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Healthcare Reform and the New Administration
December 6, 2016 in NC
Hill, Chesson & Woody

Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program Workshop
December 7, 2016 in WA
Employee Benefits Security Administration [EBSA], U.S. Department of Labor

Techniques to Enhance Your 401(k) Plans
January 31, 2017 WEBCAST
Lorman Education Services

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[Guidance Overview]

ACA Reporting Duties Revised by IRS Notice 2016-70
"[T]he IRS has now offered a 30-day extension on the January 31, 2017 deadline to furnish employee statements -- Forms 1095-C. The new deadline is March 2, 2017 and it is a hard deadline, no 30-day extension may be obtained. There is no extension on the deadline to file Forms 1095-C with the IRS under cover of transmittal Form 1094-C. The deadline for paper filing is February 28, 2017 and the electronic filing deadline is March 31, 2017. (Electronic filing is required for applicable large employers filing 250 or more employee statements.)"
E is for ERISA

[Advert.]

How to Survive an ACA Audit

Dec. 13 webinar. Ensure that your policies and procedures mitigate audit inquiries from various federal agencies. Documentation and record retention will be the key to minimizing potential penalties.

Engaging Consumers in Changing Health Behaviors (PDF)
"In order to positively impact workforce health and reduce costs, employers must move their health programs beyond words to a state of consumer engagement and action. This article summarizes relevant concepts and findings from the fields of psychology, decision research, and social marketing and identifies best practices in developing consumer engagement. Employers can utilize this information when creating health care programs and tools to control costs and improve workforce health and productivity."
Buck Consultants at Xerox

Employees Paying 6 to 14 Percent of Income for Health Coverage
"A new report comparing employer health insurance costs between states since the [ACA] found that even though the worker's premiums and deductibles are growing at a much slower rate, a considerably larger share of income is dedicated toward healthcare. This discrepancy arises because median incomes are not keeping pace with the increase in healthcare costs.... On average, families spent 10.1% of their income on health insurance premiums and deductibles in 2015."
American Journal of Managed Care

Most Federal Employees Could Save $2000 or More by Switching Health Insurance
"Carriers have widely different claim dispute rates. For example, Blue Cross, NALC and SAMBA plans have about three to eight disputed claims for every 10,000 enrollees, while many plans have dispute rates that are twice as high. Plan comparisons vary significantly depending on age, family size and retirement status."
Government Executive

Malware Infiltration Results in $650,000 HIPAA Settlement
"[HHS] has announced a settlement with an East Coast university involving potential violations of [HIPAA] resulting from a malware infection at one of the university's facilities. The university will pay $650,000 to settle the potential HIPAA violations and must comply with numerous requirements under a corrective action plan."
Practical Law Company

ERISA's Anti-Retaliation Provision: An Overview of Section 510
"A plaintiff must show that the alleged discrimination was intended either [1] to retaliate against the plaintiff for the exercise of a right, or [2] to interfere with the attainment of an entitled (i.e., vested) right. A plaintiff must show that the employer acted with the specific intent to violate the statute and to retaliate against the employee or interfere with an employee's ERISA rights."
Katz Marshall and Banks LLP, Via Lexology

'Change of Control' Severance Plan Isn't Governed by ERISA, Court Rules
"To decide whether ERISA applied, the court looked to whether the Executive Retention Plan involved an 'ongoing administrative program,' and concluded that it did not. First, the court concluded that the plan did not require managerial discretion as to amount of severance, timing of payouts, or the form of severance. Moreover, most of the factors supporting a 'Good Reason' separation did not involve any discretionary determination. Second, an employee wouldn't see the plan as involving an ongoing commitment to provide benefits -- only one severance payout was involved, and the plan only came into play for a two-year period. Third, the plan didn't have the usual earmarks of an ERISA plan, such as a plan administrator, fiduciary, administrative review, or procedure to submit claims. Fourth, the plan was not a pension plan because it was not contingent on retirement and did not involve deferred income." [Hall v. LSREF4 Lighthouse Corporate Acquisitions, LLC, No. 16-6461 (W.D.N.Y. Nov. 10, 2016)]
Zuckerman Spaeder LLP

ISS Policy Updates for 2017
"ISS announced that in its 2017 pay for performance analyses (typically undertaken as part of ISS' evaluation of a company's say-on-pay proposal), it will add six relative quantitative performance metrics to its qualitative analysis.... ISS may later include these six performance metrics in the quantitative analysis section of its pay for performance analysis -- perhaps for the 2018 proxy season.... ISS has indicated that the weight afforded each of these six metrics will vary by industry, though it did not release what those weights will be."
EdwardHauder.com

ISS Policy Updates for 2017: Focus on Director Compensation
"The ISS compensation-related changes are centered around director compensation and the addition of financial measures in the pay-for-performance assessment methodology for both the U.S. and Canada.... The proxy advisor also made relatively minor tweaks to the Equity Plan ScoreCard (EPSC) methodology in the U.S."
Willis Towers Watson

Ascensus Launches Enhanced Full-Service SEP and SIMPLE IRA Program
Ascensus

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