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March 5, 2014          Get Retirement News  |  Advertise
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Webcasts and Conferences

Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program
March 13, 2014 WEBCAST
(Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), U.S. Department of Labor)

Fiduciary by the Numbers
March 18, 2014 in KY
(ASPPA Benefits Council of Greater Cincinnati)

Retirement Plans Trifecta! Keep Up, Keep Safe and Keep Clean!
March 24, 2014 in MA
(ASPPA Benefits Council of New England)

401(k) Investment Lineup Summit - Chicago
April 8, 2014 in IL
(Pensions & Investments)

How to Avoid Narrow-Network Landmines and Set Rates for Out-of-Network Providers
April 24, 2014 WEBCAST
(Atlantic Information Services, Inc)

Wellness Programs: Impact of the New HIPAA Regulations, Federal Laws, and Guidance
April 30, 2014 WEBCAST
(Lorman Education Services)

What Employers Need to Know About the Pay or Play Mandate in 2014
May 14, 2014 WEBCAST
(Lorman Education Services)

ERISA Compliance for Health & Welfare Plans
June 4, 2014 in OH
(Thomson Reuters / EBIA)

Health Care Reform
June 5, 2014 in OH
(Thomson Reuters / EBIA)

2014 Fall Forum
September 22, 2014 in IL
(Ascensus)

View All Webcasts and Conferences


  LinkedIn   Twitter   Facebook Hand-picked links to the web's best news articles,
official guidance, jobs, webcasts and more.
[Guidance Overview]

Final Play-or-Pay Regs Provide Relief and Much-Needed Clarification
"Recognizing that a number of employers that provide health coverage for their employees do not currently provide dependent coverage, the final regulations have extended the transition relief from the proposed regulations to the 2015 plan year. This relief applies with respect to plans that [1] do not offer dependent coverage; [2] offer dependent coverage that is not [minimum essential coverage (MEC)]; or [3] offer MEC to some but not all dependents of full-time employees, with [certain] limitations[.]" (Perkins Coie LLP)  


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[Guidance Overview]

Agencies Issue Final ACA Regulations for Employer Shared Responsibility (PDF)
"The final regulations did not provide further clarification with respect to 'paid' hours. Consequently, open questions remain on exactly which 'paid' hours must be counted and how to count them. For example, the regulations do not address how an employer should credit hours when an employee receives disability pay.... The final regulations make it clear that employers are not permitted to adopt the look-back measurement method for variable hour and seasonal employees while using the monthly measurement period for employees with more predictable hours of service. Whichever measurement period is selected will likely require changes to the plan eligibility provisions, especially if the look-back method is selected." (Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren s.c.)  

[Guidance Overview]

Carefully Structuring Contracts with Staffing Agencies Is Key to Complying with Play-or-Pay Regs
"In the preamble to the final regulations, the IRS seems to draw a distinction between 'temporary staffing firms' and 'staffing firms.' ... [W]here workers are obtained for short periods of time ... the IRS seems comfortable with the idea that the workers are the common law employees of the temporary staffing firm ... But later in the preamble, the IRS talks about professional employer organizations and other staffing agencies and states that 'in the typical case' the professional employer organization or staffing firm is not the common law employer.... [This] certainly implies that if you use a worker from a staffing firm for anything other than a short-term, temporary assignment, the IRS may very well view that worker as your common law employee." (Warner Norcross & Judd LLP)  

Obama to Allow Two-Year Renewal of Old Health Insurance Policies
"Americans who kept their health plans that didn't comply with Obamacare requirements will be able to renew those policies for two more years, according to a person familiar with the matter. The Obama administration, which has been deliberating the issue since November, is expected to announce today the extension of the health plans, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the decision wasn't yet public." (Crain's Chicago Business)  

FMLA Requirements Still Apply When Short Term Disability Is Involved
"FMLA eligibility should be determined before moving on to the FMLA and/or STD entitlement determination.... FMLA eligibility can be attained during an STD leave.... Giving notice only of the employee's STD obligations is not sufficient.... It may be beneficial to obtain an FMLA certification in addition to the required STD documentation.... An FMLA designation notice may be required even before an STD determination is made.... Notice of FMLA exhaustion must be given, even if the employee remains on STD (or LTD) leave beyond the FMLA entitlement." (Benefits Bryan Cave)  


[Advert.]

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Newark Follows Jersey City to Enact Paid Sick Time Law
"Newark's ordinance requires paid sick time and does not provide the option of unpaid sick time; collective bargaining agreements may expressly waive the provisions set forth in the ordinance; and individuals who work for small employers (with fewer than 10 employees) are capped at 24 hours of paid sick time per calendar year. The Newark ordinance takes effect May 29, 2014, although employees covered by a current collective bargaining agreement (CBA) on that date will not be affected until after the expiration of the CBA. Notably, a subsequent CBA may expressly waive the protections set forth in the ordinance." (Littler)  

CBO Cost Estimate for H.R. 4118, 'Suspending the Individual Mandate Penalty Law Equals Fairness Act'
"The legislation would delay for one year the imposition of penalties associated with the requirement that most residents of the United States have health insurance coverage beginning in 2014. In addition, H.R. 4118 would shift by one year the schedule of penalties for people who do not comply with that mandate. CBO and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) estimate that enacting H.R. 4118 would reduce federal deficits by roughly $10 billion over the 2014-2019 period and by roughly $9 billion over the 2014-2024 period." (Congressional Budget Office)  

Financial Assistance and the ACA: Who Benefits
"This 50-state infographic series features state-specific data on how many people will be able to receive financial assistance for health insurance." (Families USA)  

Pre-existing Health Conditions and the ACA: Who Benefits
"This 50-state infographic series features state-specific data on how many people with pre-existing health conditions will benefit from the Affordable Care Act." (Families USA)  

Providing a 'Full and Fair Review' Does Not Create an ERISA Plan
"The Association ... argued that by attaching a statement of ERISA rights to the policy, the insurance company voluntarily incorporated ERISA's legal procedures and principles into the policy. The court granted summary judgment in favor of the insurer, reasoning that parties 'may not opt-in to coverage under ERISA, regardless of [their] intentions' and doubted that the parties even intended the statement, a two page document about which the Association was unaware prior to the litigation, to create additional rights and obligations under the policy." [Wichita Firemen's Relief Ass'n v. Kansas City Life Ins. Co., No. 11-1029-KGG (D. Kan. Feb. 14, 2014)] (Proskauer's ERISA Practice Center)  

Updated CBO Estimates of the Insurance Coverage Provisions of the ACA
"In the current interim projections, CBO and JCT estimate that the ACA's coverage provisions will result in a net cost to the federal government of $41 billion in 2014 and $1,487 billion over the 2015-2024 period.... Compared with last year's projections, which spanned the 2014-2023 period, the new estimate represents a downward revision of $9 billion in the net costs of those provisions over that 10-year period." (Congressional Budget Office)  

[Opinion]

The Three R's of Health Insurance
"Mastery of reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic, however, in no way guarantees you'll grasp the intricate web of regulations underlying the [ACA], where the Three R's refer to something very different: risk corridors, reinsurance, and risk adjustment.... The Three R's would likely have remained invisible to the public if the law's critics hadn't labeled them taxpayer bailouts of the health insurance industry. Even a cursory glance at the evidence shows they're no such thing." (The Commonwealth Fund)  

Benefits in General; Executive Compensation

Employers Must Treat Employees on Military Leave Like Those on Comparable Leaves, Eighth Circuit Rules
"USERRA's protection of service members' benefits is sometimes overlooked by employers, including employers that provide benefits beyond those required by statute. Employers should review the benefits available to employees on comparable leaves of absence to ensure those on military leave are receiving comparable benefits. Determining when a leave of absence is comparable can be problematic." [Dorris v. TXD Services, LP, No. 12-3096 (8th Cir. Feb. 27, 2014)] (Jackson Lewis LLP)  

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