The Biden Administration recently announced that the COVID-19 National Emergency will end on May 11, 2023. This means that the requirement to extend various benefit plan deadlines due to the COVID-19 pandemic will end as well. By way of brief background, early during the pandemic, the U.S. Departments of Labor and Treasury adopted relief pursuant to which … Continue Reading
The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 (“CAA 2023”), signed into law on December 29, introduced sweeping reforms to the employee benefits landscape. Not only do the CAA 2023’s “SECURE 2.0” provisions make some significant changes for retirement plans, but CAA 2023 also extends the telehealth plan safe harbor for high-deductible health plans (“HDHPs”) that were first … Continue Reading
Effective April 1, 2022, high-deductible health plans can once again offer first-dollar coverage for telehealth and other remote services without making participants ineligible for health savings account (“HSA”) contributions. The relief runs only through the end of 2022, and the regular high-deductible health plan requirements generally apply for the months of January through March 2022. … Continue Reading
A few short weeks ago we told you in a blog post that, with only four days’ notice, the Departments of Labor, Treasury, and HHS (the Departments) required that, starting January 15, 2022, group health plans cover FDA-approved over-the-counter (OTC) at-home COVID-19 tests without participant cost-sharing, preauthorization, or medical management, regardless of whether a health … Continue Reading
Looking forward to the weekend? Many employers and plan administrators may also have been . . . up until yesterday, when the government issued new requirements that take effect on Saturday. Specifically, starting this Saturday, January 15, 2022—yes, that’s four short days from now—and through the end of the public health emergency, group health plans … Continue Reading
Remember the DOL/Treasury relief that tolled the COBRA election and payment deadlines for up to one year due to the COVID-19 pandemic (referred to below as “Tolling Relief”)? If you have been wondering whether, under that relief, a qualified beneficiary may wait one year to elect COBRA and then wait another year to make their … Continue Reading
As part of the COVID-19 relief package passed by Congress earlier this week, the federal government expands on earlier relief issued by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for health and dependent care flexible spending account benefits (FSAs). Under these temporary rules, plan sponsors may give their employees additional time to use their FSA account balances … Continue Reading
In late September, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (the “PBGC”) published Press Release 20-04 and issued Technical Update 20-2 providing flexibility in the calculation of variable-rate premiums for plan sponsors who take advantage of extended pension contribution deadlines for 2020—even in certain circumstances where the plan sponsor has already completed its PBGC premium filing. The … Continue Reading
On June 29, 2020, the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) issued Notice 2020-52 that provides temporarily relief to plan sponsors that amend their safe harbor Section 401(k) or 401(m) plans (“Safe Harbor Plans”) mid-year to reduce or suspend employer safe harbor matching or nonelective contributions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. To qualify for the relief, … Continue Reading
On May 12, 2020, the IRS released Notice 2020-29, which provides significant flexibility for health insurance and flexible spending account election changes during 2020, and Notice 2020-33, which increases the amount that may be carried over from one year to the next under a health flexible spending account (FSA). The guidance allows increased flexibility for … Continue Reading
On April 10, 2020, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (the “PBGC”) announced that deadlines for upcoming premium payments and certain other required filings due from April 1, 2020 through July 14, 2020 will be extended to July 15, 2020 as further described below. The PBGC’s announcement came a day after the Internal Revenue Service (the … Continue Reading
As recent history has shown, ERISA claims seeking recovery of investment losses tend to proliferate during times of market volatility. The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic presents a unique opportunity for plaintiffs to search for and bring fiduciary-breach claims based on the underperformance of company stock funds and other available investment options in 401(k) and 403(b) plans. … Continue Reading
On March 18, 2020, the Senate passed and the President signed into law the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (the “Families First Act” or the “Act”) which was first drafted and passed by the House earlier in the week. As noted in our Law and the Workplace summary of the Act, the new Act contains … Continue Reading
On March 11, 2020, the IRS issued Notice 2020-15, to address an important coronavirus issue for high-deductible health plans that are coordinated with health savings accounts (“HSAs”). The guidance paves the way for health plans to waive or reduce deductibles for any “medical care services and items purchased relating to testing for and treatment of … Continue Reading
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