The following are Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) regarding the implementation of various components of the No Surprises Act (NSA) of Division BB of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CAA 2021). The FAQs also cover implementing regulations published in the Federal Register on July 13, 2021, as part of interim final rules with comment period, entitled “Requirements Related to Surprise Billing; Part I” and on Read More
HBL Expands of Counsel Ranks, ERISA Litigation Capabilities
ATLANTA, Feb. 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Serving employer plan sponsors and benefit service provider clients in 35 states, boutique ERISA and employment law firm Hall Benefits Law is proud to partner with the attorneys of Pridgen Bassett Law in a mutual Of Counsel arrangement. Pridgen Bassett Law, LLC Partners Nancy Pridgen and Leslie Bassett spent many years at Alston & Bird and King & Spalding representing Read More
EEOC Sues Georgia Company That Fired CFO Over His Depression
In Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Ranew's Management Co. Inc. et al., filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) has alleged that a Georgia-based fabrication, coating, and assembly company illegally discriminated against its chief financial officer by firing him after he sought treatment for severe Read More
Good Faith Relief Ending for ACA Reporting Forms in 2022
As it relates to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) employer reporting process, good faith compliance is soon ending. Although the IRS provided some relief related to the deadlines for delivering ACA reporting forms to employees, it has reiterated what employers had feared: good faith relief is ending. Until now, every year since federal law has required ACA reporting forms, the IRS took the position that it would not Read More
Court Rejects Natixis Motion to Dismiss in Case Alleging 401(k) Mismanagement
In Waldner v. Natixis Investment Managers LP et al., filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, a federal judge refused to grant the defendants’ motion to dismiss the case in December of 2021. Plaintiff plan participants filed the lawsuit as a proposed class action alleging Natixis Investment Managers LP (“Natixis”), a French corporate and investment bank, of violating ERISA and federal Read More
Texas CBD Retailers Sued in Class Action Over Alleged Unpaid Overtime
In Ross v. Sherman Hemp LLC et al., a case filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, the operators of two CBD shops in Texas were sued in a proposed class action by a former sales associate who says the businesses illegally avoided paying overtime wages by sharing staff and paying them with separate paychecks. The shops are CBD USA Plus franchises. In a complaint filed as the new year Read More
5 Benefits Rulings From 2021 That Attorneys Should Know, Part 2
The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA), is a federal law that sets minimum standards for most voluntarily established retirement and health plans in private industry. The primary purpose of ERISA is to protect the individuals who participate in these plans. From the circuit courts to the Supreme Court, there was no shortage of cases involving employee health plans in 2021. For Read More
Court Approves $4.2 Million Settlement in Suit for Unpaid Overtime
In early January, a Pennsylvania federal judge approved a $4.2 million settlement between Pittsburgh-based grocery chain Giant Eagle and employees who were “team leaders" at its grocery stores and GetGo convenience stores in Ohio and Pennsylvania. In Andrew Fitch et al. v. Giant Eagle Inc., filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, team leaders made allegations of misclassification Read More
5 Key Benefits Rulings From 2021, Part 1
The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA) is a federal law that sets minimum standards for most voluntarily established retirement and health plans in private industry. The primary purpose of ERISA is to protect the individuals who participate in these plans. From the U.S. Circuit Courts to the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS), there was no shortage of cases involving Read More
Workers’ Attorneys Receive $1Million Share of $4M Koch ERISA Settlement
A putative class of roughly 101,000 participants in multiple retirement plans for Koch employees, reached a $4 million settlement with Koch Industries Inc., Koch Business Solutions LP, and the Koch Benefits Administrative Committee (“Koch”), in July 2021.Almost six months later, in December 2021, federal judge in Georgia approved a $1 million award of attorney’s fees to lawyers from the law firms of Nichols Kaster Read More
