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May 5, 2014          Get Retirement News  |  Advertise
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Employee Benefits Jobs

Retirement Education Specialist
The Newport Group
in NC

Bi-lingual Retirement Education Specialist
The Newport Group
in NC

Retirement Educator 2
Wells Fargo
in MN

Defined Contribution Department Manager
Keating & Associates, Inc.
in KS

Retirement Plan Administrator
Lone Star 401[k] Consultants
in TX

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Webcasts and Conferences

Lessons Learned from ACA Early Implementation: Exchanges, Medicaid Expansion and System Transformation -- Recorded
May 14, 2014 WEBCAST
(Health Management Associates)

Experience Synergies360
May 14, 2014 in NY
(Corporate Synergies)

Building Employee Engagement Through Internal Communications
May 15, 2014 in GA
(Worldwide Employee Benefits Network [WEB] - Atlanta Chapter)

Changing Roles for Fulfilling Fiduciary Responsibilities
May 15, 2014 in CA
(Western Pension & Benefits Council - Orange County Chapter)

Breaking News: Retirement Plan Fees – Update and Current, Critical Issues
May 22, 2014 in IL
(Worldwide Employee Benefits Network [WEB] - Chicago West Chapter)

Post-DOMA Issues for Health and Welfare Plans: Rules for Same-Sex Spouses and Domestic Partners (Session I)
May 29, 2014 WEBCAST
(Thomson Reuters / EBIA)

Form 5500 for Welfare Plans 2014
June 2, 2014 WEBCAST
(SunGard Relius)

Summer All day Seminar
June 3, 2014 in MN
(ASPPA ABC Greater Twin Cities)

One-Day Healthcare Reform Training & Certification Event
June 3, 2014 in DC
(Constangy, Brooks & Smith, LLP)

Post-DOMA Issues for Retirement Plans & Fringe Benefits: Rules for Same-Sex Spouses & Domestic Partners (Session II)
June 5, 2014 WEBCAST
(Thomson Reuters / EBIA)

How to Use a Private Exchange to Drive Your Human Capital Strategy – Is a Private Exchange the Right Approach for Your Organization?
June 5, 2014 in MD
(Worldwide Employee Benefits Network [WEB] - Baltimore Chapter)

Forms 5500 and 8955-SSA for 403(b) Plans 2014
June 16, 2014 WEBCAST
(SunGard Relius)

View All Webcasts and Conferences


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

Text of CMS Explanation of Application of the SHOP Participation Provision by Issuer (PDF)
"[I]ssuers who have greater than 20 percent small group market share [are required to] offer at least one silver-level QHP and one gold-level QHP through the Federally-facilitated SHOP as a condition of participation in the Federally facilitated individual market Exchange.... [I]ssuers that do not have greater than 20 percent market share in a state's small group market, but that are members of an issuer group that has at least one member with greater than 20 percent market share, would have to offer the required silver and gold level coverage through the SHOP as a condition of participation in the individual market Exchange.... [I]ssuers that do not offer small group market products in a state, but that are members of an issuer group that has at least one member with greater than 20 percent market share, would not have to offer the required SHOP coverage themselves.... HHS has developed [a] state-by-state list of issuers who have greater than 20 percent small group market share in their respective states, based on earned premiums reported for MLR purposes (2012 data)." [CMS has released a certification form for use by issuers.] (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services [CMS], U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)  


[Advert.]

What Employers Need to Know About the Pay or Play Mandate in 2014

Sponsored by Lorman and BenefitsLink

Enroll in this May 14 live webinar to learn the latest in employer reporting requirements and tweaks to regulations and transition rules on the "Pay or Play" Employer Mandate under the ACA. Special BenefitsLink discount.



[Official Guidance]

Text of IRS Final Regs on Information Reporting for Affordable Insurance Exchanges
28 pages. Excerpt: "This document contains final regulations that amend Section 1.36B-5 of the Income Tax Regulations ... providing detailed rules for information reporting by Exchanges on enrollments in qualified health plans. Section 36B(f)(3) directs Exchanges to report to the IRS and to tax payers certain information necessary to reconcile the premium tax credit with advance credit payments and to administer the premium tax credit generally." (Internal Revenue Service [IRS])  

[Guidance Overview]

FMLA Policy Changes Employers Should Make in Light of Windsor and the DOL's New Guidance
"Many states have enacted their own family leave laws encompassing same-sex partners or spouses -- further complicating employers' leave obligations.... If your company does not ask heterosexual employees for marriage certificates or other documentation, or if your company simply asks for verbal confirmation of a valid marriage, be extremely cautious about subjecting employees in same-sex marriages to heightened requirements, especially in light of state and local protections against sexual orientation discrimination." (Ogletree Deakins)  

[Guidance Overview]

Agencies Outline COBRA/ACA Interaction
"COBRA continuation coverage has for nearly three decades provided a vital protection for individuals who lost coverage within our largely employment-based health insurance system.... With the coming of the ACA, however, coverage in the individual market may often be preferable to COBRA coverage because of premium tax credits and cost-sharing reduction payments, which are available to pay for individual market coverage through the exchanges but cannot be used to pay for COBRA coverage." (Timothy Jost in Health Affairs Blog)  

Supreme Court to Decide Duration of Retiree Health Benefits When Collective Bargaining Agreement Is Silent
"Issue: Whether, when construing collective bargaining agreements in Labor Management Relations Act (LMRA) cases, courts should presume that silence concerning the duration of retiree health-care benefits means the parties intended those benefits to vest (and therefore continue indefinitely), as the Sixth Circuit holds; or should require a clear statement that health-care benefits are intended to survive the termination of the collective bargaining agreement, as the Third Circuit holds; or should require at least some language in the agreement that can reasonably support an interpretation that health-care benefits should continue indefinitely, as the Second and Seventh Circuits hold." [M&G Polymers USA, LLC v. Tackett, No. 13-1010 (on appeal from 6th Cir., cert. granted May 5, 2014)] (SCOTUSblog)  

Ten Valuable Tips for FMLA, ADA Compliance
"Do know that an employer may question a single health care provider's opinion on whether an employee is fit for duty only after the employee has returned to work.... Do remember that employee rights under FMLA are not absolute.... Do recognize that FMLA protects the right to leave for the physical and/or psychological care of a family member with a serious health condition.... Do not forget that an employee is entitled to job reinstatement upon return from FMLA leave even if he or she has been replaced or his or her position has been restructured to accommodate the absence.... Do not force FMLA leave on an unwilling employee.... Do not institute a company policy that requires a doctor's note for each intermittent absence." (Thompson SmartHR Manager)  

Full-Time/Part-Time Status Under Health Care Reform
Infographic includes overview of the rules, a timeline, and decision tree for assessing status. (Towers Watson)  

A History of Legislative Actions to Repeal, Defund, or Delay the ACA (PDF)
24 pages. Excerpt: "[One table] summarizes the authorizing legislation to amend the ACA that has been approved by both chambers and enacted into law. [A second table] summarizes the ACA provisions in authorizing legislation that passed the House in the 112th Congress (2011-2012) but was not approved by the Senate. It also lists the ACA-related legislation that the House has passed to date in the 113th Congress (2013-2014), but which has not been taken up by the Senate. [A third table] summarizes the ACA-related provisions in enacted annual appropriations acts for each of FY2011 through FY2014. Also included is a brief overview of all the ACA-related provisions added to appropriations bills considered, and in most cases reported, by the House and Senate Appropriations Committees since FY2011." [No. R43289] (Congressional Research Service)  

CMS Releases New Tools for SHOP: Small Business Health Care Tax Credit Estimator and FTE Employee Calculator
"Employers are cautioned that the results derived from these tools are only estimates. This is good advice considering, for instance, an apparent discrepancy between the SHOP [full-time equivalent (FTE)] employee calculator -- which allows the user to estimate the number of FTE employees based on part-time employee hours worked per week, month, or year -- and the regulations, which follow the employer shared responsibility rules for calculating FTE employees (i.e., monthly determinations, with 120 hours equating to one FTE employee, that are summed and then divided by 12 to obtain the average for the year). The calculator also cautions that some state-based SHOP Exchanges count SHOP FTE employees differently." (Thomson Reuters / EBIA)  

HIPAA-HITECH Blue Ribbon Panel Addresses Growing Complexity of Privacy and Security Enforcement
"Among the best practices cited were: [C]omplete a thorough risk analysis.... [U]se the findings to formulate a risk management plan.... Build broad awareness and underscore the importance of information privacy and security.... Institute thorough background checks and implement rigorous controls around workforce access to PHI and termination of access." (Clearwater Compliance)  

Does the Risk Corridor Program Have a Fatal Technical Flaw?
"[T]he risk corridor program lacks any appropriations language. That won't matter for exchange insurers that have lower medical costs than they anticipated. They'll still be on the hook for making risk corridor payments-payments that, according to CBO, will amount to about $16 billion over the three-year life of the program. But the lack of an appropriation could matter a lot for insurers with heftier-than-expected costs. In [the Congressional Research Service's] view, HHS cannot pay them the $8 billion they're set to receive through the program.*" (The Incidental Economist)  

[Opinion]

Lessons from Abroad and at Home: How PCORI Can Improve Quality of Care (and Prove It) by 2019
"[The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI)] must address two themes that are at tension with one another. On one hand, PCORI needs to foster stakeholder involvement in order to establish itself as a legitimate body of [comparative effectiveness research (CER)] knowledge that is relevant and accepted in clinical practice. However, it also must avoid the pitfalls of having a democratic, iterative process that moves too slowly to issue findings and recommendations in a timely manner." (Health Affairs Blog)  

Benefits in General; Executive Compensation

Participant Document Requests Under ERISA: Sixth Circuit Adopts 'Clear Notice Standard'
"[W]hile courts do not expect plan administrators to rely on crystal balls, plan administrators should use some common sense when responding to participants' document requests. It seems like a no-brainer (at least to this court) that a claimant would want a plan document when that was the basis for the claim denial.... [W]hen in doubt, ask for clarification. Even more compelling than the adoption of the new standard was the Court's logical statement that 'a plan administrator is free to place the burden of clarity squarely on the requester simply by replying to an ambiguous demand for ... documents with the administrator's own request for greater specificity.'" [Cultrona v. Nationwide Life Ins. Co., Nos. 13-3558/3585 (6th Cir. Apr. 9, 2014)] (Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP)  

Bank Execs Received Modest Pay Increases Last Year as Influence of Bank Regulators Continues on Pay Design
"While stock options remain a significant component of long-term incentives at 53% of banks studied, the value of awards was down 30% from 2012. Values of stock awards that vest based on future performance were up 35%, indicating a preference for performance-based incentives that align executive interests with shareholders. Performance-based equity is the most prevalent stock instrument, used by 67% of the banks, however, most banks grant multiple equity components in their pay program." (Meridian Compensation Partners, LLC)  

Press Releases

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