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Actuarial Consultants, Inc.
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NFP Lincoln Benefits Group
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New York Life Retirement Plan Services
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Form 5500 Event
May 13, 2014 in PA
(PEBA [Penjerdel Employee Benefits and Compensation Association])

Daily Valuation Top 10 Tips
May 20, 2014 WEBCAST
(ASC)

401(k) Plan Workshop 2014 - New York
May 28, 2014 in NY
(SunGard Relius)

PPA Pre-Approved Plans Workshop - Corbel and PPD Documents - Kansas City
May 28, 2014 in KS
(SunGard Relius)

ACA Reporting Requirements Under IRC 6055 & 6056
June 17, 2014 WEBCAST
(FutureOffice Network)

Benefits Communication Master Class #4 -- Data Drives Decisions: Segmenting and Targeting Benefits Communication
June 26, 2014 WEBCAST
(Benz Communications)

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Beware: Next Year, HSA-Compatible HDHPs Cannot Use ACA Out-of-Pocket Limit
"Because increases in health insurance premiums are outstripping increases in the cost of other items, common sense suggests a widening gap between ACA cost-sharing limits and maximum HDHP out-of-pocket limits over time as adjustments occur. Indeed, HHS has indicated that the ACA cost-sharing limits for plan years beginning during 2015 will be $6,600 for self-only coverage and $13,200 for other coverage units. These limits are, respectively, $150 and $300 higher than their HDHP counterparts for 2015 plan years." (Lockton)  

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Joint Employers Not Jointly Liable Under FMLA
"The court noted that the terms 'employer' and 'joint employer' are not synonymous under the FMLA. Rather, joint employer status only refers to reaching the 50 employee threshold. Joint employer status does not extend liability to all entities in a joint employer relationship. The court specifically noted that the FMLA regulations distinguish between a primary employer and a secondary employer in a joint employer relationship." [Arrigo v. Link Stop, Inc., No. 12-cv-700-bbc (W.D. Wisc. Apr. 22, 2014)] (von Briesen & Roper, s.c.)  

Employer Can Seek Second Opinion After Doctor Finds Employee Fit to Return from FMLA Leave
"The court's guidance gives employers a road map we clearly can follow: before the employee's return to work from FMLA leave, the employer must accept the employee's health care provider's certification and return the employee to the same or equivalent position; after the return to work (and I mean immediately upon return), FMLA protections no longer apply, and the employer may immediately place the employee on a leave of absence and require a medical examination pursuant to the ADA.... [T]he employer need not ignore pre-FMLA leave events when assessing the fitness for duty of an employee who has returned from an FMLA leave.... [T]he employer should be ready to demonstrate that the employee's condition 'impacted, or posed a risk to, the employee's work.'" [White v. County of Los Angeles, No. B243471 (Cal. Ct. App. Apr. 15, 2014)] (FMLA Insights)  

EEOC Commissioner Offers 4 Keys to Compliance When FMLA, ADA Mix
"[1] Communicating too late sinks employers.... [2] Supervisors create liability.... 3. 'Undue Hardship' must be assessed early.... [4] Leave must impact business, operations." (HR Benefits Alert)  

Sixth Circuit Finds Employer Violated CBAs by Replacing Retirees' Health Plan Coverage with HRAs
"The Sixth Circuit majority in this case goes to great lengths to clarify that the ... cases on which the employers relied do not authorize an employer to unilaterally change its retirees' health benefits without regard to the governing CBA language.... [W]hen negotiating a CBA, employers in the Sixth Circuit should be clear about the duration of their health insurance promises, the parties to whom they apply and whether they reserve the right to change or terminate those benefits. Employers should take steps ... to cut off liability and take control of ambiguous promises of future, potentially life-long benefits." [United Steel Workers v. Kelsey-Hayes Company, No. 13-1717 (6th Cir. Apr. 22, 2014)] (Practical Law Company)  

Major Obamacare Insurer Backs Away from Double Digit Rate Hike Prediction
"Wellpoint officials didn't specifically say if they expected double-digit increases, offering a more nuanced answer this time. That's 'not an easy one to answer,' said chief executive Joe Swedish, explaining that the rate increases will vary between markets and products.... But WellPoint officials did talk about what's driving premium increases. They pointed to a 6.5 percent increase in medical trend this year, which is industry jargon for an increase in health-care costs. They also said an increase in the [ACA] tax on insurers, and the cost of new hepatitis C treatments, will factor into rate increases." (The Washington Post; subscription may be required)  

Why You Should Audit Your Employee Benefit Plans Now
"[P]ayment errors can occur for a multitude of reasons, such as: Complex contracting arrangements create opportunities for over payments.... High cost claims tend to be more error prone just due to the sheer volume of services provided.... For plans offering prescription drug coverage, there can be not only serious overpricing of drugs and/or inappropriate calculation of rebates that employer may not be aware of at all.... Little errors can add up to big errors too! ... Not all errors go in your favor.... Pass through pricing agreements can also yield savings to the employer.... Not all dependents are dependents!" (Healthcare Reform Magazine)  

Penalties Await Plans That Ignore ACA's High Litigation Risk
"Attaching ACA to the existing ERISA enforcement model means lawsuits will: compel delivery of ACA-mandated benefits; force plans to provide equitable relief for failures; prohibit acts and practices violating the ACA; and bar discrimination and retaliation as to benefits." (Thompson SmartHR Manager)  

Not to Be Taken Lightly: Choosing a Private Exchange
"Selecting a private exchange should not be approached in the same way as finding a new health insurance carrier ... Before assembling an RFP, employers should first assess their goals for employee and/or retiree health coverage. This step will help to narrow the focus to the vendors that best align with these goals. Alternatively, this step may show that a private exchange is not the answer or that the implementation needs to be staged using gradual change to move the current health benefit plan closer to the strategy desired." (The Institute for HealthCare Consumerism)  

Lessons from California: Exchange Eligibility Appeals Under the ACA
"Section 1411(f) of the [ACA] requires the HHS Secretary to establish an appeals process related to eligibility determinations made by Exchanges, including among other things, eligibility for enrollment in a QHP and eligibility for premium tax credits and cost-sharing reductions.... While Covered California and other state-based exchanges are responsible for providing due process rights, including notice and the opportunity for a hearing, states have a great deal of flexibility in how they structure their appeals system. California ... chose to integrate its Exchange appeals system with the existing Medi-Cal state fair hearing system. The appeals system is in place and being used today." (National Health Law Program [NHeLP])  

The Subsidy Cliff: Incentives for Increasing Projected Income to Qualify for Exchange Subsidies
"Although some health insurance consumers have expressed frustration with the drop-off in ACA subsidies at 400 percent [of the federal poverty level (FPL)], little attention has been paid to the discontinuity in benefits at 100 percent FPL, which is demonstrably larger. For those in the coverage gap who would receive no subsidies at their current income ... the average premium subsidy at 100 percent of FPL would be $2,831 per year, and the combined value of premium and cost sharing subsidies would be $3,727 per year." (Health Affairs Blog)  

The Best Evidence Suggests the Effects of ACA on Employment Will Be Small
"[E]ven though the CBO revised its initial employment effect estimates upward, its current estimates are still small relative to the overall workforce. At the same time, the revised estimates may be too large given what the recent evidence suggests. In this report, [the authors] place the ACA and its employment effects in the context of other social programs. Second, [they] assess the evidence on likely employment effects from four recent and directly relevant studies that the CBO used to derive its prediction." (Urban Institute)  

[Opinion]

Text of Comments by American Benefits Council to IRS on Minimum Essential Coverage and Shared Responsibility Payments (PDF)
"The Council recommends that the [Treasury] Department adopt a rule providing that any contributions made to a cafeteria plan by an employer on behalf of a cafeteria plan participant are taken into account in determining the affordability of the minimum essential coverage, so long as the cafeteria plan participant has the choice to use such contributions towards the purchase of the minimum essential coverage. This should be the case even if the cafeteria plan participant uses the contributions to purchase other permitted benefits offered via the cafeteria plan (including taxable benefits, such as cash). The Council believes that such a rule makes good policy sense because it most accurately reflects the affordability of the employer-sponsored coverage." (American Benefits Council)  

[Opinion]

Text of Business Roundtable Letter to Congress on Expatriate Health Coverage
"As currently interpreted, the complex and prescriptive requirements of the ACA apply to U.S.-based expatriate plans, which means U.S.-based international plans must comply with the domestic law's requirements in all parts of the world and for all employees outside the United States covered on those plans, regardless of their citizenship and work location. Many of these requirements are difficult to implement in other countries and may not be relevant in other locations." (Business Roundtable)  

[Opinion]

Text of Letter from U.S. Chamber of Commerce to Congress in Support of H.R. 4414, the 'Expatriate Health Coverage Clarification Act of 2014' (PDF)
"[T]he Chamber urges you to pass H.R. 4414 to explicitly exempt expatriate plans from the myriad of PPACA requirements. Applying these mandates to international plans would not only be extremely difficult and complex from an operations standpoint due to the global nature of this type of coverage, but would also place American businesses and expatriate American employees at a disadvantage in the global marketplace. Requiring American companies that operate around the globe and their foreign-based employees to buy more costly coverage would unfairly benefit foreign competitors and foreign employees." (U.S. Chamber of Commerce)  

The Effects of Health Care Reform on Retirement Plans
"Some employers who have already established the overall amount they wish to contribute for employee benefits may react to this new requirement by cutting back on their 401(k) matching contributions, which could result in less incentive for employees to make 401(k) plan contributions.... [This] could ultimately result in problems with discrimination testing for employers.... Health care reform could have the inadvertent effect of discouraging employers from establishing or maintaining 401(k) plans, since any reduction in [W-2] Box 1 salary due to employee 401(k) plan contributions could make it more likely that the employer's group health plan does not pass the affordability test for that employee." (Practical Law Company)  

BLS Employment Cost Index, March 2014
"Compensation costs for civilian workers increased 0.3 percent, seasonally adjusted, for the 3-month period ending March 2014, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Wages and salaries (which make up about 70 percent of compensation costs) increased 0.3 percent, and benefits (which make up the remaining 30 percent of compensation) increased 0.4 percent.... Compensation costs for private industry workers increased 1.7 percent over the year.... In March 2013, the increase in the cost of benefits was 2.0 percent. Employer costs for health benefits increased 2.4 percent over the year. In March 2013 the increase was 3.0 percent." (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)  

'Substantial Risk of Forfeiture' Clarification Impacts Tax-Exempt and Governmental Employer Noncompete Arrangements
"Until the IRS issues final regulations under Code Section 457(f), a non-compete, particularly if it is combined with this type of part-time consulting arrangement, could still be a valid tax-deferral mechanism. One caveat is that in order for a non-compete to impose a substantial risk of forfeiture that defers taxation, the facts and circumstances must show that (i) given the employee's age and employment opportunities, the non-compete imposes a legitimate burden, and (ii) the employer intends to enforce the non-compete." (Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP)  

2014 Say on Pay Voting Results
"As of April 25, 2014: 489 companies held Say on Pay votes in 2014. 6 companies have failed with an average 57% 'Against' vote. 75% of companies have received a greater than 90% 'For' vote. Average vote among all companies: 91.6% 'For' vote, 6.7% 'Against' vote, 1.7% Abstain." (Steven Hall & Partners)  

Employee Benefits Expert Kristi Cook, J.D., Teams with Trust Builders, Inc.
Trust Builders, Inc.

Powerful Custom Glide Path Technology Combats Participant Inertia and Common Investing Pitfalls in Retirement Plans
Transamerica Retirement Solutions

Retirement Plan Clients Give The Principal Thumbs-Up
Principal Financial Group

Keightley & Ashner Attorneys Named to 2014 Washington, DC, Super Lawyers List
Keightley & Ashner LLP

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