"Employers currently providing first-dollar coverage under their health plans need to remove this for their plan years starting on or after January 1, 2025. Employers required to make this change should also consider communicating this change to plan participants who may have become accustomed to this first-dollar coverage."  MORE >>

"Employers sponsoring health plans should strongly consider reviewing their cybersecurity with their information technology vendors.... [A] significant vulnerability are the people in an organization. Therefore, developing a culture of cybersecurity and making sure folks are trained on best practices is key."  MORE >>

"[T]he guidance provides that such group health plans, disability and other employee welfare benefit plans, and employee pension benefit plans subject to ERISA or the Code must disregard the applicable 'Relief Period' for plan participants, beneficiaries, qualified beneficiaries, or claimants located in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia with respect to certain plan deadlines."  MORE >>

"if a dependent becomes ineligible for health coverage ... the employee may change his or her election to drop the dependent. This is also true for the reverse ... [T]he employer must also have written language allowing this change in their cafeteria plan.... If an employer offers adoption assistance benefits, the cafeteria plan may include a change in status event that permits a change in election for commencement or termination of adoption proceeding."  MORE >>

25 presentation slides. Topics: [1] Overview; [2] ERISA and COBRA; [3] HIPAA; [4] Tax considerations; and [5] Additional compliance considerations.  MORE >>

"Employers may be interested in offering an opt-out incentive to encourage individuals not to enroll in employer-sponsored benefits or to compensate those who do not need the employer-sponsored coverage. Regardless of the intent, if the employer would like to provide such incentive, the employer should carefully consider the plan design to ensure it doesn't cause any compliance issues"  MORE >>

"This election season brought about a number of newsworthy state law benefit changes, mostly in the way of constitutional amendments relating to reproductive health care. [This article provides] a post-election overview of recent state law changes [along with] an overview of other pressing state news and hot-button benefit issues from over this past quarter."  MORE >>

"Maryland's paid family and medical leave insurance law applies to all employers with employees in Maryland: payroll deductions will start July 1, 2025, and benefits will be available beginning July 1, 2026. The Maryland Department of Labor published proposed regulations ... [which] include important information about employer responsibilities, employee eligibility and benefits, the claims process, equivalent private insurance plans, coordination with other benefits, and other compliance requirements."  MORE >>

"The new law applies to all employers and employees in Alaska. There are limited exceptions ... All employees are entitled to accrue a minimum of one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked ... Employers are required to give employees written notice of their entitlement to paid sick leave, the amount of paid sick leave they accrue, and the prohibition against retaliation."  MORE >>

"Most ERISA-governed long-term disability benefit plans have limitations for various types of conditions, and one of the most common limitations is for disabilities caused by mental illness, which are typically restricted to 24 months. But what happens if you are disabled from a combination of physical and mental illnesses, or if you are disabled sequentially by physical and mental illnesses? Is coverage concurrent or consecutive? If benefits are payable, for how long? The Sixth Circuit addressed some of these questions[.]" [McEachin v. Reliance Standard Life Ins. Co., No. 24-1071 (6th Cir. Nov. 13, 2024)]  MORE >>

130 pages. "[This] review, conducted nearly four years after the [Hospital Price Transparency Rule] took effect, analyzed the websites of 2,000 U.S. hospitals and found only 21.1% of them (421) to be fully compliant with all requirements of the rule, a significant decrease from [the] last report's compliance finding of 34.5% ... The widespread noncompliance of 78.9% of hospitals is due to files not having prices clearly associated with payer and plan names and not following required formats. All of the hospitals reviewed for this report posted a machine-readable file, though 532 hospitals' files failed the [CMS] Validator Tool."  MORE >>

"More global employers are recognizing the significance of incorporating family-building benefits into their global total rewards strategy. These benefits enable employers to support their workforce on their journey through life's stages, while remaining attentive and adaptive to a changing global landscape."  MORE >>

"[W]hile most employers are not required to offer benefits to domestic partners, doing so may provide some additional protection against claims of discrimination based on gender. For employers who do offer coverage to domestic partners, and maybe to their children as well, it is important to ensure the administration and taxation are handled in a compliant manner."  MORE >>

"Plan administrators and counsel should review key issues with respect to employee benefit plans and executive compensation arrangements, confirm actions to be taken before the end of 2024, and focus on what to expect for 2025. [These checklists] address plan amendments, notices, and other considerations for qualified retirement plans, welfare plans, and stock-based and performance-based plans."

• Plan Administrators
• Corporate Counsel
• Plan Administrators of Governmental and Church Plans
• General Counsel of Tax-Exempt and Governmental Entities

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"The first case represents a challenge to the practice of 'pension risk transfer.' ... The second case involves an Illinois statute requiring staffing agencies to pay temporary employees who work at a particular site for more than 90 days within a year either 'equivalent benefits' as the lowest paid, comparable employee or the hourly cash equivalent. The case has the potential to set a precedent for how courts apply ERISA's express preemption provision." [Bueno v. General Electric, No. 24-0822 (N.D.N.Y. amicus brief filed Nov. 13, 2024); Staffing Services Ass'n of Illinois v. Flanagan, No. 23-16208 (N.D. Ill. amicus brief filed Nov. 15, 2024)]  MORE >>