Benefits Law Update
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Employers large and small often ask us how they can reward key employees for their contributions to the success of the company and provide a...
A "church plan" – whether maintained by an actual church or by a church affiliated organization (such as a college or hospital that is church...
On Monday Treasury, Labor, and HHS released an amendment to the interim final regulations on preventive care. This amendment adopts new standards...
Last week the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ("HHS") released proposed regulations designed to implement the provisions of the...
According to a report recently published by the Treasury Department's Inspector General for Tax Administration, the IRS has significantly improved...
Yesterday the DOL's Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) issued a final rule delaying the applicability dates of the new fiduciary and...
Employers often ask about their obligations to offer COBRA benefits to terminating employees who are eligible for retiree medical coverage, and with...
The IRS Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS) has been a true success story for the Service and for plan sponsors. Under EPCRS, a plan...
Over the past week the IRS has doled out a double dose of relief for non-profit hospitals and health insurance organizations that were facing...
We are pleased to offer a guest post by Warren Kerper, Managing Principal in the Boston office of Sullivan, Cotter and Associates, Inc.Warren advises...
As we discussed in an earlier post, in April the Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) issued a Request for...
The DOL's Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) has finally provided official notice of its proposal to delay the applicability date of...
Last week Maine Governor Paul LePage signed into law new legislation (L.D. 1333) intended to make sweeping changes to the Maine individual and small...
The IRS Employee Plans Compliance Unit (EPCU) has kicked off its long awaited compliance initiative focusing on how higher education organizations...
The Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) has determined that it may be time to update the rules regarding...
Treasury and the IRS have given us a peek at how they may implement the employer shared responsibility provisions of health care reform, set to take...
In 1995 the Third Circuit Court of Appeals broke new ground in the area of fiduciary liability under ERISA when it found that an action of a...
Executive pay in the exempt organization setting has been subject to scrutiny and regulation since long before corporate bad actors and the financial...
The Affordable Care Act requires employers to report on Form W-2, for informational purposes only, the cost of the group health benefits provided to...
Late yesterday President Obama signed into law legislation to repeal the expanded Form 1099 reporting requirements passed under health care reform....
If your company has a retiree medical plan and has not applied to participate in the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program (ERRP), now is the time to do...
This is the second in our two-part series of posts regarding the status of health care reform one year after the Patient Protection and Affordable...
One year ago today President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act – the landmark health care reform legislation – into...
Those of us who deal with Section 403(b) plans (a/k/a tax sheltered annuity plans) rejoiced when Treasury published Final Regulations under Code...
The federal Department of Health and Human Services has granted Maine's request for a waiver from health care reform's medical loss ratio rule. This...
Section 404(a)(1)(B) of ERISA requires a fiduciary to discharge its duties with respect to an ERISA plan "with the care, skill, prudence, and...
On February 23, 2011, the IRS indicated that its 401(k) Compliance Check Questionnaire Project is entering its next phase. As discussed in a prior...
Earlier this week HHS revealed that it expects to distribute about $3.6 billion in reimbursements under the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program (ERRP)...
Today EBSA (part of the DOL) announced its intention to delay the applicability date of the new feedisclosure rules under Section 408(b)(2) of ERISA,...
A recent Tax Court case, Hollen v. Commissioner (2011, T.C. Memo 2011-2), offers a stark reminder that the IRS can and will seek to disqualify a...
About the Blog
Verrill’s Benefits Law Update blog delivers timely insights and practical guidance on the ever-evolving landscape of employee benefits and executive compensation. Our blog provides up-to-date analysis and commentary on a wide range of topics, including timely updates on developments in law affecting employee benefit plans and executive compensation arrangements.
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About
Verrill’s Benefits Law Update blog delivers timely insights and practical guidance on the evolving landscape of employee benefits and executive compensation. Verrill’s Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Group has substantial experience in all aspects of employee benefits law and executive compensation, providing collaborative legal services to mid-sized and larger employers, both for-profit and not-for-profit, across diverse industries.
Our blog provides up-to-date analysis and commentary on a wide range of topics affecting retirement plans, health and welfare benefits, and executive and deferred compensation arrangements.
Recent posts have addressed:
- Regulatory and legislative developments, including SECURE 2.0 implementation, updated Department of Labor guidance on annual funding notices, and evolving Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) rules.
- Fiduciary governance and risk management for ERISA plans, including litigation risk around investment and fee practices, and practical strategies for committee oversight.
- Plan design and operational issues for 401(k), 403(b), and 457(b) plans, such as long-term part-time employee eligibility, student loan matching programs, and correction of operational failures.
- Health plan compliance topics, including coverage mandates, prescription drug and other transparency reporting under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, and cybersecurity expectations for group health plans.
- Executive and nonqualified deferred compensation arrangements, including the scope of the top hat plan rules and coordination of compensation deferral elections with new Roth catch-up contribution rules and recent IRS guidance under Code Sections 409A and 457(f).
- State law developments, including Maine’s paid family and medical leave program and related employer policy updates and implementation considerations.
Samuel J. Baldwin and William D. Jewett are the blog’s editors.
Please note that the content presented in this blog is not intended to constitute legal advice and cannot be relied upon by any person as legal advice. U.S. Treasury Regulations require us to notify you that any tax-related material in this blog (including links and attachments) is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of avoiding tax penalties, and may not be referred to in any marketing or promotional materials. While we welcome comments on our blog posts, submitting a comment does not create an attorney-client relationship between the Firm and the commenter. Accordingly, please do not include in any comment or question information about any matter that may involve you.