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Health & Welfare Plans Newsletter December 20, 2018 |
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Jobs
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Webcasts, Conferences Update for Michigan Employers: The State's New Paid Medical Leave Act
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Discussions |
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This Newsletter:
BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter:
Message Boards Digest:
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Senior Pension Administrator - Combo DB/DC Plans|
[Guidance Overview]
New Guidance on Tax Reform's Impact on Parking: A Summary for Taxable Employers "What is the cost of parking when the employer pays a third party for employee parking spots? ... What is the cost of parking provided to employees when employer owns or leases a parking facility? ... Step 1: Calculate the disallowance for reserved employee spots ... Step 2: Determine the primary use of the remaining spots ... Step 3: Calculate the allowance for reserved nonemployee spots ... Step 4: Determine the remaining use and allocate the expenses."
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[Advert.]
SALGBA Regional Conference Henderson, NV
SALGBA is holding a Regional Conference January 14-16 in Henderson, NV. The conference is being hosted by the State of Nevada. More information please visit www.salgba.org. |
![Sponsored by SALGBA [State and Local Government Benefits Association]](https://benefitslink.com/bnrs/2017/SALGBA_NVregional_top.jpg "Sponsored by SALGBA [State and Local Government Benefits Association]")
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[Guidance Overview]
New Guidance for Nonprofits and the Tax on Parking and Public Transit Benefits "Section 512(a)(7) is intended to place tax-exempt organizations on par with taxable organizations for which such expenditures are now disallowed.... [E]xpenses for parking made available to and primarily used by the general public will not give rise to UBTI under section 512(a)(7) (and it's not too late to take down those 'employee parking only' signs, which can be deemed effective for all of 2018)."
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[Guidance Overview]
New Guidance on Tax Reform's Impact on Parking: A Summary for Tax-Exempt Employers "[N]ew Code Section 512(a)(7) indicates that the cost of employer-provided parking must be added to the employer's unrelated business taxable income (UBTI). However, the Act doesn't address how to determine the amount of the cost of employer-provided parking, and this question had been unanswered ... until the IRS recently issued Notice 2018-99. In addition, Notice 2018-100 provides some relief from underpayment of
estimated income tax with respect to UBTI resulting from employer-provided parking."
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[Guidance Overview]
New York Paid Family Leave Law: Are You Prepared for 2019? "Effective January 1, 2019, the paid leave period under the NYPFLL will increase from 8 weeks to 10 weeks per year.... Also effective January 1, 2019, employees taking leave under the NYPFLL will receive 55% of their average weekly wage (up from 50% in 2018), up to a cap of 55% of the current Statewide Average Weekly Wage ($1,357.11). In other words, the maximum weekly benefit for 2019 will increase from $652.96 to $746.41."
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[Guidance Overview]
Answers to Your Frequently Asked Questions About Michigan's Paid Medical Leave Act "On December 14, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder signed the Paid Medical Leave Act into law. The act requires covered employers to provide paid sick leave to many of their Michigan-based employees. [Here] are answers to frequently asked questions about the new law."
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[Advert.]
For over 20 years, we've helped employers find the best-informed candidates to fill their benefits job openings -- learn more! |
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"[In addition to a narrative, this article provides an] infographic tracking the spread of paid sick leave and anti-local sick leave laws around the country. The infographic is divided into four distinct time periods to highlight the geographic and historic evolution of these laws."
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Defective Health Plan Designs May Defeat HSA Enrollment "[O]ne of two design strategies may help you counter the selection bias ... [1] Move to full replacement with two HSA-capable health options. Instead of comparability, match employee contributions to the HSA.... [2] If you retain a choice design, consider changing the PPO and HMO designs to be consistent with the HSA-capable health option so that employees can clearly compare the point-of-enrollment and point-of-purchase cost sharing."
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$160,000 Tobacco Surcharge? Yes, If your Wellness Program is Noncompliant "In a recent settlement, the DOL imposed over $160,000 in fines and penalties on an employer that failed to comply with wellness program regulations. The settlement included penalties against the employer for breaching its fiduciary duties, but individual employees who administered the wellness program could have been personally liable as well. This settlement significantly raises the stakes for failing to comply with the complex rules that govern wellness programs."
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The Sky Is Not Falling on Wellness Programs "If wellness program sponsors continue to satisfy the HIPAA wellness program incentive limits (on which the ADA and GINA incentive limits were based), any legal risks regarding wellness programs should not be materially increased because of the removal of the ADA and GINA incentive limits."
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Offering a Wellness Program? Two Things Employers Should Remember "The EEOC's wellness regulations permitted certain employee and spousal wellness incentives, generally up to 30 percent of the total cost of the employer's lowest cost major medical plan. Today the EEOC announced it was withdrawing those portions of its regulations ... [T]he court's ruling did not modify EEOC-imposed notice and disclosure obligations with respect to wellness programs involving health risk assessments."
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Issues Presented by Texas Ruling That the ACA Is Unconstitutional "There are at least two aspects of this decision that present serious issues on appeal. First, the Supreme Court requires an injury in fact to sue in federal district court. If [the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA)] removes any possibility of a tax penalty, where is the injury? Second, if the individual mandate is essential to the ACA, why did Congress choose to keep the ACA in place in 2017 when it enacted TCJA?"
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New PBM Models Respond to Public Pressure, Market Demand "Express Scripts Holding Co. and CVS Health Corp. have in recent months unveiled new programs that appear designed to transition away from the PBM status quo.... Express Scripts' new National Preferred Flex Formulary allows it to add to its formulary a newly launched lower-cost alternative to a brand medication -- giving members immediate access to that drug -- and lets the PBM exclude the innovator brand product from coverage.... Under CVS's new Guaranteed Net Cost model, the company will pass 100% of rebates to plan sponsors[.]"
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A Curious Lace in the Other Shoe About to Drop on State Balance Sheets "Looking across the 50 states, and using the state governments' own actuarial and accounting assumptions, total unfunded retiree health care obligations run about 80% as high as total unfunded pension obligations. Retiree health care debt actually runs higher than pension debt in 12 of the 50 states.... What characterizes the top ten ('Stronger Credit Rating') states, compared to the bottom ten ('Stronger Taxpayer Burden') states? ... The states with 'Stronger Credit Ratings' have very high OPEB (retiree health care) debt per taxpayer, compared to the 'Stronger Taxpayer Burden' states."
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[Opinion]
"The Partnership remains concerned about the level of complexity, costs and burdens that may be associated with the verification and notification processes referenced in the proposed rule regarding the offer of an HRA for [individual healthcare coverage] purchase. The current ACA 6055 and 6056 reporting burdens loom large over employers and any additional burdens resulting from a new verification and notification process under the proposed rule may deter employers from offering coverage all together."
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Benefits in General |
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Merging of Payroll and Benefit Platforms Creates New Challenges, Opportunities "The move toward integration of payroll and benefit management platforms exists for a relatively simple reason: it creates efficiencies and ease-of-use for both employees and HR departments. The actual process of finding seamless integration between payroll and benefit platforms has been less simple. But as technology and AI advances have opened new possibilities, integrated systems are becoming more common."
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Press Releases |
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NTSA Honors Susan Jennings with Bob D. Schiller Award
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Most Popular Items in the Previous Issue |
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Text of EEOC Final Rule: Removal of Court-Vacated Final ADA Wellness Rule
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Text of EEOC Final Rule: Removal of Court-Vacated Final GINA Wellness Rule
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Connect
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BenefitsLink.com, Inc.
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Winter Park, Florida 32789
(407) 644-4146
Lois Baker, J.D., President
David Rhett Baker, J.D., Editor and Publisher
Holly Horton, Business Manager
BenefitsLink Health & Welfare Plans Newsletter, ISSN no. 1536-9595. Copyright 2018 BenefitsLink.com, Inc. All materials contained in this newsletter are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of BenefitsLink.com, Inc., or in the case of third party materials, the owner of those materials. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notices from copies of the content.
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