Navigating the Nuances of the COBRA Subsidy Under the American Rescue Plan Act
AGG Talks: Solving Employers’ Problems - The American Rescue Plan Act’s COBRA Subsidy: What Is It and How Does It Work?
COBRA Deadlines and Proofs of Mailing in Carter v. Southwest Airlines Co. Board of Trustees
Podcast: Employers and the American Rescue Plan - Employment Law This Week® - #WorkforceWednesday
How the American Rescue Plan Act Affects COBRA
#WorkforceWednesday: The American Rescue Plan, OSHA’s New COVID-19 Directive, and NY Mandates COVID-19 Vaccine PTO - Employment Law This Week®
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - DOL’s Guidance on Continued COVID-19 Timeframe Relief
Three Timely Benefits Items Everyone Should Know
COBRA: Avoid Getting Snakebit! (Notice Update, Deadline Update, Litigation Update)
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - COVID-19 Edition - Deadline Extensions Impacting HIPAA, COBRA and ERISA
Employers: Benefits Considerations Post-Pandemic [More with McGlinchey Ep. 3]
COVID-19 Impact for Health & Welfare Plans (Troutman Sanders and Pepper Hamilton COVID-19 Issues for Employers Podcast Series)
Has the Affordable Care Act influenced COBRA? What if my employer fails to offer COBRA?
At A Glance - In recent months, there have been a number of important developments in the United States relating to health and welfare plans. This list of hot topics identifies the key areas for employers and plan sponsors to...more
On Labor Day fifty years ago, September 2, 1974, President Ford signed the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) into law. It is a combination of tax and labor law incorporating trust law like fiduciary...more
When it comes to pre-tax savings for qualifying medical expenses, employers have several options available to offer employees. Two of the more popular options are health savings accounts (HSAs) and health reimbursement...more
Employee benefits law is mostly drawn from two federal sources—the Internal Revenue Code and ERISA. Just what is “ERISA,” though? Its official reference is the “Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974.” That means the...more
Though the employer shared responsibility provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) do not apply to small employers (generally, employers with fewer than 50 full-time equivalent employees), many...more
Fiduciary committees have long been established in connection with retirement plans to manage the investment, legal compliance, and operational risks that can arise under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974,...more
In the past two weeks, we have presented a few items that plan sponsors can review in hopes of curbing common employee benefits and executive compensation errors. This week in our Employee Retirement Income Security Act of...more
Since 2016, plaintiffs’ counsel have filed over 70 putative class actions, mostly against large plan sponsors, alleging deficiencies in election notice requirements as mandated under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget...more
ERISA requires plan sponsors to distribute SPDs to inform participants of their benefits, rights, and obligations under the plan and describe how the plan operates. Department of Labor (DOL) regulations (available here)...more
If you sponsor a self-insured group health plan (including an HRA), make sure you set a calendar alert for July 31 to pay the annual PCORI fee (Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute fee) for the 2022 plan year. The...more
On April 10, 2023, President Biden signed legislation to end the COVID-19 national emergency effective immediately, including ending the requirement to extend COBRA deadlines due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Plan administrators...more
The Biden administration previously announced its intent to end the COVID-19 National Emergency (NE) and the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) on May 11, 2023 (read our series introduction for more information). On April...more
Today marks the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency that first began on March 13, 2020. The end of the public health emergency has a wide range of implications for employer sponsored benefit plans. This alert...more
The end of an era looms for employee benefits plans, as the Biden administration has announced the end of both the Public Health Emergency and the National Emergency periods on May 11, 2023. The two emergency periods were...more
Employers should prepare now for impacts to their employee benefit plans when the COVID-19 Outbreak Period expires. On March 29, 2023, in anticipation of the ends of both the National Emergency and Public Health Emergency,...more
On April 10, 2023, President Biden signed a resolution ending the COVID-19 National Emergency. As we had previously reported, the National Emergency originally was scheduled to end on May 11, 2023 – at the same time as the...more
The National Emergency brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic may be at an end, but there are still administrative details to sort out. Our Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Group provides in-depth analysis for how...more
What does the April 10, 2023, early end of the COVID-19 National Emergency declaration mean for employer health plans? Well, nothing, actually....more
On April 10, 2023, the President signed H.J.Res. 7, which ended the COVID-19 national emergency on April 10, 2023, approximately one month earlier than anticipated. However, prior to the passage of H.J. Res. 7, the DOL and...more
On January 30, 2023, President Biden issued a Statement of Administration Policy announcing his intent to end the COVID-19 national and public health emergencies on May 11, 2023. However, on April 10, 2023, the President...more
We previously wrote about President Biden’s announcement to end the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) and National Emergency (NE) periods on May 11, 2023, and the practical ramifications for employer group health plan...more
Important Update: Based on informal comments from the U.S. Department of Labor, it appears that the tolling of benefit plan deadlines will end on July 10, 2023, as described in our earlier blog on this subject,...more
On March 3, 2023, federal agencies released revised Prescription Drug Data Collection (RxDC) Reporting Instructions applicable to the 2022 reference year. RxDC reporting for the 2022 reference year is due on or before June 1,...more
With the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) set to end on May 11, 2023, federal agencies have published FAQs explaining how the end of the PHE will affect previously extended deadlines relating to COBRA, HIPAA special...more
Welcome to Spring! We hope the new season finds you ready for the upcoming benefits changes that 2023 has in store. ...more