On October 9th, the IRS announced several inflation adjustments for 2026, including adjustments to the annual contribution and carryover limits for healthcare flexible spending accounts and the monthly limit for qualified transportation fringe benefits. Separately, the One, Big, Beautiful Bill increased the contribution limit for dependent care flexible spending accounts from $5,000 (or $2,500 for
Health and Welfare Plans
District Court Holds Private Equity Fund, But Not Its General Partner or Management Company, Liable for Portfolio Company’s Withdrawal Liability
By Neil V. Shah, Justin Alex & Adam Scoll on
Under ERISA, a participating employer that withdraws from a multiemployer pension plan must pay its share of the plan’s unfunded vested benefits (i.e., its withdrawal liability). ERISA’s “controlled group” rules extend this obligation to all “trades and businesses” that are under “common control” with the withdrawing employer, thereby making the withdrawing employer and each controlled…
Departments Outline Fertility Benefit Options for Employers
By Jennifer Rigterink on
Last week, the Departments of Treasury, Health and Human Services, and Labor released Affordable Care Act FAQs Part 72, confirming that employers and other plan sponsors may offer fertility benefits through existing HIPAA “excepted benefit” structures. The guidance does not announce new methods for plan sponsors to provide fertility benefits, but it does confirm…
Eleventh Circuit Holds Pension Fund Correctly Applied Partial Withdrawal Liability Credit
By Neil V. Shah & Sydney Juliano on
In Perfection Bakeries Inc. v. Retail Wholesale & Dep’t Store Int’l Union & Indus. Pension Fund, No. 23-12533, 147 F.4th 1314 (11th Cir. Aug. 1, 2025), the Eleventh Circuit affirmed that an employer’s credit for a prior partial withdrawal from a multiemployer pension plan must be applied at the second step of the four-step statutory…