Sherry Porter has more than twenty years of experience in the employee benefits field. She began her legal career as an investigator for the U.S. Department of Labor Employee Benefits Security Administration, where she conducted ...
The U. S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefit Security Administration (DOL) just announced changes to its national enforcement projects for 2026. The DOL is tasked with enforcing the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) which governs employer-sponsored benefit plans. If your company sponsors an employee benefit plan for your ...
By: Sherry Porter
In 2022, the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) of the U. S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued guidance cautioning retirement plan fiduciaries on the investment of 401(k) plan assets in cryptocurrency and other digital assets. EBSA is the agency that enforces the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA ...
By: Sherry Porter
The Department of Labor, Department of Treasury and Department of Health and Human Services (the “Departments”) issued 536 pages of guidance last week to help plan sponsors comply with the nonquantitative treatment limitations (NQTLs) rules under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA). The main goal ...
By: Sherry Porter
The Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) of the U.S. Department of Labor has jurisdiction over the enforcement and interpretation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). ERISA governs most private employer sponsored employee benefit plans, like group health plans, retirement plans ...
By: Sherry Porter
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) made many changes to the way the American health care system worked. One such change requires insurers to use a certain amount of insurance premiums to provide medical care (at least 80% in the small group market, 85% in the large group market) effectively limiting the ...
The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 (CAA) requires that nearly all group health plans (fully insured, self-funded, and level-funded) report data about prescription drug pricing and health care spending in an effort to promote price transparency and in hopes of encouraging competition to drive drug pricing down.
If your company sponsors ...
By: Sherry P. Porter
While most of us are aware that many governmental agencies are lacking staff and resources to fulfill their stated goals, the IRS launched a pilot program in June 2022 which puts much of the compliance review for retirement plans back on the plan sponsor if its plan is selected for this pre-audit pilot program.
The IRS will notify ...
The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Department of Labor and the Department of Treasury issued joint guidance this week that will be helpful to employers that sponsor group health plans and insurers that provide health insurance coverage or provide third party administration services to group health ...
COVID-19 has shaken up the benefits world in a big way - new laws, new issues. One issue that has been around for a long time, but isn’t often on the front page, is the partial termination of a retirement plan. However, difficult financial times bring this issue to the forefront when companies are laying off employees, closing plants ...
What a plan sponsor needs to know NOW!
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) became law on March 27, 2020 to address many issues in our country caused by the coronavirus. This article addresses issues that employers who sponsor retirement plans must address quickly.
New Distribution Event ...
All 403(b) retirement plans are yet another area impacted by COVID-19. These retirement plans (sponsored by nonprofits and governmental entities) were required by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to completely restate their plans by March 31, 2020 to reflect changes in the law since 2010 in order to receive retroactive ...
Many employers sponsor high deductible health plans (HDHP) coupled with a health savings account (HSA) to provide group health insurance for their eligible employees. In order to utilize an HSA, the individual must have coverage under a HDHP and have no disqualifying health coverage. One issue that has arisen relates to the ...
The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) new fiduciary rule has been in the news for several years. A portion of the rule relating to impartial conduct standards for employee benefit plans recently went into effect on June 10, 2017. The remaining standards of the rule will become effective January 1, 2018. The rule, which is essentially ...
The long-running Lehman Brothers bankruptcy case brings to light the risk employees have when participating in an employer sponsored nonqualified deferred compensation plan. In this case (from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan), more than 300 executives and certain employees participated in a nonqualified deferred ...
On Monday, June 5, 2017, the Supreme Court handed down a long-awaited decision on church plans in favor of the church plan sponsors. The case revolved around whether plans that were maintained by church-affiliated entities (in this case, hospitals) met the exemption for church plans from compliance with the Employee ...
Today, the United States Supreme Court upheld subsidies for individuals who purchase health care insurance through all health care exchanges regardless of whether the exchange was established by a state or the federal government. The case, King v. Burwell, is the latest ruling in a number of challenges to the Affordable Care ...
By Sherry P. Porter
Overview of the New Notice Requirement
Most employers will have a new notification requirement beginning October 1, 2013. Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), new health insurance options will be available under the health care exchanges or marketplaces as of January 1, 2014. Employers are required ...