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June 23, 2014          Get Retirement News  |  Advertise
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Employee Benefits Jobs

Defined Contribution 401(k) Plan Administrator
Actuaries & Associates
in TX

Client Executive
Transamerica Life Insurance Company
in IA, IL, WI

Distribution Specialist
Scholz, Klein & Friends Enlightened Retirement Group, Inc.
in TX

Trainer
PenServ Plan Services, Inc.
in PA

Manager, Key Accounts
The National Association of Plan Advisors [NAPA], and the American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries [ASPPA]
in DC

DC Plan Administrator
Advantage Retirement Plan Solutions, LLC
in ANY STATE

Group Compliance Consulting Advisor
NRECA [National Rural Electric Cooperative Association]
in VA

Retirement Plan Administrative Assistant
Growing TPA Firm
in NY

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Webcasts and Conferences

ECFC 2nd Wednesday Teleconference
July 8, 2014 WEBCAST
(ECFC [Employers Council on Flexible Compensation])

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 Final Regs on 90-Day Waiting Period Limitation
"[T]hese final regulations ... incorporate the proposed regulations without any substantive changes.... Compliance with these final regulations is not determinative of compliance with section 4980H of the Code, under which an applicable large employer may be subject to an assessable payment if it fails to offer affordable minimum value coverage to certain newly-hired full-employees by the first day of the fourth full calendar month of employment." (Internal Revenue Service [IRS], Employee Benefits Security Administration [EBSA], U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [HHS])  

[Guidance Overview]

Employer Orientation Periods; Legality of Risk Corridor Payments
"Under the final regulations employers may impose bona fide orientation periods before the beginning of a 90-day waiting period that are not longer than one month.... The measurement period is one month, not 30 or 31 days. If the next calendar month does not have a date corresponding to the date on which the orientation period begins, the last permitted day of the orientation period is the last day of the next calendar month.... The GAO will no doubt have to rule on the legality of payouts under the risk corridor program, which will not in any event take place until the summer of 2015." (Health Affairs Blog)  

[Guidance Overview]

COBRA, Marketplace Coverage, Stability Periods, and Cafeteria Plan Elections
"For an individual who is covered under an employer's group health plan and who moves from full-time to part-time status during a stability period, there is no loss of minimum essential coverage. There is, therefore, no special enrollment right. And while the regulators have not issued any guidance explaining how COBRA interacts with the rules governing stability periods, it seems pretty clear that there are no COBRA rights in this instance." (Mintz Levin)  

[Guidance Overview]

Newark's Paid Sick Leave Ordinance Takes Effect
"To ensure compliance with the Ordinance, covered employers should ... [1] Post the FAQ immediately in a conspicuous location in the workplace. [2] Distribute a notice to each employee as soon as practicable after June 21. [3] Review current sick leave policies to ensure that they comply with the Ordinance's requirements.... [4] Train managers and human resources employees on the Ordinance, and make sure that they are aware of the Ordinance's antiretaliation provisions. [5] Ensure that time and payroll records are sufficiently detailed to reflect the amount of sick leave accrued and used by covered employees." (Morgan Lewis)  

GASB Proposes Sweeping Changes for Governments to Report OPEB
"One of the more significant provisions in the OPEB Employer Exposure Draft would require a government to report its OPEB liability on the face of its financial statements.... GASB explains in the Exposure Draft that OPEB is a form of deferred compensation government employees do not actually receive until after their service with the government ends. Despite this delayed receipt of OPEB, the government has a current obligation to pay those benefits in the future." (Ice Miller LLP)  


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Text of District Court Opinion: Both Participant and Dependent Beneficiaries Are Entitled to Statutory Penalty for Failure to Provide COBRA Notice (PDF)
"[T]he Eleventh Circuit determined that the phrase, '[f]or purposes of this paragraph, each violation described in subparagraph (A) with respect to any single participant' in Section 1132(c)(1) restricts the availability of a ... claim to the plan participant. Several lower courts have adopted this interpretation.... However, other courts have awarded statutory penalties under Section 1132(c)(1)(A) to individual beneficiaries.... Interpreting the statute to provide remedies to qualified beneficiaries aligns with the statute's imposition of duties on employers to provide notice to those beneficiaries upon a qualifying event. The Court therefore finds that [plaintiff's dependent children] may maintain independent claims against Dignity." [Honey v. Dignity Health, No. 2:12-cv-00416-MMD-GWF (D. Nev. June 16, 2014)] (U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada)  

First Circuit Finds Lack of Cooperation During Functional Capacity Evaluation Bars Disability Claim
"You already know that impairment can be assessed through a Functional Capacity Evaluation (FCE). But what happens when the claimant refuses to perform tasks requested, or does not try hard enough during the FCE? Can you deny the claim for 'lack of cooperation'? Sometimes YES." [Ortega-Candelaria v. Johnson & Johnson, No. 13-564 (1st Cir. June 16, 2014)] (Lane Powell PC)  

Eleventh Circuit Finds No Plausible FMLA Claims by Employee Fired After Exhausting 12 Weeks of Leave, Despite Employer's Promise to Combine Leaves
"A county employee who asserted that her employer promised to combine her private and FMLA leave to allow her a longer absence, but discharged her shortly after she completed 12 weeks of leave, failed to state plausible FMLA claims since she was granted all of the FMLA leave to which she was entitled.... All three of her non-FMLA claims concerned specific provisions of the CBA and thus, because they were 'grievances,' were void under the CBA since she did not follow its three-step grievance procedure." Dixon v. Public Health Trust of Dade County, No. 13-13054 (11th Cir. May 29, 2014)] (Wolters Kluwer Law & Business)  

2014 Comparison Chart for HSAs, FSAs and HRAs
"[This] side-by-side comparison ... review[s] the key features of HSAs, HRAs, and FSAs, including major changes for 2014 such as: 2014 limits on HSA contributions; Changes to requirements for HDHP plans; Elimination of 'stand-alone' HRAs; and New requirements for HRAs and FSAs to comply with ACA." (hr360; free registration required to view full chart)  

HHS Submits Reports on HIPAA Compliance and Breach Notification to Congress
"[T]he compliance report notes that it does not contain information regarding business associates because the expansion of HIPAA privacy and security rules to include business associates did not take effect until September 23, 2013 -- after the report's December 2012 cutoff. The breach report discusses the most common post-breach remedial actions taken to mitigate harm and provides a list of 'lessons learned' (areas warranting particular attention to help avoid some of the more common breaches)." (Thomson Reuters / EBIA)  

Text of HHS Annual Report to Congress on HIPAA Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification Rule Compliance for Calendar Years 2011 and 2012 (PDF)
"From April 14, 2003, the compliance date of the HIPAA Privacy Rule (the date used to determine cumulative numbers because it was the first compliance date of all of the HIPAA Rules), to December 31, 2012, OCR received 77,190 complaints alleging violations of the HIPAA Rules. As of December 31, 2012, OCR resolved 70,259, or ninety-one percent, of the complaints received. The majority of complaints received are resolved within one year of their receipt." (Office of Civil Rights [OCR], U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [HHS])  

Text of Annual Report to Congress on Breaches of Unsecured Protected Health Information for Calendar Years 2011 and 2012 (PDF)
"This report describes the types and numbers of breaches reported to the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) (the office within the Department that is responsible for administering and enforcing the HIPAA Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification Rules) that occurred between January 1, 2011, and December 31, 2012, as well as provides some cumulative data on breaches reported since the September 23, 2009, effective date of the breach notification requirements. The report also describes actions that have been taken by covered entities and business associates in response to the reported breaches. In addition, this report generally describes the OCR investigations and enforcement actions with respect to the reported breaches." (Office for Civil Rights [OCR], U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [HHS])  

Majority of Employers Believe ACA Has Had Negative Impact on Their Company
"Nearly 90 percent of employers expect ACA to increase their company's health care costs in 2014, resulting in many employees seeing higher out-of-pocket costs and increased premiums and deductibles.... Nearly one-third of employers have increased out-of-pocket limits, increased participants' share of premium costs, and/or increased in-network deductibles. More than one in five have increased copayments or coinsurance for primary care and/or increased employee proportions of dependent coverage costs." (Wolters Kluwer Law & Business)  

Moving Some Public Workers to Obamacare Could Save Billions
"Taxpayers could save almost $12 billion a year nationwide if two segments of America's public employee sector -- retirees under 65 and low-income government workers -- were moved to coverage under the Affordable Care Act, [a recent] study found.... [The author] acknowledged that the conclusions would be vigorously challenged by employee unions across America whose benefits are covered by labor contracts." (San Jose Mercury News)  

Benefits in General; Executive Compensation

Text of District Court Opinion: ERISA Provides No Statutory Penalty for Failure to Provide Plan Guidelines
"The disability durational and claims guidelines that plaintiff requested fall under the ERISA section 1133 regulations because, construing the facts in favor of plaintiff, they were 'relied upon' or at least 'considered ... in the course of making [plaintiff's] benefit determination.' Indeed, that is the very reason plaintiff seeks them.... Nothing in the text of the ERISA statute or regulations indicates that section 1132(c) penalties are available for violations of section 1133 or its regulations, and section 1133 does not provide for penalties." [Marcin v. Reliance Standard Life Insurance Company, No. 13-1308 (D.D.C. June 20, 2014)] (U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia)  

Sixth Circuit Finds All Anti-Retaliation Provisions Are Not Created Equal, But They Are Legal Landmines
"In enacting the anti-retaliation provision in ERISA, Congress included only a clause protecting people who give information or testify in inquiries or proceedings.... ERISA does not include the broader opposition protection for those employees who oppose, report or complain about unlawful practices.... Unlike some other forms of whistleblowing, almost any employee, regardless of seniority level, can assert an [ACA] whistleblowing claim." [Sexton v. Panel Processing, Inc., No. 13-1604 (6th Cir. May 9, 2014)] (Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP)  

FASB Updates Accounting for Stock Compensation
"Compensation cost should be recognized in the period in which it becomes probable that the performance target will be achieved and should represent the compensation cost attributable to the periods for which the service has already been rendered. If it becomes probable that the performance target will be achieved before the end of the requisite service period, the remaining unrecognized compensation cost should be recognized prospectively over the remaining requisite service period." (Journal of Accountancy)  

FICA Taxes and Nonqualified Deferred Compensation
"Although the special FICA timing rule does not defer the timing of FICA taxation, an employer's failure to properly withhold and pay FICA taxes on amounts deferred under a non-account balance (e.g., defined benefit) plan in accordance with the special rule likely results in significantly higher FICA tax burdens for the participant and the employer." (Fulcrum Partners, LLC)  

SSA Adjusts 2014 Fee for SSN Verification Transactions
"Currently, for 2014, users also pay a fee of $1.10 per SSN verification transaction in advance of services.... [T]he SSA will adjust the fiscal year 2014 fee to $3.10 per SSN verification transaction. New customers still will be responsible for the one-time $5,000 enrollment fee. This change is effective June 2, 2014." (Wolters Kluwer Law & Business)  

[Opinion]

ERISA: 40 and Counting
"Over the past 40 years, more and more of America's workers have switched from traditional pensions to 401(k)s and similar plans. With the rise of these defined contribution plans, America's workers have had to take on the responsibility and the risk of saving, investing and managing their own money. This means more options, more complexity and more responsibility for those workers, and makes it even more important for us to help ensure financial literacy for those workers." (Phyllis Borzi via Work in Progress, The Official Blog of the U.S. Department of Labor [DOL])  

Press Releases

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