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Employee Benefits Jobs
Pension Consultants/ Administrators
Leading Northern NJ Actuarial Firm
in NJ
Technical Director
Employee Benefit Resources, Inc.
in ANY STATE, MT
Plan and Trust Administrator
Thomas F. Barrett, Inc
in MD
401(k) Account Manager
Lincoln Trust Company
in CO
Regional Vice President (Sales) - Mid America Territory
Ascensus
in MO
Manager, Conversions
The Newport Group
in CA
Benefits Analyst
Stanford University
in CA
Plan Administrator
Bidwell Consulting Services, Inc.
in ANY STATE, CA
Sales Consultant
The Angell Pension Group, Inc.
in ME, NH, NJ, NY, PA
Employee Benefits Attorney
Wiggin and Dana LLP
in CT, NY
401(k) Administrator
Pollard & Associates, Inc.
in MD
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Webcasts and Conferences
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[Guidance Overview]
ACA Reporting and Disclosure: The Complexity Continues (Part 1 of 3)
"The forms, while deceptively simply in appearance, are challenging to complete properly. In fact, the IRS is currently drafting FAQs to address numerous outstanding questions.... In this discussion, [the authors] focus on the basics: identifying the various forms, the reporting entities, and deadlines for filing."
(Benefits Bryan Cave)
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[Guidance Overview]
IRS Publication 5208: Affordable Care Act -- Are You an Applicable Large Employer? (PDF)
February 2015. "Applicable large employers are subject to the employer shared responsibility provisions of the Affordable Care Act and related information reporting requirements. Under the ACA, your organization is an applicable large employer for a year if you had an average of at least 50 full-time employees (including full-time equivalent employees) during the prior year."
(Internal Revenue Service [IRS])
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[Guidance Overview]
The Impact of Staffing Firm Employees and Contingent Workers on the 4980H Employer Shared Responsibility Requirement (PDF)
6 pages. "This Article will describe how the Employer Mandate applies to each of various types of 'contingent worker' employees and will provide practical advice for complying with the Employer Mandate.... Even if hours are managed down to avoid the Employer Mandate, the Contracting Entity should check the terms of its plan to ensure the employees provided by the staffing firm or PEO are excluded.... [E]mployers will want to check their plan documents to ensure temporary employees are not excluded. Or if exclusion is intended, employers will want to ensure that the excluded temporary employees do not cause the plan to fail the substantially all test."
(Alston & Bird LLP)
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[Guidance Overview]
IRS Publication 5209: Preparing Your 2014 Return -- The Shared Responsibility Payment (PDF)
February 2015. "[B]eginning with your 2014 income tax return, if you or any of your dependents did not have qualifying health care coverage and did not qualify for an exemption from the requirement to maintain coverage, you will need to make an individual shared responsibility payment with your income tax return.... You can figure your shared responsibility payment using the worksheet included in the instructions for IRS Form 8965, Health Coverage Exemptions."
(Internal Revenue Service [IRS])
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[Advert.]
9th ERISA Litigation, April 13-14, 2015, Chicago
![Sponsored by ACI [American Conference Institute]](https://benefitslink.com/bnrs/2015/ACI_ERISALit2015_top.jpg "Sponsored by ACI [American Conference Institute]")
The only ERISA conference that goes the extra mile and brings you the highest-level judicial insights and maximum networking opportunities. It features expert strategies on today's key issues involving benefit plans, plan investments and fiduciaries.
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[Guidance Overview]
IRS Revs Up Conversation on Cadillac Tax
"[IRS Notice 2015-16] outlines potential approaches for determining the Cadillac Tax that could be incorporated into future regulations... The cost of applicable coverage will generally be determined under rules similar to the rules for determining the cost of COBRA continuation coverage. The notice outlines proposed approaches for determining which individuals are similarly situated for purposes of determining the cost of coverage, the specific methods self-insured plans may use to determine the applicable COBRA premium, and how to determine the COBRA premium for HRAs."
(Mazursky Constantine LLC)
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[Guidance Overview]
California Sick Time Law: Beyond the Basics
23 questions and answers, including: "When does an employee become covered by the Act? ... What if the employer re-hires an employee within 12 months of separation? ... Can the employer provide PTO instead of sick time? ... Employers can cap sick time usage at 24 hours per year; can the cap be based on a calendar year? ... If the employer awards sick time using the up-front method instead of the accrual method, then can a calendar year be used? ... Can the employer mandate that sick time be taken in set increments?"
(Davis Wright Tremaine LLP)
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Multiemployer Health Benefits: Key Facts at a Glance (PDF)
Infographic. Data Related to the ACA (median actuarial plan value, grandfathered status, likelihood of family coverage triggering the excise tax in 2018); and Data on Participant Cost Sharing (medical plan in-network deductible, medical plan annual out-of-pocket maximums for in-network coverage, copayments by type of visit, retail pharmacy benefit copayment, and individual dental plan annual in-network benefit maximum).
(Segal Consulting)
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New Specialty Drugs Contributed to Sharp Increase in Prescription-Drug Spending Last Year
"Prescription-drug spending rose more than 12% last year in the U.S., the biggest annual increase in over a decade, according to a report by the nation's largest pharmacy benefit manager. The increase was driven in large part by soaring demand for expensive new hepatitis C treatments and price increases for diabetes and cancer drugs.... Spending on specialty medications rose by an average of 38% across Medicare, Medicaid and commercial insurance plans ... Express Scripts forecasts spending among commercial plans will grow by an average of 10% annually from 2015 through 2017."
(The Wall Street Journal; subscription may be required)
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Employee Health Management: Best Practices Scorecard (PDF)
20 pages. "[E]mployers with a formal, written strategic plan for [employee health management (EHM)] in place were more likely to report that their program had helped to reduce health risks and lower medical plan cost.... While 60% say that healthy food choices are available at the workplace, surprisingly, only 57% of respondents have a tobacco-free workplace or campus. More than a third of [respondents] say that their company vision or mission statement supports a healthy workplace culture.... Participation strategies, which include communication and incentive design, significantly affect participation rates and program outcomes."
(HERO and Mercer)
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Employers Plan Strategic Changes to Health Benefits
"The majority of midsize and large U.S. employers (84 percent) expect to make changes to their employee health benefits programs over the next three years ... Employers project health care costs to increase 4 percent in 2015 after plan changes, compared to the 4.5 percent employers predicted for 2014. Without plan changes, projections are for an increase of 5.2 percent. These cost increases, while modest compared to past years, are still more than double the current rate of U.S. inflation."
(Society for Human Resource Management [SHRM])
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The Boss May Be Able to Force You to Buy Company Health Insurance
"Under the health law, employers with 100 or more full-time workers can enroll them in company coverage without their say so as long as the plan is affordable and adequate. That means the employee contribution is no more than 9.5 percent of the federal poverty guideline and the plan pays for at least 60 percent of covered medical expenses, on average. 'If you offer an employee minimum essential coverage that provides minimum value and is affordable, you need not provide an opt out,' says Seth Perretta, a partner at Groom Law Group ... If a plan doesn't meet those standards, however, employees must be given the opportunity to decline those company plans[.]"
(Kaiser Health News)
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Health Insurance Marketplaces 2015 Open Enrollment Period: March Enrollment Report (PDF)
"[As] of the end of the second Open Enrollment period, nearly 11.7 million Americans selected or were automatically reenrolled 12 in to a 2015 health insurance plan through the Health Insurance Marketplaces [for all 50 states and the District of Columbia] ... More than 8.84 million people selected or were automatically reenrolled in 2015 plans through the Marketplaces in the 37 states that are using the HealthCare.gov platform.... More than 8 in 10 individuals (nearly 7.7 million, or 87 percent) with a 2015 plan selection through the Marketplaces in the HealthCare.gov states qualify for an advance premium tax credit with an average value of $263 per person per month ... The average advance premium tax credit covers about 72 percent of the gross premium for individuals who qualify for an advance premium tax credit."
(Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation [ASPE], U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [HHS])
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Death Benefit-Only Plans (PDF)
"Death benefit only plans may make sense for employers looking to attract and retain younger talent whose commitment to the company is untested, as key employee carve-outs from group-term life insurance programs, or as an alternative to split-dollar life insurance plans where premium or economic benefit costs to the employee may not make economic sense. The employee should not be subject to income tax on the value of the current life insurance protection and, with proper structuring, should not incur estate taxes on the death benefit paid to his or her beneficiaries (although they will pay income tax on those benefits)."
(Fulcrum Partners LLC)
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Most Employers Provide Paid Leave, But Not As Many Provide Leave to Caregivers and Part-Time Employees
"Almost all U.S. employers with 50 or more employees (99 percent) have some form of time off with pay for their full-time employees ... [O]nly about one-third of employers provide at least five days of paid leave for caregiving and roughly 25 percent provide paid leave to part-time employees.... Overall, few employers offer paid leave options to part-time employees -- whether they are hourly (offered by 24 percent of employers) or salaried (32 percent)."
(Wolters Kluwer Law & Business)
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[Opinion]
'Sick Day' HSAs: A Better Idea Than Mandated Sick Pay
"The language of the current law excludes many workers from getting an HSA through their job. And many others -- including many of those who have selected bronze plans through the state and federal health exchanges -- don't realize their exchange plan qualifies for an HSA, because their insurers did not disclose that fact.... One proposal would allow individuals to open an HSA and deposit tax-free funds equal to their deductible. The Obama administration could also require exchange plans to disclose whether or not they are eligible for HSAs."
(National Center for Policy Analysis)
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[Opinion]
Go Slow on Reference Pricing, Part 2: Why the Federal Agencies Have It Wrong
"Reference pricing goes hand-in-hand with strong, underlying access requirements linked to network availability, capabilities, composition and performance. It is promising that CMS plans to engage in rulemaking to develop its own standards, but with regard to reference pricing, federal regulators should not put the cart before the horse by allowing reference pricing before network ground rules are set. The agencies also should not remove the limits on annual out-of-pocket costs for patients who use providers not accepting a reference price."
(Health Affairs)
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Benefits in General; Executive Compensation
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Rochow v. LINA, Episode 3: Sixth Circuit Acts En Banc to Vacate Disgorgement Award
"The court went on to explain that a claimant can obtain equitable relief under 502(a)(3) in addition to seeking benefits under 502(a)(1)(B) 'only where the breach of fiduciary duty claim is based on an injury separate and distinct from the denial of benefits or where the remedy afforded by Congress under Section 502(a)(1)(B) is otherwise shown to be inadequate' ... The court rejected Rochow's arguments that he had two separate injuries ... [and] explicitly held that the wrongful withholding of benefits was not a zero-sum game, in that increased earnings for LINA did not equate to a loss for Rochow... The lengthy dissent essentially held that breach of fiduciary duty is a separate claim that by definition results in a distinct injury, and therefore supports a distinct remedy." [Rochow v. LINA, No. 12-2074 (6th Cir. Mar. 5, 2015)]
(Begos Brown & Green LLP)
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ERISA Equitable Relief: Sixth Circuit Reverses Rochow Decision
"Ultimately, what probably held the most sway was that Rochow's claim for breach of fiduciary duty was perceived as nothing more than a repackaged claim for a wrongful denial of benefits. In a case where the remedy of providing benefits is available, the relief for an alleged breach of duty is not always limited to providing benefits. But this decision seems to suggest that the place to look first for relief is the satisfaction of the 502(a)(1)(B) claim." [Rochow v. LINA, No. 12-2074 (6th Cir. Mar. 5, 2015)]
(Fox Rothschild LLP)
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Key Differences Exist Between Long- and Short-Term Executive Incentive Awards
"According to Mercer's analysis, financial metrics are included in the majority of short- and long-term incentive awards. Non-financial metrics are fairly common in STI programs, but not LTI. The most common STI metrics are profit-based (36% of organizations use earnings per share; 49% use other profit measures) followed by revenues (47%). Total shareholder return or stock appreciation is the most common LTI metric (used by 55% of the S&P 100) followed by return on assets or return on equity (49%)."
(Mercer)
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Press Releases
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David Rhett Baker, J.D., Editor and Publisher
Holly Horton, Business Manager
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