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Top 100 Employment Law Blogs

Excerpt: [This year's list only includes] blogs written by lawyers, legal professionals, or from a legal perspective. Non-lawyer consultants account for less than 10 of the blogs on this year's list and each of those write consistently on legal issues.

Federal Tax and Benefit Implications of Civil Unions

In this post, we [address the ways in which the Delaware's Civil Union and Equality Act of 2011, which will become effective on January 1, 2012,] may or may not affect employers whose benefit structure is governed by federal law.

The GINA's Out of the Bottle--And It's a New Weapon in the Work-Family Arsenal

Excerpt: The key to GINA's applicability to work-family and caregiver scenarios is its definition of 'genetic information,' which includes 'the genetic tests of family members [of the employee]' and 'the manifestation of a disease or disorder in family members [of the employee].' 'Family member,' in turn, is defined as 'a dependent as used for purposes of ERISA,' and up to a fourth-degree relative (i.e., great-great grandparents and all cousins, aunts, and uncles inbetween). Notably, the scope includes adoptive children and parents, whose genes are entirely unrelated to the employees'.

Ensuring Your Wellness Programs Do Not Violate GINA

Following passage of the law, it was not entirely clear what constituted 'voluntary' versus 'involuntary' wellness programs, and whether or not monetary incentives offered for participation rendered the program involuntary. The regulations issued in late November 2010 and now in effect addressed this question specifically.

Health FSA Uniform Coverage Rule Precludes Recoupment

Excerpt: On March 26, 2010, the IRS released Chief Counsel Advice No. 201012060 (pdf), in which the Chief Counsel concluded that, if an employee's reimbursements from a health FSA exceed her contributions to the health FSA at the time of the termination of her employment, the employer cannot recoup the difference from the employee. Neither the previous proposed regulations nor the current proposed regulations regarding health FSAs (Prop. Treas. Reg. ? 1.125-5(d)(1) (pdf) stated explicitly that such recoupment is not permitted.