Benefits from Cars to Credit to Counseling to Charity
The survey, sent to a random sample of SHRM members, had 510 respondents, which was a 13% response rate.
Tag: Employee Benefits
More IRS Guidance on ACA’s Health Coverage Reporting Rules
IRS on Aug. 29 issued two sets of questions and answers about reporting on health coverage for large employers under Section 6056 and for all employers under Section 6055 of the reform law. Section 6056 reporting is required by “applicable large employers” that provide health coverage to their full-time employees and is needed for the government to carry out […]
Texas, California Participants Top 401(k) Plan Loan Use
A study by Fidelity Investments of 13 million 401(k) investors across U.S. metropolitan regions pinpointed the cities where plan loans are most heavily used. The analysis found the greatest percentage of participants with outstanding plan loans, at 33 percent, in the McAllen, Texas, area. The second-largest proportions of borrowers were in the Riverside and Bakersfield, […]
Court Allows ERISA Plan to Deny Coverage to Same-Gender Spouse
A self-insured employer that explicitly excludes same-gender spouses from health plan coverage did not violate ERISA’s benefit interference or fiduciary breach provisions by having such exclusionary language, a federal district court in New York ruled. A same-gender couple had argued that, in light of U.S. v. Windsor, because the plan declined to cover the spouse, the employer interfered […]
ABB Excessive Fees Ruling Affirmed, Fidelity Cleared of Float Interest Charge by 8th Circuit
A series of new decisions in Tussey v. ABB Inc. handed down by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on March 19 brought good news about allegations of excessive fees for all parties—the suing retirement plan participants, the employer plan sponsor and especially the administrator, Fidelity. The ruling did not provide a clear judicial […]
Notre Dame University Denied Contraception Injunction
The 7th Circuit in a 2-1 ruling refused to grant a preliminary injunction to Notre Dame University, which would have freed the university from participating in reform’s requirement to provide contraceptives at no cost to all women. In so doing the court criticized the university’s argument that signing an EBSA Form 700 — expressing objections to the contraceptive […]
ACA Pay-or-play Mandate Loosened Again
Companies with 50-99 employees that do not offer health insurance to their workers will not be subject to fines for failing to provide coverage until 2016. This gives such mid-sized firms an additional year to prepare health coverage for workers, and that delay adds to the one-year delay in enforcement of the Affordable Care Act’s […]
Employers in Tax-break Pilot May Offer myRA Accounts by Late 2014
Employers may not feel much of an administrative burden from the new “starter” retirement savings accounts announced Jan. 28 in President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address, but those opting to participate should be prepared for employees’ questions about the My Retirement Account or “myRA” program ahead of its launch late this year. While […]
Latest Data Shows Rise in 401(k) Assets; Equities Still Dominate
The average 401(k) account balance at the end of 2012 was 8.4 percent higher than the year before, but increased assets weren’t typical for all defined contribution plan participants studied, according to a December 2013 brief by the Employee Benefit Research Institute. While equity investments through stock mutual funds comprised the bulk of 401(k) assets […]
Mental health parity regulations take effect January 13
The final regulations implementing the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 will become effective January 13. The Act requires group health plans that offer mental health or substance use disorder benefits to ensure that those benefits are equivalent to the medical and surgical benefits offered by the […]