By Anne Hall and Tim Kennedy (December 15, 2021) The Build Back Better Act, or BBBA, supported by President Joe Biden, includes a broad range of social, climate change and revenue provisions. The $1.75 trillion spending bill,[1] which passed the U.S. House of Representatives on Nov. 19, also includes myriad provisions that will affect employer-sponsored health plans and health and welfare benefits in Read More
HBL Makes Splash with Orange County, California Hire
ATLANTA, Dec. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Now serving plan sponsors and service provider clients in 35 states, boutique ERISA law firm Hall Benefits Law welcomes Phil Koehler, Lead ERISA Counsel, to its legal team. Koehler brings a J.D. from the University of Southern California, an M.B.A., and thirty years of tax and employee benefit plans legal experience to the HBL team. The addition of Koehler gives HBL the Read More
Mental Health Parity Act: A Compliance Wake-Up Call
By Tim Kennedy and Anne Hall (October 18, 2021) Recent developments suggest that the U.S. Department of Labor is taking a renewed and more aggressive approach to enforcing the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, or MHPAEA. First, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, or CAA, added a new and complex documentation requirement that will force group health plans and health insurance issuers to take Read More
Asset or Stock Purchase: Form of Transaction and the Impact to Employee Benefit Plans
Mergers, acquisitions, consolidations, or other reorganizations of a company can have a profound effect on employee benefit plans. For the purpose of this post, we’ll examine two common types of corporate transactions and the issues companies need to consider: Stock purchase – The buyer purchases all the stock of a company, and the seller does not retain any employees or benefit plans. Asset purchase – The Read More
SECURE Act 2.0: Congress Piggybacks on SECURE Act, Proposing Additional Incentives to Facilitate Retirement Plan Savings
By Anne Tyler Hall, Eric Schillinger, and Allison Richter* Hall Benefits Law Atlanta, GA *Anne Tyler Hall is the founding attorney of Hall Benefits Law, and her team counsels clients on fiduciary matters, healthcare reform, executive compensation, health and welfare benefits, and retirement plan legal issues. Eric Schillinger is Lead ERISA Counsel at HBL and concentrates his practice in the areas of Read More
DOL Proffers Three-Pronged Guidance on Cybersecurity Breaches for Retirement Plans
BY ANNE TYLER HALL AND ERIC SCHILLINGER Cybersecurity has become a daily struggle for businesses. In the last decade, cybersecurity breaches soared, with companies like Capital One having more than 100 million individuals impacted. The unprecedented technological challenges caused by the global pandemic have exacerbated the cybersecurity vulnerabilities of employers, many of which already struggled with Read More
Making it Rain: Anne Tyler Hall
Anna Rappaport (AR): You founded a boutique firm specializing in ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974). Given that this is typically an area of law that is part of a larger firm’s benefits and employment law practice, how did you decide to venture out on your own and start your own firm? Anne Tyler Hall (ATH): I grew up in large law firms, and the ERISA practice groups serviced the corporate Read More
How Benefits Can Ease Workers’ Return To The Office
By Emily Brill Law360 (March 31, 2021, 7:04 PM EDT) -- As plans for bringing America's white-collar workforce back to the office begin taking shape, employers can ease the transition for their workers by making use of wellness programs, employee assistance programs and disease management programs. Here, Law360 explores how employers can best utilize their benefit programs as workers return to the Read More
Doing the Math: Partial Plan Terminations and the Consolidated Appropriations Act
The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, signed into law on December 27, 2020 (the “Act”), changes a myriad of different rules for employer-sponsored retirement plans and health and welfare benefits. Among the more significant of the Act’s changes is a temporary rule to provide relief for certain events related to COVID-19 that would otherwise be considered partial retirement plan terminations (which can Read More
How 2021 Appropriations Law Changes Employer Benefits
Portfolio Media. Inc. | 111 West 19th Street, 5th floor | New York, NY 10011 | www.law360.com Phone: +1 646 783 7100 | Fax: +1 646 783 7161 | customerservice@law360.com By Eric Schillinger and Anne Hall (January 27, 2021, 5:22 PM EST) The Consolidated Appropriations Act, a year-end budget bill that included COVID-19 stimulus relief, was signed into law by then-President Donald Trump Read More
