Student loan debt can be a major source of employee stress, and some borrowers will feel even more pressure with the recent budget bill’s changes to federal student loan repayment options. Education assistance programs enable employers to alleviate some of this pressure and can be utilized as a powerful tool for attracting and retaining ...
State laws seeking to regulate pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) have increased significantly over the past few years. As it stands, all 50 states have laws that regulate PBMs in some way, but all are unique. However, most of these laws have the same primary goals of reducing governmental waste and addressing the rising cost of drugs.
An Employee Stock Ownership Plan (“ESOP”) has become a popular tool for succession planning and tax structuring, especially for S corporations. As more business owners look to retire and wish to avoid selling their life’s work to private equity, an ESOP provides an excellent transition vehicle. When set up thoughtfully, an ESOP can ...
If you serve on a retirement plan committee, you’ve taken on an important and legally significant role. As a fiduciary under the ERISA, you are personally liable for the decisions you make regarding the plan. That’s not a metaphor: your personal assets could be at risk in the event of a fiduciary breach.
Yet, many plan fiduciaries don’t ...
Employers that do not timely deposit participant deferrals and loan contributions to their employer sponsored retirement plans can be subject to Department of Labor (DOL) penalties for breaching their fiduciary duties. We discussed in our prior blog post the DOL’s amendments to its Voluntary Fiduciary Compliance (VFC) Program, which now ...
As businesses continue to respond to recent shifts in the U.S. economy, some employers have had to make the challenging decision to implement cost-cutting measures and reductions to their workforce. While a reduction in force can result in many moving parts for business operations, employers should be careful not to overlook the less obvious ...
Last week, the Departments of Labor, Treasury, and Health and Human Services (the “Departments”) issued a nonenforcement policy regarding the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA) final regulations, issued in 2024 as they relate to nonquantitative treatment limitation (NQTL) comparative analysis. The ...
If your organization sponsors a 403(b) retirement plan, there’s a crucial Internal Revenue Service (IRS) deadline you can’t afford to ignore. The IRS has announced a plan restatement deadline for 403(b) plans. Failure to act within this window could expose your organization to compliance risks and penalties. If you sponsor a non-profit ...
When an employee forgets—or chooses not—to notify you of a divorce, it can cause a ripple effect on your benefit plan administration, particularly with your health plan. Here's what you need to know and do to keep your health plan compliant and minimize risk.
Coverage Ends at Divorce
The first thing you need to know is when coverage terminates ...
The Department of Labor (DOL) issued guidance earlier this month that will affect defined benefit plans’ annual funding notices. The annual funding notice requirements were amended by SECURE 2.0 and are effective for plan years beginning after December 31, 2023. The changes made by the Act, and the guidance issued by the DOL, are intended to ...