Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Stop-loss insurers for self-funded health plans are among the entities excluded from assisting consumers and small businesses in researching health insurance exchange options under health care reform. Those insurers, as well as individuals and other entities with too close a financial relationship to such insurers, cannot be “Navigators,” according to final rules issued July 17 from the […]
The U.S. Supreme Court issued two highly anticipated rulings related to same-sex marriage on June 26 that essentially placed matters of marriage back with the states. This has a direct impact on retirement plans. First, the Court held that Section 3 of the federal Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional based on the equal protection […]
An official announcement on transition relief for employers from information reporting requirements under health care reform, as well as on the delay of key provisions of the employer play-or-pay mandate, was issued July 9 in Notice 2013-45 from the U.S. Department of the Treasury and IRS. In unofficial announcements last week on the White House and U.S. […]
Yesterday’s Advisor featured tricky PTO policy questions from Attorney Katherine Marques. Today, we present her key success factors for PTO, plus we introduce the best way to find compliance violations—before the feds do. Marques, an associate in the New York office of Holland & Knight LLP, offered her PTO tips at a recent webinar sponsored […]
In a startling move, the Obama administration delayed the employer mandate (for companies with 50 or more workers) to offer health insurance to workers or pay a penalty, until January 2015 (a one-year delay) while it reassesses employer reporting burdens and gives employers more time to arrange compliance with the health care reform statute and […]
Employers in California need to adjust their benefit plans, plan documents, and corporate and human resources policies to accommodate employees’ same-sex spouses. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on June 28 lifted its stay on an injunction against enforcing Proposition 8, which had amended the California state constitution to define marriage as occurring between […]
The U.S. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation may start providing new services to help plan sponsors spend less time identifying, locating and corresponding with missing plan participants. The agency is seeking public comment until Aug. 20 on several aspects of administering a missing participants program when terminating individual account plans, according to a June 21 Federal […]
New health reform rules finalize policies for non-profit organizations that object on religious or moral grounds to gain an exemption from having to “contract, arrange, pay or refer for” contraceptive coverage. The final rules reflect public feedback received in response to Feb. 6, 2013 proposed rules (78 Fed. Reg. 8456). In the proposed rule, the […]
Most U.S. small business owners think the country’s lack of retirement readiness threatens business and the economy, yet that concern doesn’t necessarily translate to concrete action to address it, a new survey has found. Only about one-third of small-business owners offer a retirement plan for their employees, according to “Poll Report: Small Business Owners’ Views on […]
A large employer was socked with $1.85 million in COBRA notice penalties, plus still-to-be determined attorney’s fees, for neglecting its duty as plan administrator to ensure that COBRA election notices were sent on a timely basis. The company’s negligence occurred over several years, affecting hundreds of former employees who participated in a class action lawsuit. […]