As we reminded employers back in December, the IRS has extended the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) deadline for health plan sponsors to furnish individuals IRS Forms 1095-B and 1095-C until March 2, 2020. However, it did not extend the due date for filing the 2019 Forms 1094-B, 1095-B, 1094-C, or 1095-C with the IRS. Those …
Changes Affecting Employer-Sponsored Health Plans in the 2020 Appropriations Act
The 2020 appropriations act, which was signed into law by the President on December 20, 2019, contains a mix of good and bad news for employer-sponsored health plans. On the good news side of the ledger, several taxes imposed by the Affordable Care Act have been repealed, as follows: To literally no one’s surprise, the …
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Employers Should Be Aware of Where They Advertise – Social Media Platforms are Being Scrutinized
The internet age has opened up seemingly countless digital platforms for employers and employees to use in seeking to fill, and applying for, open positions. Many employers use Indeed, Quikr, CareerBuilder, Glass Door, LinkedIn – the names are endless – to post jobs and look for employment candidates. Given the prevalence of such platforms, the …
IRS Publishes 2019 Required Amendment List for Individually-Designed Retirement Plans
The IRS recently issued its “Required Amendment List,” which contains the annual list of amendments that must be adopted by certain individually-designed retirement plans. This year, the List includes the requirements imposed by the final hardship distribution regulations, and certain rules that apply to collectively-bargained cash balance / hybrid defined benefit plans. Sponsors of individually-designed …
The DOL Proposes New “Notice and Access” Electronic Disclosure Rules for Retirement Plans, but Numerous Questions and Issues Remain
The Department of Labor (“DOL”) has proposed a new safe harbor to allow employers to furnish information to participants and beneficiaries subject to ERISA. While it is a welcome update to the DOL’s woefully outdated disclosure rules previously covered on our All Things HR Blog, there are numerous technical details and exceptions, which each employer …
Pay Attention to Requests for ERISA Plan Documents or Risk the Con$equence$
Every so often an employer sponsoring an ERISA employee benefit plan will receive a written request from a participant or beneficiary (or their legal counsel) to provide plan related documents. Sometimes the request asks for specific documents and sometimes the request is broader, asking for all instruments under which the plan is established or operated, …
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What to Do if Your Company is Close to the Affordable Care Act’s 50 Full-time Employee Threshold
Having recently helped a client determine if it employed on average more than 50 employees per month in a calendar year and therefore was an applicable large employer (“ALE”) subject to the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) in the following calendar year, I had many opportunities to see the complexities of the ACA’s rules in operation. …
New York Passes Expansive Discrimination Laws Requiring Employers to Immediately Review their New-Hire Policies and Employment-Related Contracts
The patchwork of state employment laws just got a few more patches. On July 12th and August 12th (Senate Bill S6577), Governor Cuomo signed two employment-focused laws that added a number of updates to the New York State Human Rights Law (NYSHRL). The first law, which took effect on July 12 on signature by the …
Considerations for Plan Sponsors Who Discover Unauthorized Workers in their Retirement Plans, Part 2: Tax Reporting, Withholding, and Missing Participants
With immigration enforcement in the news, some employers may be wondering what responsibilities they have related to their retirement plans, if an employer discovers that an employee lacks documentation to demonstrate they are authorized to work in the United States legally. In Part 1 of this series, I addressed the consequences under ERISA of undocumented …
Considerations for Plan Sponsors Who Discover Unauthorized Workers in their Retirement Plans, Part 1: ERISA and the Department of Labor
With immigration enforcement in the news, some employers may be wondering what responsibilities they have related to their retirement plans, if an employer discovers that an employee lacks documentation authorizing the employee to work in the United States legally. While there is not clear guidance in this regard, it appears to be inconsistent with ERISA …