[Guidance Overview]
IRS's Rule Change on Using Debit Cards for OTC Drugs
– "IRS Notice 2011-5 . . . modifies previous IRS guidance that would have barred the use of certain debit cards to pay for expenses incurred for over-the-counter . . . medicines and drugs. The rule affects reimbursements under health flexible spending arrangements . . ., and health reimbursement arrangements . . . ."
(McGuireWoods LLP)
|
|
[Guidance Overview]
Ninth Circuit Holds Tight to ERISA Interpretation Rule That Courts Will 'Not Artificially Create Ambiguity Where None Exist'
– "In late 2004, UNUM informed [the plaintiff] that regarding his 1997 LTD claim, it should have ceased payments in 1998 because [he] left [his employer] to take another job. At the new job, [the plaintiff] was earning approximately the same salary he had earned before the accident. The rationale for UNUM's decision was based upon the LTD policy which stated: Disability benefits will cease on the earliest of: The date the insured is no longer disabled; The date the insured dies; The end of the maximum benefit period; The date the insured's current earnings exceed 80% of his pre-disability earnings."
(McKennon Schindler LLP)
|
[Guidance Overview]
District Court Permits Supplementation of Record But with Instruction on Law
– "The factual dispute over cause of death involved two possible policy exclusions. The first involved different language in the policy versus the summary plan description. The carrier did not consider the SPD language which the court ruled was error."
(Roy Harmon III via Health Plan Law)
|
[Guidance Overview]
The IRS 2010 Version of HSA Reporting Form 8889 and Instructions
– "The absence of significant changes in the 2010 version of Form 8889 and its Instructions is what we expected, given that the rules governing HSAs have remained relatively stable for 2010 reporting. We expect more changes for 2011 reporting, when HSA-related health care reform changes become applicable."
(Thomson Reuters/EBIA)
|
[Guidance Overview]
GINA Regulations Take Effect January 10, 2011
– "In connection with lawful medical information requests, the regulations provide a so-called 'safe harbor' for employers who 'inadvertently' receive genetic information. To use the FMLA medical certification process as an example, in order to take advantage of the safe harbor, the employer must include the following language on the medical certification form . . . ."
(Warner Norcross & Judd LLP)
|
Cognitive Ability and Retiree Health Care Expenditure (PDF)
– 37 pages. "Prior research indicates that retirees with less cognitive ability are at greater financial risk because they have lower incomes yet higher medical expenditures. Linking HRS data to administrative records, we evaluate two hypotheses about why this group spends more on health: (1) they are in worse health; (2) they receive more expensive or less effective care for the same conditions."
(University of Michigan Retirement Research Center)
|
DOL, HHS, Treasury Answer More Questions on Health Reform and Mental Health Parity
– "On December 22, the Department of Labor's Employee Benefit Security Administration . . ., the Department of Health and Human Services . . ., and the Treasury Department . . . released the fifth set of frequently asked questions about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act . . . . The FAQs also addressed some issues related to the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act . . . ."
(Wolters Kluwer)
|
|
|
|
Flex Work Time Flourishes in Accounting Industry
– "Some firms allow employees to take off the entire summer to devote to their children; some let employees work just three days a week during nonpeak months. The big accounting firms generally give 12 weeks of paid maternity leave, with fathers often receiving six weeks -- and that is on top of the 12 weeks of unpaid leave provided to parents under federal law."
(The New York Times; one-time registration required)
|
|
|
Complete Benefits Law Guidance from Law Journal Press (advert.)
The nation's workforce and health care system are constantly evolving and so are the legal issues. Law Journal Press helps you handle any benefits law question with up-to-date, authoritative books on all aspects of the field.
|
Benefits in General; Executive Compensation
|
[Guidance Overview]
Updated IRS Procedures for Issuing Letter Rulings, Determination Letters, and Other Employee Plan Guidance
– "These revenue procedures are an important resource for anyone seeking plan-specific guidance from the IRS. Those new to employee benefits will welcome the practical tools offered in the procedures, including sample formats and checklists for letter ruling requests, definitions of basic terms, user fee schedules, and descriptions of how the 2011 procedures differ from their 2010 counterparts."
(Thomson Reuters/EBIA)
|
Companies Not Sure How to Measure 'Say on Pay' Success
– "Some 49 percent of companies don't know what level of shareholder support of executive compensation in say-on-pay votes will be considered a successful outcome by their boards of directors, according to a Towers Watson & Co. survey released Jan. 5."
(Workplace Management: free registration required)
|
|
Top Hat Plans: Potentially Risky Retirement Plans for Executives
– "[P]lans that exclusively benefit executives and other highly paid employees -- called nonqualified or 'top hat' plans -- are unfunded. Participants in these plans avoid current taxation of deferred compensation by, in part, agreeing to accept a substantial risk of forfeiture. As a result, the benefits promised under top hat plans are at risk when the company is sold, as the Seventh Circuit reminded us in Feinberg v. RM Acquisition LLC, No. 10-1890 (7th Cir. 1/6/11)."
(Tax Management Inc.)
|
|
Audio and Text: State Budgets and Public Employees
– "Research suggests that compared to the private sector, some state and local workers do earn more, but critics argue targeting public employees' wage and benefit packages and their collective bargaining power is an easy way to side step more basic issues such as the need for economic growth. Join us for a discussion of state budgets and public sector employees."
(WAMU 88.5 American University Radio)
|
Press Releases
|