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Despite recent tax reform proposals, experts testified at a House committee hearing April 26 that cutting incentives for retirement plans would be detrimental to savings.
June 1 -
The Department of Health and Human Services announced in March that Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee agreed to pay the agency $1.5 million to settle a potential HIPAA violation - the first resulting from a breach under the HITECH Act's (Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health) breach notification rule, which requires covered entities to report an impermissible use or disclosure of protected health information of 500 individuals or more to HHS and the media.
June 1 -
Employers around the country are waking up to a serious and unexpected problem with their health care flexible spending accounts. The health reform law enacted several years ago quietly limited these popular “FSA” benefits to $2,500 per year, effective January 1, 2013. But the express terms of the law conflict with the explanation provided by Congress, and many employers are scratching their heads trying to figure out when plans must be changed to meet the
June 1 -
With the Supreme Court's ruling on health care reform pending, the fate of the Affordable Care Act remains largely uncertain. In the meantime, however, the law is still in force. The Department of Labor has begun requesting, through recent audit requests on health and welfare plans, that employers prove their plans currently comply with the Act. Is your plan ready?
May 25 -
JPMorgan Chase & Co has been hit with a lawsuit brought on behalf of employees whose retirement holdings fell in value after the largest U.S. bank revealed a surprise $2 billion trading loss earlier this month. The defendants are accused of violating fiduciary duties to 401(k) and other retirement plan participants by including company stock as an investment option, hiding the stock's risk, and failing to move participants to safer choices.
May 23 -
At what point does clicking "Like" on a Facebook page result in a pair of federal complaints pitting employers against employees and raising fresh questions about the role of online speech? In recent weeks, two cases have come to light, each featuring employees clicking "Like" on Facebook and being fired for having done so.
May 22 -
Today, more and more participants are requesting hardship distributions from their 401(k) plans in an effort to make ends meet. While you no doubt want to comply with their requests, you don't want to do so to the detriment of your plan. It's critical to understand what the law allows and to review your plan's hardship distribution procedures in order to avoid the headaches that will result from impermissible hardship distributions.
May 18 -
In a series of three notices, the IRS has signaled the approach that it may take on certain key issues arising under the employer shared responsibility, or "pay or play,” provisions of the Affordable Care Act and is seeking comment on these and other questions. All of the matters discussed in the notices will ultimately be addressed in regulations. …
May 11 -
Have a problem with federal employee benefit regulations? Write to the agencies that issue them. That was the message from the Department of Labor, Internal Revenue Service and Employee Benefits Security Administration at an International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans conference on Wednesday in Washington, D.C.
May 10 -
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has issued its long-anticipated Enforcement Guidance on employer use of arrest and conviction records in making employment decisions. The guidance, released on April 25, 2012, is grounded on the premise that any employment practice that has a disparate impact upon a Title VII protected group is unlawful unless the practice is job related and consistent with business necessity.
May 4
