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Minnesota Paid Leave Law Set to Take Effect January 1, 2026

"With broad coverage, up to 20 weeks of leave and paid benefits per leave year, and complex coordination requirements, employers should prepare now to ensure compliance."

New Roth Catch-Up Rule for High Earners Takes Effect in 2026

"Employers should begin working with plan administrators and legal counsel now to ensure their plans are updated and compliant before the January 1, 2026, effective date. Employees should review their 2025 income projections and plan contributions to avoid surprises in the new year."

Executive Order Calls for Additional Regulations for Health Plan Compensation Disclosures

"This Executive Order calls for 'improving transparency into pharmacy benefit manager fee disclosures' by requiring that the [DOL] propose additional regulations specific to already existing employer health plan 408(b)(2) disclosures. The order does not specify whether these regulations must be limited to pharmacy benefit manager compensation, or whether they might also apply more broadly to other broker activities currently covered by employer health plan 408(b)(2) disclosures."

The 'Deregulatory Initiative' Executive Order: Impact on Employee Benefit Plans

"Deregulation is not always helpful for benefit plans.... Determining which regulations are helpful and which are not won't always be easy.... [1] Environmental, Social or Governance investing ... [2] Cryptocurrency ... [3] ESOPs ... [4] Fiduciary investment advice ... [5] Mental health substance use disorder parity."

USERRA Does Not Require Paid Military Leave -- or Does It?

"In the past three years, four federal appellate courts have held that an employer may be required to offer paid leave for an employee's military service where the leave is comparable to paid leave offered by the employer for non-military reasons."

Tax-Free Rollovers of 529 Plan Funds to Roth IRAs Allowed Under SECURE 2.0

"SECURE 2.0 ... amends the Internal Revenue Code to permit tax‑free and penalty‑free rollovers from 529 accounts to Roth IRAs in certain circumstances. This is a great opportunity to extend tax-free investments for children or grandchildren. This provision takes effect in 2024 but, the rollovers are not allowed without limits."

IRS Provides Participant-Friendly Guidance for Cafeteria Plans in Light of COVID-19

"For any mid-year changes in health coverage, the employer will want to communicate with its insurer (if insured) and stop loss carrier (if self-insured) to make sure the insurer agrees to the changes and that they can be implemented effectively. If an employer wants to make any of these changes, it will need to formally adopt an amendment to accomplish them. [Notice 2020-29] grants a fairly generous amount of time to do this."

Latest IRS Guidance on CARES Act Retirement Plan Provisions

"[T]he Treasury Department and IRS have received and are reviewing comments from the public requesting expansion of the list of factors considered to determine whether a plan participant is a qualified individual.... An administrator may rely on an individual's certification in making and reporting a distribution, but individuals must meet the eligibility requirements to treat the distribution as a coronavirus-related distribution on their tax returns. It remains unclear how individuals should substantiate their eligibility.... Even if a plan does not normally accept rollover contributions, the plan does not have to change its terms or procedures to accept [coronavirus-related] repayments."

Navigating the COBRA Rules Under the Latest DOL and IRS COVID-19 Relief

"Many employers may not be staffed to process payments other than through payroll deduction, and it may be especially difficult to set up a procedure for doing so when the staff that might handle the payments is either not working or working remotely. Moreover, if the employer is collecting premium payments from a furloughed employee who is not receiving compensation, and the individual does not make a payment, he or she may be considered to have a COBRA qualifying event at that point, and the tolling period provided by the DOL/IRS Notice would apply."

Navigating the COBRA Rules Under the Latest DOL and IRS COVID-19 Relief

"Continuation coverage would have to be coordinated with any FMLA rights and any continuation rights an individual may have under existing plan documents, employment agreements and personnel policies. Communication and documentation of any changes are critical. Unless the rules are clearly explained, an individual eligible for COBRA continuation may not only lose valuable rights but may look to the employer to remediate any loss. A lack of documentation, or ambiguous documentation, can be costly."