The Employee and Retiree Access to Justice Act ("the Act") was recently introduced in, both, the Senate and House. This employee benefits bill would create major changes in how ERISA benefit claims currently are adjudicated. Although it remains a draft bill, benefits plan sponsors and fiduciaries should remain aware of this bill and any progress it makes through Congress in the future.  In Firestone Tire and Read More

In Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Org., the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of Mississippi’s Gestational Age Act, which prohibits abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, with limited exceptions. A federal trial court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit had found the Act to be unconstitutional based on the Supreme Court’s rulings in Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973) and Planned Read More

A federal judge in Texas found that the NFL player retirement plan violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) when it denied Michael Cloud, a former running back and Super Bowl Champion, placement in a higher benefits classification. The case is Cloud v. The Bert Bell/Pete Rozelle NFL Player Retirement Plan, case number 3:20-cv-01277, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. The Read More

On May 19, 2022, the IRS issued Notice 2022-28, which provides special tax relief for employers that set up leave-based donation programs to aid victims of the further Russian invasion of Ukraine. Leave-based donation programs involve employees who give up their vacation, sick, or personal leave time in exchange for their employers giving cash donations to a chosen charitable cause.  The typical concerns about Read More

In the unanimous opinion titled Morgan v. Sundance, Inc., No. 21-328 (May 23, 2022), the U.S. Supreme Court refused to send an overtime claim to arbitration when Sundance, Inc., failed to ask the court to compel arbitration until eight months after the lawsuit was filed. The high Court also rejected a finding by the lower courts that there could be no waiver of arbitration unless the plaintiff could show prejudice in Read More

Aetna Life Insurance Company (Aetna) has settled an ERISA claim with a woman who claimed that it underpaid or failed to pay claims related to her mental health care and substance abuse disorder treatment. The parties reached a settlement agreement several months after a federal district court granted partial summary judgment in favor of the plan beneficiaries, finding that Aetna had violated the terms of the health Read More

  President Joe Biden issued executive orders in 2021 establishing a government-wide approach to climate-related financial risks. In response, the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), the employee benefits division of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), requested public comments in February 2022 on specific actions to protect workers' retirement savings from financial risks related to climate Read More

Attorneys for laborers who sued a general government contractor and master subcontractor, under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), following cleanup work they performed after Hurricane Michael, recently appeared before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. The workers argued that a district court judge improperly granted summary judgment in September 2020 to the two defendants, finding that they were not Read More

The federal government has begun cracking down and fining hospital systems that fail to publicize the rates they charge for medical procedures. With inflation increasing at record levels, hospitals are protesting that the data they have provided is outdated as all their costs are skyrocketing.  Insurers and plan providers may find that the valuable data they have been expecting from hospitals is already obsolete. Read More

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has provided various resources concerning the No Surprises Act, which was enacted as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CAA). These resources include a “Chart for Determining the Applicability for the Federal Independent Dispute Resolution (IDR) Process.” This chart summarizes when a state or other IDR process applies instead of the federal IDR Read More