On December 27, 2020, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, was signed into law. The Act included a measure entitled the “No Surprises Act” to restrict medical providers from sending consumers surprise medical bills.  Once the Act goes into effect in 2022, consumers will not receive balance bills for the following: Emergency care; Transport by air ambulance; or Non-emergency care at an in-network Read More

The IRS has released guidance regarding qualified plan distributions to state unclaimed property funds. Revenue Ruling 2020-24 covers the withholding and reporting requirements when a plan distribution is made to a state unclaimed property fund. Revenue Procedure 2020-46 modifies and updates prior guidance to make it easier for individuals who obtain benefits from a state unclaimed property fund to roll over their Read More

The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act (SECURE Act) established a new structure whereby a group of unrelated employers could participate in a single defined contribution plan as of January 1, 2021.  Pooled Employer Plans (PEPs) must be administered by a Pooled Plan Provider (PPP), which acts as the plan sponsor, handling all fiduciary, administrative, and investment responsibilities. PPPs Read More

The Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and Treasury (“the Departments”) have issued the final rule on health care coverage transparency, imposing important new requirements on non-grandfathered health plans and self-insured plans to disclose health care cost and cost-sharing information. Group Health Plan Transparency Requirements For plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2022, plans must Read More

A joint notice issued by the DOL and IRS on May 4, 2020 required group health plans to extend certain timeframes for participants during the COVID-19 “outbreak period” (defined as the period from March 1, 2020 until 60 days after the announced end of the national emergency for COVID-19).  The Notice requires a tolling of the following COBRA deadlines: The 14-day deadline for plan administrators to furnish Read More

The Departments of Treasury, Labor, and Health and Human Services have issued an interim final rule (IFR) regarding group health plan coverage of COVID-19 testing and vaccines. Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), group health plan providers must provide certain preventive services with no cost sharing. Under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), preventive services related to Read More

The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act (SECURE Act) added new lifetime income disclosure requirements to benefit statement rules under ERISA. On September 18, 2020, the Department of Labor (DOL) published an Interim Final Rule (IFR) to the Federal Register to implement the lifetime income disclosure requirements pursuant to the SECURE Act.  Once the lifetime income disclosure requirement Read More

The Department of Labor recently issued its final rule to clarify investment duties for plan fiduciaries under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) when it comes to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing. The final rule codifies the DOL’s long-held position that a fiduciary satisfies its duties of prudence and loyalty under ERISA when it has “selected investments and/or Read More

The Department of Labor has issued final regulations on registration requirements for pooled plan providers administering pooled employer plans. The final regulations retain much of the same structure as the proposed rule issued last August, with some added clarification on registration requirements. Background The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act (SECURE Act) established a new Read More

Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act barring sex discrimination in the workplace also protects LGBTQ employees from being fired or disciplined based on their sexual orientation. In a 6-3 ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County, the Court found that, "In Title VII, Congress adopted broad language making it illegal for an employer to rely on an employee's sex when deciding Read More