"Employees will be entitled to PFML job restoration rights if they work for their employer for at least 180 calendar days, regardless of hours worked.... The minimum amount of time that an employee may take PFML is now 4 hours ... The employer must continue to offer health benefits for any period of time that an employee is entitled to job protection under the PFML law, unless the employee is no longer employed or fails to return to work as required."  MORE >>

"Effective June 1, 2026, Illinois's Neonatal Intensive Care Leave Act (NICLA) provides unpaid leave for parents with a child in a NICU, applicable to employers with sixteen or more employees. NICLA leave is separate from FMLA leave and offers additional protections for employees with newborns in intensive care. NICLA prohibits employers from retaliating against workers who take leave, assert their right to take leave, or otherwise support others who do so."  MORE >>

"[F]or employees who work at two or more rates the Department now allows both the previously proposed 'weighted average' method (for the workweek) and the 'rate in effect' method (for the shift).... Different standards apply depending on whether an employer has 15 or more, or 14 or fewer, employees. The final rule uses 'full-time equivalents (FTEs)' rather than 'employees.' ... A new rule ... requires an employer to establish a 'year' that is consecutive 52-week period. If it does not, the default year is the calendar year."  MORE >>

"The Sixth Circuit ... ruled that while the medical certification did not limit the employee's leave to precisely two days per month, this does not mean that the employee can 'take leave in whatever increment he or she chooses' ... Rather, the employer should have examined whether the employee, in fact, had medical issues associated with his illness on the days he was absent." [Jackson v. U.S. Postal Service, No. 24-1860 (Aug. 21, 2025)]  MORE >>

"Following a coverage denial in late 2021, the claimant later sought additional documents that included CAAs with the plan's lead TPA and three claims administrators.... The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court's conclusion that the employer was not required to disclose the disputed CAAs (or related documents)." [Zavislak v. Netflix, Inc., No. 24-4156 (9th Cir. Sep. 24, 2025; unpub.)]   MORE >>

"The case highlights how courts may interpret plan terms, evaluate alleged overpayments, and apply ERISA's fee-shifting provision even where the claimant does not achieve a full monetary recovery." [Rappaport v. Guardian Life Ins. Co. of Am., No. 22-08100 (S.D.N.Y. Sep. 22, 2025)]  MORE >>

"[T]he Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA), which represents PBMs ... is pitching business changes to [CMS] in a bid to avoid further regulation. Proposals include increased payments to rural and independent pharmacies, a larger focus on the use of lower-cost biologics and steps to ensure patients' costs aren't higher than cash-pay rates[.]"  MORE >>

"With some ACA ([ACA]) subsidies set to expire, employers are facing difficult decisions regarding health benefits. While costs are rising, plan options are shrinking, and employees are asking for more flexibility."  MORE >>

"Employer-sponsored education programs offer a high return in the areas like retention and professional growth, but new evidence shows how their influence on knowledge sharing can positively impact every employee in the workplace.... 80% of employees participating in education programs through work feel more confident helping others on their team, 54% said they have shared the new skills they've learned and 71% say they are more productive."  MORE >>

"? While ERISA claims are indeed arbitrable as a general matter, a growing number of circuit courts have ruled that arbitration clauses cannot overreach and extinguish substantive remedies. Several plan sponsors have tried to add arbitration clauses that waive plan-wide remedies, but courts have found them to constitute prospective waivers of participants' statutory rights, rendering them unenforceable under the 'effective vindication' doctrine."  MORE >>