[Official Guidance]

Text of IRS FAQs: ARPA Changes for Taxpayers Who Received Advance Payments of the 2020 Premium Tax Credit

"[ARPA] suspends the requirement that taxpayers increase their tax liability by all or a portion of their excess advance payments of the Premium Tax Credit (excess APTC) for tax year 2020.... [T]his fact sheet [explains] what taxpayers need to know about claiming a net PTC and what to do if they have excess APTC for tax year 2020."  MORE >>

Internal Revenue Service [IRS]

[Sponsor]

2021 Onsite Employee Health Clinics Summit (June 24-25, Chicago)

The Leading Forum on Building & Expanding On-Site Health Clinics – Incorporating Strategies that Reduce Costs, Ensure Employee Satisfaction and Positively Impact Patient Behavior! Register now at 2021onsitehealth.com

[Guidance Overview]

ARPA Obligations for Plans Subject to State Mini-COBRA

"[T]here are key differences in the application of the COBRA subsidies to plans only subject to state continuation.... The [DOL] has issued a model alternative notice to be used by these other plans to satisfy the mini-COBRA subsidy notice requirements."  MORE >>

Graydon

[Guidance Overview]

More Fizzle Than Sizzle: Agencies Issue First ARPA COBRA Subsidy FAQs and Model Forms

"Unfortunately, the FAQs fail to answer many key questions ... such as the precise scope of an involuntary termination of employment. The model forms ... will likely prove more confusing than helpful to most employees, and the instructions for when to issue which forms will confound many employers and COBRA administrators."  MORE >>

Lockton

[Guidance Overview]

DOL Flies Alone: Guidance on the 100% COBRA Subsidy Under ARPA

"The Guidance does not address when an individual is considered 'eligible' for other group health coverage or Medicare that would cause an individual eligibility for the COBRA subsidy to end.... The Guidance does not explicitly permit employers to rely on an individual's certification of their eligibility for the COBRA subsidy.... [A]dditional guidance from the [IRS] may be expected."  MORE >>

Benefits BCLP

[Guidance Overview]

New Mexico's Healthy Workplaces Act Brings Paid Sick and Safe Time Law to the Land of Enchantment

"The law will apply to all private employers and to all employees except employees subject to either Title II (air carriers) of the federal Railway Labor Act (RLA) or the federal Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act (RUIA). While the law does not apply to independent contractors, it expressly prohibits independent contractor misclassification and provides a sick-leave-related cause of action and damages for misclassifying workers."  MORE >>

Littler

Eleventh Circuit to Employers: Heed Your FMLA Obligations

"First, an employer cannot get around its FMLA obligations by offering workers' compensation benefits to the employee. Second, employers must provide notice to the employee of their rights and responsibilities under the Act within five days of receiving information that the employee may qualify for leave. And third, an employer cannot force an employee to take a light duty position in lieu of FMLA leave." [Ramji v. Hospital Housekeeping Systems, LLC, No. 19-13461 (11th Cir. Apr. 6, 2021)]  MORE >>

Seyfarth

The Importance of Educating Employers on HSA Program FICA Savings

"By ... providing their employees with an easy way to make pretax HSA contributions through payroll deductions, employers lower both their own and their employees' FICA tax liability.... [E]mployers directly save the 7.65% on any pretax employee contributions made through their HSA program."  MORE >>

Voya

NAIC Considers PBM Regulation; Additional Requirements Possibly on Tap

"Pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) should consider the implications of a model law making its way through the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) that would establish a licensure requirement and rules of conduct for these participants in the health care marketplace. A number of states have already adopted their own PBM laws, and an NAIC model would be likely to motivate others to do so."  MORE >>

Kramer Levin

[Opinion]

Should You Risk Adjust for Social Factors?

"If you want to implement value-based care, you need to define what a 'good' outcome is. A good outcome may be different for different individuals.... [P]ayers and policymakers need to decide what is a bigger concern: risk adjusting and setting different standards of outcomes based on social factors or not risk adjusting and having physicians try to avoid patients with adverse social factors."  MORE >>

Healthcare Economist

Ninth Circuit Approves ERISA Plan Forum Selection Clause

"ERISA jurisprudence is not uniform, raising the risk of inconsistent interpretations by different courts.... The Court noted that a forum selection clause can support the important ERISA goal of uniform plan administration by having the same court interpreting the plan." [Becker v. U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Oakland, No. 20-72805 (9th Cir. Apr. 1, 2021)]  MORE >>

Seyfarth

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Teresa Hassara Named President of FuturePlan by Ascensus

Ascensus

Federal Court Appoints Independent Fiduciary as Claims Administrator of Medova Arrangement

Employee Benefits Security Administration [EBSA], U.S. Department of Labor

Shareholder Lisa Kathumbi Rejoins Littler in Columbus

Littler

Voya Offers First-of-Its-Kind Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Distribution Portfolios for Workplace Clients

Voya Financial

Wilshire Selected as Investment Fiduciary for Retirement Leaders’ Consortium

Wilshire Associates

RetirementTrack Resonates as Participants Seek Choice for Their Investments

OneAmerica

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Consolidated Appropriations Act 2021: New Requirements and Implications for Health and Welfare Plans

April 29, 2021 WEBCAST

American Law Institute Continuing Legal Education Group [ALI CLE]

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DOL Issues Guidance on the American Rescue Plan Act COBRA Subsidy

Littler

COBRA Subsidies Are Revived, But Include Unanswered Questions

Nelson Mullins

Managing Alternative Coverage and COBRA Coverage

Proskauer Rose, for HR Daily Advisor