McNees’ Benefits Group will be issuing a “Did you know?” series throughout the year providing short compliance reminders. Did you know that qualified retirement plans may now allow a participant with a terminal illness to receive distributions from their retirement accounts without incurring the usual 10% penalty? The employer will need to amend the retirement plan to allow for such distributions. For more information regarding compliance for your benefit plans, contact any member of the McNees Labor and Employment Group ..read more

McNees’ Benefits Group will be issuing a “Did you know?” series throughout the year providing short compliance reminders. Did you know that group health plans are required to submit a gag clause prohibition compliance attestation to the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Treasury prior to December 31, 2023?  The annual attestation provides that the group health plan has not, since December 27, 2020, entered into and will not enter into a contract with a health care provider, third-party administrator, or other service provider offering access to a network of providers th ..read more

McNees’ Benefits Group will be issuing a “Did you know?” series throughout the year providing short compliance reminders. Did you know that an employer must issue an updated summary plan description (“SPD”) at least every five (5) years that contains all recent amendments? If there were no amendments to the SPD, then the SPD must be reissued every 10 years. For more information regarding compliance for your benefit plans, contact any member of the McNees Labor and Employment Group ..read more

McNees’ Benefits Group will be issuing a “Did you know?” series throughout the year providing short compliance reminders.  This is the first in the series. Did you know that if you withhold premium payments pre-tax from employee wages, you must have a cafeteria plan (also called 125 plan)?  If you do not have a cafeteria plan, then your employees owe taxes on the premiums withheld. For more information regarding cafeteria plans, contact any member of the McNees Labor and Employment Group ..read more

The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 (“Act”) was passed by Congress in late December 2022 and signed by President Biden on December 29, 2022.  The Act, a $1.7 trillion dollar spending bill, contains provisions which modify the laws applicable to welfare benefit plans and retirement benefit plans.  Below is a high-level list of the provisions of the Act which are effective in 2023 and which may affect your plan: Welfare Benefit Plans High Deductible Health Plans can continue to waive the deductible for any telehealth services for plan years beginning before January 1, 2025. R ..read more

Maryland and Delaware recently joined the growing list of states that have enacted legislation requiring employers to offer paid family and medical leave.  Both states are still working on implementing regulations for the new laws; but, in the meantime, below is a brief summary of what you need to know about these laws and when they will take effect. Maryland Maryland’s new law will cover all employers with at least one employee in the state.  To be eligible for the leave, employees must have worked at least 680 hours over the 12-month period before the leave begins.  Employees ..read more

A recently published FAQ prepared by the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Treasury answers frequently asked questions regarding vaccine premium differentials and HIPAA nondiscrimination rules, as well as the cost shares for vaccine boosters. Vaccine Premium Differentials ERISA and other regulations prohibit plans “from discriminating against participants, beneficiaries, and enrollees in eligibility, premiums, or contributions based on a health factor.”  Health plans are allowed an exception to this prohibition and may provide discounts, subject to limitations, to partic ..read more

The 100-percent premium subsidy for eligible COBRA health care enrollees, enacted earlier this year as part of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), period is ending September 30, 2021. Group health plans need to send an expiration notice to eligible individuals 15 to 45 days before their premium assistance expires. The last day the notices must be mailed is September 15, 2021. Plan sponsors should check with their COBRA administrators to ensure this final notice is delivered in a timely manner. For more information on these changes and other employee benefit law changes, contact a member of ou ..read more

Soon after the Affordable Care Act (“ACA” or the “Act”) was passed in 2010, its critics initiated the first major legal effort to strike down the entire law as unconstitutional. That case, National Federation of Independent Business v. Sibelius, led to a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court decision authored by Chief Justice John Roberts which held that the Act’s “individual mandate” (a monetary penalty directed at certain individuals who failed to obtain health coverage) was constitutional – but limited the Act’s expansion of Medicare. Four of the Supreme Court’s nine justices dissented from the decision ..read more

On May 18, 2021, the IRS issued the long- awaited guidance on the COBRA subsidy and premium assistance credit available under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 through eighty-six questions and answers.  The Notice addresses eligibility, reduction in hours, involuntary termination of employment, coverage eligible for premium assistance, beginning and end of the premium assistance period, extended elections, calculation of the premium assistance credit and other common questions. The bad news is the plethora of questions.  The good news is that an employer may rely upon an employee ..read more