Fiduciaries and plan sponsors have a number of important tasks that they’re responsible for each year, from making sure employees have help getting their benefit plans set up to handling the different transactions needed to maintain the plan’s records and sending in all necessary paperwork and compliance reporting. Participant notifications are another important task, as is monitoring the changing legislative and Read More

Recently, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) argued in court in favor of striking down the Affordable Care Act (ACA). In front of the federal appeals court, the DOJ argued that the removal of the individual mandate provision from the ACA renders the entire law unconstitutional. The brief supports the ruling issued by a Texas federal court that declared the ACA unlawful after a challenge by Texas and other Read More

When setting up a benefit plan such as an individually designed 401(k) retirement plan, many businesses prefer to get the reassurance of an IRS determination letter to ensure their plan is compliant with all applicable laws and regulations. In a 2016 Revenue Procedure update, the IRS indicated that they were eliminating the program that allowed plan sponsors to request a determination letter for an individually Read More

This blog is an excerpt of Anne Tyler Hall’s book “Case Studies in ERISA: Why It Matters And How It Benefits You, A Plan Sponsor’s Guide To Employee Benefits Legal Compliance”  request your free digital copy of the book here. Client: A professional services organization with approximately 350 employees and approximately $100 million in retirement plan assets. The organization grew rapidly over the past Read More

President Trump has been in the news promoting his promise to take steps to protect conscience and religious liberty of individuals and health care entities. He signed an executive order to this effect in May 2017, and 2017 the Department of Justice directed the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to implement religious freedom laws. Recently, the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a final Read More

In a recent blog, we discussed the court’s ruling regarding Association Health Plans (AHPs). In the month following the court’s ruling on AHPs, the Department of Labor (DOL) decided to appeal the court’s decision and filed a notice of intent to appeal the March ruling that they exceeded their statutory authority based on ERISA. The court also found that the DOL rule that defines “employer” to include associations of Read More