an insulin-dependent diabetic, was subjected to disability discrimination when her employer, Dollar General, failed to accommodate a reasonable, ...

The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, in McMillan v. AT&T Umbrella Benefit Plan No. 1, has affirmed a district court's decision to reverse a plan administrator's denial of short-term disability benefits on the basis that that it acted arbitrarily and capriciously in denying an employee's claim.

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals (the "D.C. Circuit"), in Peck. v. SELEX Systems Integration, Inc., has affirmed a district court's judgment that a terminated employee was not eligible for severance pay after he refused to accept a transfer from his marketing position in D.C. to a quality-control position in Kansas.