Headlines about "ERISA preemption of state law"

Gathered from the web by the editors at BenefitsLink.com.

Marriage, Civil Unions, Domestic Partnerships and Health Insurance Benefits
Excerpt: "Employers, especially those that maintain multistate operations, are challenged now more than ever by the changing landscape of health benefits offered to same-sex couples. In light of these changes, employers are well-advised to consult with legal counsel regarding potential ERISA pre-emption of state laws, laws regarding employment discrimination and the administrative and implementation of benefits to same-sex partners." (The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, Inc.)

[Guidance Overview] Should Employer Claims Against Stop Loss Carriers for Processing Errors & Delays Be Preempted by ERISA?
Excerpt: "This test for preemption, noted in Bank of La. v. Aetna US Healthcare, Inc., 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 58090 (E.D. La. July 31, 2008). This framing of the preemption requirements, not uncommon, appears at odds with finding that an employer's allegations of delays in claims processing are preempted. The reason for thinking that the claims are preempted stems, I believe, from a misconception of the nature of stop loss insurance." (Health Plan Law blog by Attorney Roy F. Harmon III)

[Guidance Overview] Healthcare Provider May Assert State-Law Claims Against Plan for Failure to Disclose Patient's COBRA Coverage Status
Excerpt: "EBIA Comment: Many reported cases address the difficult issue of when claims against ERISA plans by service providers and other third parties should be treated as preempted, and the results are difficult to reconcile. The Seventh Circuit did not address the merits of the case in this opinion, but its legal conclusions are troubling as they open up potential liability under state law for amounts not payable under the terms of the plan document. Of course, COBRA plans are already required by the IRS COBRA regulations to provide complete information to inquiring healthcare providers about COBRA status . . . ." (Employee Benefits Institute of America)

[Guidance Overview] An Insurance Company, an Agent, and ERISA Preemption
Excerpt: "[The defendants] recommended that the [plaintiff Maria Miara and her husband Richard] purchase a Defined Benefits Plan ('DBP'), and represented to the plaintiff that under the DBP the 'Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation ('PBGC') guaranteed 100% spousal benefits in the event that anything was to happen to either [Miara or her] husband.' . . . 'In a letter dated June 12, 2002 and addressed to the estate of Richard A. Miara, the PBGC informed Miara, in her role as executrix of her late husband's estate, that under the remnants of the DBP, she was entitled to a monthly payment of $531.76 for the remainder of her life [rather than the earlier-quoted amount of $2,664.35]." (Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly)

[Guidance Overview] Law Prohibiting Liens Against Workers Compensation Settlements Preempted by ERISA
Excerpt: "ERISA preempted an Illinois state law outlawing any claim on a workers' compensation award, because the law related to benefits plans regulated by ERISA, a federal trial court decided. As a result, an employer may seek reimbursement of group health plan funds from workers' compensation awards. The health plan paid the expenses before a determination was made that the claims were work related." (Passion for Subro)

Beach Erosion on the ERISA Waterfront
Excerpt: "These are interesting times for those who contend for clients along the Maginot Line of ERISA's preemption provisions. Never a particularly easy line to follow, the perimeter has become increasingly uneven on several fronts. [These include provider reimbursement cases, equitable or promissory estoppel, state prohibitions on discretionary clauses, and state law actions against service providers.]" (Health Plan Law blog by Attorney Roy F. Harmon III)

Associations, Trade Groups Offer Members Group-Like Health Insurance
Excerpt: "An increasing number of small-business owners that do not provide health insurance to their employees and individuals without employer-based health coverage are looking to professional organizations and trade groups that offer 'group-like' coverage to their members, the Wall Street Journal reports." (KaiserNetwork.org)

[Guidance Overview] Seventh Circuit Permits Provider To Assert State Law Claims Over ERISA Preemption Challenge
Excerpt: "In this recent provider reimbursement case, the Seventh Circuit has given ERISA preemption a narrow footprint which signals the continuance of a trend favoring state law remedies for providers based upon the Davila analysis. The case points up a stark contrast between provider claims and those of employees where promised benefits are disappointed." (Health Plan Law blog by Attorney Roy F. Harmon III)

[Guidance Overview] State Law Claim Against ERISA Plan Avoids Preemption
Excerpt: "In the case of Franciscan Skemp Healthcare, Inc. v. Central States Joint Board Health & Welfare Trust Fund No. 07-3456 (7th Cir.)(July 31, 2008), the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals determined that when a party files a pure state law claim against an ERISA plan, preemption to Federal Court is improper." (Passion for Subro)

ERISA Preemption - What We Have Here Is a Failure to Communicate
Excerpt: "Stephen Rosenberg observed this week that ERISA's preemption provisions were 'a legitimate policy choice by the Congress that passed ERISA to maintain one consistent federal policy and body of law for purposes of employee benefits.' He makes the point that Congress, not the judiciary, is responsible for the statute's preemptive reach." (Health Plan Law blog by Attorney Roy F. Harmon III)

[Opinion] Understanding ERISA Preemption as a Legitimate Congressional Policy Determination
Excerpt: "[Preemption] was a legitimate policy choice by the Congress that passed ERISA to maintain one consistent federal policy and body of law for purposes of employee benefits. It is worth noting that, some thirty years, countless judicial decisions enforcing preemption, and even more countless numbers of critics later, Congress still has never acted to change that - to, in effect, preempt preemption." (Stephen Rosenberg of The McCormack Firm, LLC)

[Guidance Overview] State Law Placing Limits on Discretionary Language in Insurance Policies Found to Be Preempted by ERISA
Excerpt: "The issue in this case has practical significance because, if ERISA preemption makes this kind of state law unenforceable, affected insurers will be free to include discretionary language that would otherwise be precluded. As a result, benefit denials will, in general, be subject to a more favorable standard of judicial review when challenged in court, making them more likely to be upheld." (Employee Benefits Institute of America)

Senate Judiciary Committee Examination of Supreme Court Rulings on ERISA Preemption
Excerpt: "The Senate Judiciary Committee on June 11 held a hearing that examined recent Supreme Court rulings on preemption under ERISA, the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, and federal consumer credit and banking laws. The hearing's title was certainly an indicator of the tone of the hearing: Short-change for Consumers and Short-shrift for Congress? The Supreme Court's Treatment of Laws that Protect Americans' Health, Safety, Jobs and Retirement." (The ERISA Industry Committee)

[Guidance Overview] Plaintiff's Professional Liability Claims Against Insurance Agent Avert ERISA Preemption Defense
Excerpt: "This recent district court case illustrates an important distinction in ERISA preemption caselaw that prevents defendants in professional liability cases from turning to ERISA as an affirmative defense." (Health Plan Law blog by Attorney Roy F. Harmon III)

[Guidance Overview] Iowa State Supreme Court Case Rejects ERISA Preemption Defense in COB Dispute
Excerpt: "This state court case suggests an argument against ERISA preemption of state regulation of self funded group health plans based upon the presence of stop loss coverage, or some will so contend based upon the case outcome. More particularly, the case holding turns on consideration of a preemption argument advanced by a stop loss carrier in a contract dispute with its insured, the sponsor of a group health plan, and an individual policy insurance carrier that had a coverage obligation if the group health plan did not." (Health Plan Law blog by Attorney Roy F. Harmon III)

ERISA Attacks Threaten Self-Insured Health Benefits
Excerpt: "States wrestling with health reform issues increasingly are tapping employer-sponsored health plans to help subsidize new government programs for the uninsured. This means new state fees and taxes, as well as costly assessments, added to the plan costs for employers who already cover more than half of all individuals in private plans." (LRP Publications)

Insurer, Physicians Fight Over ERISA Limits
Excerpt: "For nearly three decades, courts have debated how the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, or ERISA, the federal law governing a variety of employee retirement and health benefits, intersects with state laws regulating other health plans. Related to physicians and hospitals, the courts have often found they are still free to sue the insurer administering the benefit -- United in this case -- as a breach of their contract with the hospital or doctor, said Stan Schroeder, an attorney with the Lowenbaum Partnership who specializes in these issues." (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

[Guidance Overview] California Supreme Court Opens the Door on Same-Sex Marriage
Excerpt: "In re Marriage Cases is unlikely to have broad implications for employers. In recent years, the California Legislature has enacted several statutes that collectively require both public and private employers to extend the same benefits to state-registered domestic partners as are provided to spouses, except employee benefit plans regulated by federal law, ERISA. These statutes remain in effect. The California Supreme Court decision does not affect ERISA benefits or the federal tax treatment of employment benefits because the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) limits marriage recognized under federal law to a legal union between one man and one woman." (Littler)

[Opinion] National Coalition on Benefits Letter to Senate Finance Committee Regarding ERISA Preemption (PDF)
Excerpt: "The members of NCB believe that the federal uniformity standard under ERISA (also known as the 'preemption' standard) is a critical cornerstone to our health care system." (National Coalition on Benefits via American Benefits Council)

Q and A: Same-Sex Marriages in California
Excerpt: "Q: Will people in domestic partnerships automatically convert to marriage? A: No. There is no provision in the ruling to automatically convert domestic partners to marriage. Q: Do I have to dissolve a domestic partnership to get married? A: No. California permits an individual to be in a domestic partnership and be married, as long as it is to the same person." (Los Angeles Times)

New Resource for ERISA Attorneys
Excerpt: "[Rob] Hoskins, Esq. (legal counsel to the petitioner in LaRue v. DeWolff, Boberg) has put together a great resource for ERISA attorneys. The resource is called ERISABoard.com [http://www.erisaboard.com/] and, despite having been recently launched, already has substantial enrollment by some of the top practitioners in the field. The site is non-commercial - it serves as forum for the exchange of ideas by attorneys interested in ERISA issues." (Health Plan Law blog by Attorney Roy F. Harmon III)

[Opinion] Status and Significance of the San Francisco Health Care Ordinance for Employers (PDF)
Excerpt: "Because of the considerable impact on all employers if state and local governments are allowed to dictate benefit terms, employers across the country are keeping a close eye on the developments in this case. The best result would be for either the Ninth Circuit's three-judge panel or an en banc review by a fifteen-judge panel to decide that the San Francisco ordinance is preempted. Such a decision would likely resolve the matter in the near term and send a strong signal to future state and local governments to keep future health care reform within ERISA's current framework." (Miller & Chevalier, Chartered)

Worker Misclassification - Creating Employee Benefit Problems
Excerpt: "In addition to the problems of having insurance coverage defeated based upon 'employee' definitions, inadvertently promising benefits to those you did not intend, and jeopardizing the qualified status of your retirement plans, there is a another significant issue - ERISA preemption may not be available as a defense to claims brought by independent contractors." (Health Plan Law blog by Attorney Roy F. Harmon III)

[Guidance Overview] HMO Loses Third Party Beneficiary Contract Dispute With Health Care Providers
Excerpt: "In this health care provider versus HMO dispute, the providers chalked up a win. Having successfully moved for remand following the HMO's attempt to convert the payment controversy into an ERISA action, the HMO asserted ERISA preemption as an affirmative defense. The trial court, and subsequently, the appellate court, found this defense unavailing." (Health Plan Law blog by Attorney Roy F. Harmon III)

[Guidance Overview] ERISA Does Not Preempt Michigan's Restriction
Excerpt: "The ERISA preemption doctrine can perhaps be best understood as a triangle. The first side is the premise that federal law trumps state law in the area of benefits. The second side provides an exception for insurance, where states are free to regulate. The third side provides a clarification that self-insured benefits are not insurance. Most ERISA preemption litigation occurs at the intersection of the first two sides of the triangle. Case in point: a recent Michigan case that tested the legality of some administrative rules that took effect in June 2007." (infinisource)

[Guidance Overview] Stop Loss Carrier Averts ERISA Preemption in Dispute Over 'Fronted' Claims Reimbursement
Excerpt: "With [a] sentence of Faulknerian length, the Fourth Circuit framed the question of possible ERISA preemption of a claims administrator against a plan sponsor. The case forms a interesting addition to the growing body of law to the effect that contractual disputes between plan sponsors and claims administrators are subject to state, not federal, law." (Health Plan Law blog by Attorney Roy F. Harmon III)

[Opinion] ERISA Preemption and State/City Health Care Reform
Excerpt: "If states really want to get into the health care reform battle, they should follow the ERISA example, which provides employers with a lot of flexibility to design good plans that are affordable. San Francisco and the states may think that what they are doing will decrease the number of uninsured. The truth is they will almost surely undermine employers' efforts to provide good comprehensive health coverage." (The Washington Times)

Bronsteen, Maher, and Stris on ERISA, Agency Costs, and the Future of Health Care in the United States
Excerpt: "John Bronsteen (Loyola Chicago) (lerft), Brendan Maher (Stris & Maher), and Peter Stris (Whittier) have posted on SSRN their forthcoming work in the Fordham Law Review: ERISA, Agency Costs, and the Future of Health Care in the United States. [Target page has abstract.]" (Workplace Prof Blog)

The Candidates on Changes to ERISA Preemption
Excerpt: "Try this little quiz - Proposal A: Maintain the current preemption provisions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. Proposal B: Amend ERISA to curtail the preemption provisions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. Question: Which candidates support Proposal A and which support Proposal B?" (Health Plan Law blog by Attorney Roy F. Harmon III)

[Guidance Overview] CRS Report for Congress: Summary of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) (PDF)
76 pages; April 10, 2008. Excerpt: "The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) provides a comprehensive federal scheme for the regulation of employee pension and welfare benefit plans offered by employers. ERISA contains various provisions intended to protect the rights of plan participants and beneficiaries in employee benefit plans. These protections include requirements relating to reporting and disclosure, participation, vesting, and benefit accrual, as well as plan funding. ERISA also regulates the responsibilities of plan fiduciaries and other issues regarding plan administration. ERISA contains various standards that a plan must meet in order to receive favorable tax treatment, and also governs plan termination. This report provides background on the pension laws prior to ERISA, discusses various types of employee benefit plans governed by ERISA, provides an overview of ERISA's requirements, and includes a glossary of commonly used terms." (Congressional Research Service, U.S. Library of Congress)

[Guidance Overview] Chart on Employer 'Pay or Play' Requirements: Key State and Local Health Care Reform Initiatives (PDF)
Excerpt: "[The chart] compares key enacted and proposed state and local heath care initiatives, the requirements they impose on employers and any legal challenges on ERISA preemption grounds." (American Benefits Council)

[Guidance Overview] The Myth of the 'Partially Self-Insured' Group Health Plan
Excerpt: "Group health plans are self-funded or they are insured. That employers or plans purchase stop loss insurance makes no difference to the self-funded status of these plans under ERISA. So why do so many commentators, and even the venerable 7th Circuit Court of Appeals (in an opinion concurred in by Judge Posner no less) used the confused phrase, 'partially self-insured'? It is a troublesome phrase that adds nothing to analysis. ERISA knows nothing of 'partially' insured or self-funded plans." (Health Plan Law blog by Attorney Roy F. Harmon III)

SHRM Joins Brief Challenging San Francisco's Health Care Mandate
Excerpt: "In effect since January 2008, even though it faces an appeal, the city ordinance requires most employers that do business in San Francisco to spend a minimum amount every three months on their San Francisco employees' health care. SHRM, the International Franchise Association and the National Association of Manufacturers argue that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) pre-empts the law." (Society for Human Resource Management)

[Opinion] A Review of the Creation of ERISA Preemption
Excerpt: "The house passed its version of ERISA in the fall of 1973. The Senate approved its version in February of 1974. There were many differences to be reconciled by the Conference, which got underway in April of that year. One of them, however, was not the preemption of state law rule, which was the same in both bills. It provided for 'subject matter' preemption. States were precluded from legislating with respect to matters addressed in ERISA. . . . So how, then, did we wind up with the utterly different, and much broader, preemption rule that was in ERISA as enacted?" (Pension & Benefits Blog)

[Guidance Overview] Claim for Negligent Misrepresentation That Employee Had Health Coverage Was Not Preempted by ERISA
Excerpt: "EBIA Comment: As this court noted, generalizations as to the scope of ERISA preemption can be problematic. Some state laws affect employee benefit plans in 'too tenuous, remote or peripheral' of a manner to warrant preemption by ERISA." (Employee Benefits Institute of America)

[Official Guidance] DOL Advisory Opinion 2008-03A on ERISA Preemption
Excerpt: "Whether ERISA would preempt an action by a State Medicaid Agency to recover Medicaid benefit payments made on behalf of individuals who are also participants in ERISA-covered private health insurance plans that require prior authorization for covered health care items or services." (U.S. Employee Benefits Security Administration)

Budy and Bales on Naming a Defendant in an ERISA Action
Excerpt: "This article argues that courts should permit suit against any entity that played a role in denying the claim. This approach (1) is consistent with the plain language of ERISA, (2) is consistent with the legislative intent behind ERISA which was to protect employees from underfunded plans and from erroneous benefit denials, (3) is consistent with Supreme Court precedent permitting fiduciaries to be sued under ERISA, and (4) creates an incentive for entities making benefits determinations to make those determinations correctly." (Workplace Prof Blog)

[Guidance Overview] ERISA Preempts State Withholding Law
Excerpt: "Employers can thank the son of a Supreme Court Justice for obtaining needed guidance on an ERISA preemption issue that has been a traditional gray area of group health plan administration." (Infinisource)

[Guidance Overview] Court Allows Fired Smoker to Proceed with Privacy and ERISA Claims
Excerpt: "The Scotts Company maintains a policy against employing smokers. In Rodrigues v. The Scotts Company, the plaintiff claimed that his employer wrongfully terminated him when a urine test confirmed that he smoked. After his termination, Rodrigues brought four claims in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts: (1) violation of the Massachusetts privacy statute; (2) unlawful interference with his rights in violation of the Massachusetts Civil Rights Act (MCRA); (3) wrongful termination; and (4) violation of Section 510 of the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) by terminating him in order to interfere with his right to benefits under the employer's ERISA plans." (Seyfarth Shaw LLP)

[Guidance Overview] Appellate Court Affirms State Insurance Department Cease & Desist Order Against TPA's ERISA Challenge
Excerpt: "An Indiana appellate court held that the Indiana Department had jurisdiction over a claims administrator's activities where the practical function was the provision of insurance. This case presents analysis of the oft-cited defense to insurance department regulation, that of ERISA preemption." (Health Plan Law blog by Attorney Roy F. Harmon III)

[Guidance Overview] Fifth Circuit Upholds State Insurance Regulation of Subrogation Rights
Excerpt: "In this rather unique case, the Fifth Circuit had the opportunity to interpret ERISA Section 514 in the context of a challenge to a state insurance department regulation. The regulation, a 'directive' in Louisiana regulatory parlance, subordinated insurance carrier's subrogation claims to the 'make whole' doctrine and procurement costs. The district court upheld the regulation, and the issue was appealed to the Fifth Circuit." (Health Plan Law blog by Attorney Roy F. Harmon III)

[Guidance Overview] Federal Courts Appear to Disagree on Whether ERISA Preempts State and Local 'Fair Share' / 'Play-or-Pay' Health Reform Laws (PDF)
11 pages. Excerpt: "In the past year, federal courts have addressed challenges to three different state and local 'fair share' (or 'pay-or-play') laws. The laws, passed in San Francisco, Suffolk County (New York), and Maryland, require employers to contribute certain minimum amounts toward the health care coverage of their employees. The district courts in all three cases held that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ('ERISA') preempted each law. But, a split appears to be emerging among some federal appellate courts." (Groom Law Group)

[Guidance Overview] District Court Rules that State's Prohibition of 'Discretionary Clauses' Not Preempted by ERISA (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "On February 29, 2008, a federal judge in Michigan held that ERISA does not preempt regulations issued by the Michigan Office of Financial and Insurance Services ('OFIS') that prohibit insurers from utilizing 'discretionary clauses' in their insurance policies after June 1, 2007. American Council of Life Insurers v. Watters, W.D. Mich., No. 1:07-cv-631." (Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP)

[Guidance Overview] Massachusetts Federal Court Rules Firing Employee for Off-Premises Smoking May Violate ERISA and State Privacy Law
Excerpt: "A federal district court in Massachusetts has allowed a lawsuit to proceed that alleges the plaintiff was terminated for off-premises smoking in violation of Section 510 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and the Massachusetts Privacy Act." (Employment Practices Solutions, Inc.)

[Guidance Overview] State Law Requiring Consent Prior to Withholding for Benefits Preempted
Excerpt: "ERISA preempts a state law requiring employees' written consent prior to withholding wages for welfare benefits, according to an Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) advisory opinion." (Wolters Kluwer Financial Services)

[Guidance Overview] San Francisco Health Care Mandate Goes Into Effect While Court Considers ERISA Preemption Appeal
Excerpt: "Much is riding on the appellate court decision. Finding that ERISA preempts the ordinance would suggest that states cannot require employers with self-insured health plans to spend a specific amount on health coverage. Finding that ERISA does not preempt the ordinance would create a conflict between two federal appellate courts � and possibly spark more litigation in California and in other states as well. A conflict among federal appellate courts can be resolved only by the Supreme Court." (Watson Wyatt Worldwide)

[Guidance Overview] Insurance Policy 'Discretionary Clauses' After Rush Prudential - An Endangered Species?
Excerpt: "Not only is there no ERISA provision directly providing a lenient standard for judicial review of benefit denials, but there is no requirement necessarily entailing such an effect even indirectly. When this Court dealt with the review standards on which the statute was silent, we held that a general or default rule of de novo review could be replaced by deferential review if the ERISA plan itself provided that the plan's benefit determinations were matters of high or unfettered discretion . . . ." (Health Plan Law blog by Attorney Roy F. Harmon III)

[Opinion] Civil Union Appeals Offer No Reason to Redefine Marriage
Excerpt: "The complaints concern out-of-state-based companies that are regulated by the federal Employment Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and therefore are not required to provide expensive health benefits to same-sex couples." (Asbury Park Press)

[Guidance Overview] State Regulation Barring Grants of Discretion to ERISA Plan Administrators Sustained
Excerpt: "Note: This holding affects the fundamental operation of ERISA plans and, as such, is a remarkable outcome. If state insurance departments can by fiat remove the advantage conferred by grants of discretion to the plan administrator, the standard of review in an enormous number of ERISA cases could be altered in short order." (Health Plan Law blog by Attorney Roy F. Harmon III)

[Guidance Overview] Class Action Seeking Insurance for Eating Disorders Can Go Forward
Excerpt: "In a case being watched by advocates for patients with anorexia and bulimia, a federal judge in Newark, N.J., has ruled that class action lawyers can pursue an attempt to compel Aetna Inc. to improve benefits for eating disorder victims. U.S. District Judge Faith Hochberg on Wednesday denied a dismissal motion, in which the insurer argued the coverage dispute should be decided by state regulators or by its own internal review process on a case-by-case basis." (Law.com)

[Guidance Overview] ERISA Preempts State Law Requiring Employers to Obtain Employees' Written Consent Before Withholding for Health Plan Benefits
Excerpt: "EBIA Comment: This isn't the first time the DOL has issued an advisory opinion finding a state wage withholding law to be preempted by ERISA. But it is important to remember that an advisory opinion may be relied upon only by the parties identified in the request and that state wage withholding laws come in various forms." (Employee Benefits Institute of America)

[Guidance Overview] DOL Opines on ERISA Preemption After the Pension Protection Act (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "In Advisory Opinion 2008-02A . . ., the Department of Labor issued its first advisory opinion addressing the scope of ERISA's preemption provisions since the enactment of the Pension Protection Act in 2006." (Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP)

Supreme Court ERISA Docket Watch
Excerpt: "In addition to Wal Mart v. Shank, there are two other ERISA cases in which a Petition for Writ of Cert. is currently pending. Both of these other cases are scheduled for conference on Friday, 2/29." (Health Plan Law blog by Attorney Roy F. Harmon III)

[Guidance Overview] Fifth Circuit Highlights Important Preemption Boundary In Misrepresentation Case
Excerpt: "In this new Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals opinion, the Court marks off an important boundary between (1) employer representations about future corporate actions that may, in turn, affect benefit plans and, (2) in contradistinction, employer representations as to the operation of the benefit plans themselves. The distinction thus derived can be applied not only in the ERISA context, but as the case shows, in the collective bargaining context as well." (Health Plan Law blog by Attorney Roy F. Harmon III)

[Guidance Overview] Zelinsky on Golden Gate Restaurant Association: Employer Mandates and ERISA Preemption in the Ninth Circuit
Excerpt: "As usual, Ed Zelinsky (Cardozo) is first to weigh in on a significant ERISA preemption issue. This time in the San Francisco Golden Gate Restaurant Association preemption case. His forthcoming article in State Tax Notes is: Golden Gate Restaurant Association: Employer Mandates and ERISA Preemption in the Ninth Circuit." (Workplace Prof Blog)

[Guidance Overview] Claim of Improper Disclosure of Personal Info not Preempted by ERISA
Excerpt: "U.S. District Judge E. Richard Webber said the question before the court was whether a fiduciary duty not to disclose confidential medical information has an economic impact on ERISA plans. He concluded the impact of disclosing confidential medical information was insufficient to satisfy requirements that the claim be related to administration of an ERISA plan." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)

ERISA Pre-emption - Implications for Health Reform and Coverage (PDF)
16 pages. Excerpt: "ERISA pre-emption of state health insurance regulation -- This Issue Brief provides an overview of the issues relating to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and state and local attempts at comprehensive health insurance reform. It reviews the statute and its history, major case law relating to the interaction of ERISA and state law, and the implications of ERISA's pre-emption of state laws governing health insurance." (Employee Benefit Research Institute)

[Guidance Overview] Employee Benefits as of January 24, 2008 (PDF)
5 pages. This edition includes: A Look at ERISA Litigation: Preemption of San Francisco's Health Reform Law; Qualified Plan Queries: IRS Informally Indicates No Redlining of Plans Required for Cycle B Submissions; EEOC Regulations Resolving the Erie County Issue; Exec Comp Corner: SEC Comments on Year 1 Compensation Disclosures; and, Payroll Tax & Fringe Benefit Pointers: Reporting Settlement Payments to Claimants and Their Law Firms. (Miller & Chevalier Chartered)

[Guidance Overview] Court Rules Workplace Safety Laws Independent of ERISA
Excerpt: "The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act does not pre-empt state law claims regarding unsafe workplaces." (Workforce Management; free registration required)

[Guidance Overview] ERISA Preemption on the Run � San Francisco's Health Ordinance
Excerpt: "In general, ERISA preempts all state laws that 'relate to' an employee benefit plan, other than state insurance laws. In issuing the emergency stay, the three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit found a 'strong likelihood' that the City will prevail on appeal in showing the SFHCO is not preempted by ERISA. In issuing its ruling, the Ninth Circuit reviewed a number of ERISA preemption cases, most notably the Supreme Court cases of New York State Conference of Blue Cross & Blue Shield Plans v. Travelers Insurance and District of Columbia v. Greater Washington Board of Trade." (Kilpatrick Stockton LLP)

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