Benefits Law Update
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Employers of all sizes in nearly every industry have had to lay off or furlough employees in an attempt to deal with the massive business disruptions...
On March 18, Congress passed and the President signed into law the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, a temporary measure designed to increase...
The federal government may soon be providing paid leave assistance to employees affected by COVID-19. In the meantime, however, employers that...
Recognizing the need to eliminate potential administrative and financial barriers to testing for and treatment of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus...
The United States Supreme Court unanimously decided last week that a plan participant who received written disclosures about the plan’s...
We are barely two months into the new year and already there are significant updates to the 2020 Supreme Court Preview included in our December 2019...
As summarized in our January 7 Client Advisory, the SECURE Act includes many changes that affect the design and administration of retirement plans....
The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (the “SECURE Act”) is the most far reaching new law affecting retirement...
This Client Advisory, originally distributed in December 2019, highlights important developments in the law governing employee benefit plans and...
In September, the Treasury Department issued final regulations governing hardship withdrawals from 401(k) plans. The final regulations update the...
At long last, the Department of Labor (DOL) has issued an update to its safe harbor rules governing electronic distributions of retirement plan...
Tax-exempt employers whose 403(b) plans have failed to comply with the "once in, always in" eligibility rule in the past should be well on their way...
ERISA Section 206(d)(3)(G)(ii) requires sponsors of qualified retirement plans to maintain written procedures for the administration of qualified...
UPDATE: The Massachusetts Department of Family and Medical Leave announced that along with the start of contributions being delayed from July 1, 2019...
Identifying an employer's highly compensated employees is crucial to the administration of qualified retirement plans, as well as 403(b) plans that...
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 ("2017 Tax Act") includes a provision that changed the rollover rules for certain plan loan offset distributions...
Newly published Revenue Procedure 2019-19 modifies and supersedes prior IRS guidance regarding the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System...
Deferred compensation payments are due to one of your former executives, but the former executive is nowhere to be found. You know that the IRS has...
Every IRS Form 1094/1095 filing season (roughly January and February of each year), we receive questions on reporting for expatriate employees. The...
IRS Notice 2019-09 provides guidance intended to help "applicable tax-exempt employers" determine whether compensation paid to their most highly...
Over the last decade, courts around the country have been asked to decide whether ERISA preempts state slayer statutes – state laws that prohibit a...
This Client Advisory, originally distributed in December 2018, highlights important developments in the law governing employee benefit plans and...
Last month, the Treasury Department issued highly anticipated proposed regulations governing hardship withdrawals from 401(k) plans. The proposed...
In today's ever-changing and challenging 401(k) environment, plan sponsors find themselves in a new and seemingly complex environment. Regulations...
Join the Maine Employee Benefits Council (MEBC) on Wednesday, October 17 for a panel discussion on the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), disability,...
As expected, the IRS recently issued additional guidance concerning the new paid leave tax credit codified as Code Section 45S. The guidance, set...
The IRS has issued new model notices for recipients of rollover distributions from qualified retirement plans. The updated notices reflect changes...
After the “Epic” Decision, Tune in for Pros & Cons of Arbitration Agreements in Employment Contracts
Following the recent Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis Supreme Court decision holding that employers can enforce class action waivers in arbitration...
The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act contains a two-year pilot project, developed by Senators Angus King (I-ME) and Deb Fischer (R-NE), that provides a tax...
In the first University 403(b) plan fee case to proceed to trial, Sacerdote v. New York University (No. 16-cv-6284 (KBF) (S.D.N.Y. July 31, 2018),...
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.