Introduction The Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued regulations that revise the ERISA claims procedure regulations for employee benefit plans that provide disability benefits (the “New Disability Claims Regulations” or “New Regulations”). They are based on the Affordable Care Act’s (the “ACA”) enhanced claims and appeals regulations for group health plans (the “ACA Enhanced Regulations”). The […]
Of the 7% of Russell 3000 companies that received “against” vote recommendations from ISS on their say on pay proposals this 2017 proxy season, some of the cited reasons for the negative vote recommendations from ISS consisted of the following: Pay for failure (i.e., pay for performance disconnect). Lack of rigorous performance goals. A substantial […]
In a series of tweets published on July 26, 2017, President Trump announced a ban on transgender service in the armed forces. In the wake of this reversal of government policy, employers may question the current state of transgender benefits and whether additional changes are forthcoming. On May 18, 2016, the Department of Health and […]
On the morning of July 28, 2017, another effort to repeal or replace the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) failed in a 49-51 Senate vote when three Republican senators voted against the bill. Attempts to pass even a trimmed down “skinny” version of the bill were unsuccessful. Following this dramatic vote, the path forward for health […]
Imagine it’s March 31 and you are a retirement plan administrator. You have a participant who terminated employment 15 years ago. He turned 70½ last year and now you owe him his first required minimum distribution from the Plan on April 1. You have not thought about this participant or attempted to locate him in […]
The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (“MHPAEA”) generally requires that the financial requirements and treatment limitations that apply to mental health and substance use disorder (“MH/SUD”) benefits cannot be more restrictive than the financial requirements and treatment limitations that apply to medical and surgical (“M/S”) benefits. Financial requirements include, for example, […]
In my opinion, one of the best changes made by the Affordable Care Act is the mandate that requires health plans to provide certain specified preventive services without imposing any cost sharing. This is sometimes referred to as “free” preventive care. As a result of this mandate, deductibles, copays, coinsurance, and other cost sharing may […]
On June 8, the House of Representatives passed the Financial CHOICE Act of 2017 in a bid to reform the financial regulatory system created by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The bill, which passed the chamber on a vote of 233 to 186, has received support from the Trump Administration but […]
A severance plan may be subject to the requirements of ERISA as an employee welfare benefit plan. The determination of whether a severance plan is subject to ERISA depends in large part on whether the plan is part of an “ongoing administrative scheme.” Severance plans subject to ERISA have certain requirements, such as the obligation […]
As reported in our April 18th blog, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) officially delayed the applicability of the Fiduciary Rule for 60 days, until June 9, 2017. Given the multiple delays leading up to the proposed June 9th date and President Trump’s February 3rd executive memorandum calling for a full examination of the impact of […]
