Benefits Law Update
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The Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the Treasury, with the Office of Personnel Management (the “Departments”)...
On September 6, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued a press release announcing that it was publishing updated cybersecurity guidance in...
The SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 added new Section 523 to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”), requiring the Department of...
For over twenty years, the IRS has provided guidance on correcting overpayments from retirement plans through its correction program, the Employee...
The long-anticipated final rule under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) was published on September 9, 2024. The MHPAEA...
In November 2023, the IRS issued proposed regulations addressing the SECURE 2.0 long-term part-time (LTPT) employee eligibility requirements...
A “qualified disclaimer” is a tax-effective way to refuse a transfer of property that would otherwise occur on someone’s death. From time to...
On August 28, the IRS issued IR-2024-227, reminding employers of the following key aspects of educational assistance programs under Internal Revenue...
Summer is ending and fall is rapidly approaching. For employee benefit professionals with calendar-year health and welfare benefit plans that means...
Section 110 of the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (“SECURE 2.0”) permits employers maintaining a 401(k), 403(b), governmental 457(b), or SIMPLE IRA plan...
On April 26, 2024, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Office for Civil Rights (OCR) published Final Regulations under...
It is a common practice for employers to offer employees a health care flexible spending account (“Health FSA”) option under a cafeteria plan....
Maine’s comprehensive paid family and medical leave (PFML) law, enacted in October 2023, establishes a state benefits program funded by employer...
In our December 7, 2023 post, we noted five class action lawsuits, all filed by the same law firm within two months, in which 401(k) plan...
We are sometimes asked whether a self-funded group health plan is required to cover gender-affirming medical services. As this post explains in...
When the IRS published proposed regulations harmonizing key provisions of Code Sections 409A and 457(f) in 2016, executive compensation lawyers and...
This post examines excess deferrals under non-governmental 457(b) plans, including the approved method for correcting them and the penalty for...
Under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 (“CAA”), employer-sponsored group health plans, including medical-only plans, must submit...
For the past few years, we have encouraged plan sponsors to focus on matters of fiduciary governance for their health and welfare benefit plans (see...
We are often asked about the permissibility of excluding certain categories of employees from participating in an employer’s tax-qualified...
Under Section 404 of ERISA, plan fiduciaries must act for the exclusive benefit of plan participants and beneficiaries and use plan assets only to...
We are well into the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) information reporting season. Forms 1095-B/1095-C must be provided to employees by March 1,...
As part of the routine administration of employee benefit plans, shortly after the end of a calendar year, many transactions must be reported to the...
The Internal Revenue Service gave retirement plan sponsors end-of-the-year gifts by providing guidance under twelve sections of the SECURE 2.0 Act of...
This post summarizes provisions of SECURE 2.0 that retirement plans may need or want to implement for 2024. While no amendments are required for...
Newly issued IRS Proposed Regulations regarding the special eligibility and vesting requirements for long-term, part-time employees provide guidance...
In five recently filed class action lawsuits,[1] 401(k) plan participants allege that plan fiduciaries violated ERISA by using plan forfeitures to...
In 2021, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) proposed changes to the Privacy Rule under the Health Insurance Portability and...
On October 18, 2023, the Maine Retirement Savings Board adopted a final rule implementing Maine’s state-run retirement savings program, the Maine...
On October 31, 2023, the Department of Labor published a new proposed regulation (the “Proposed Rule”) defining “investment advice” for...
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.