Regulation

For the third time in recent months, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has launched legal action against a private employer, claiming discrimination on the part of the company’s wellness program.

Alongside the IRS’ announcement last week to increase contribution caps to 401(k) plans, the Department of Labor issued guidance that will ease plan sponsors’ abilities to offer annuities as part of their retirement plans.

A controversial ballot measure in California is getting national attention from the benefits industry. Here’s what it is and why it matters.

Earlier this year, the Employee Benefits Security Administration at the U.S. Department of Labor, outlined initiatives to educate and protect 401(k) plan participants. Along with those initiatives comes an increased risk of a DOL audit for companies that don’t take the necessary steps to ensure their benefit plans are compliant and being properly administered for their employees.

With visions of the ACA's Cadillac tax on the 2018 horizon, major employers are already making arrangements to soften the blow and help deal with potential surcharges on employer-sponsored benefits - and working with their unions to control health plan costs.

The Pension Protection Act of 2006 has helped to reduce costs and limit liabilities for multiemployer plans. But the landmark legislation will sunset at the end of the year, which has many stakeholders and consultants predicting future retirement uncertainty for the more than 10 million participants in multiemployer plans across the nation.

Given the past high-profile data security breaches at large retailers Target and Home Depot, legal officials maintain there may be more at stake for employers and benefit managers when lapses occur in health care provider systems.

With the Affordable Care Act’s employer shared responsibility reporting requirements for 2015 quickly approaching, benefit advisers should already be working with employer clients to implement benefit administration systems to ensure compliance with the law, industry experts say.

Since the onset of the recession, there has been a surge in worker misclassification litigation and enforcement against employers that are trying to effectively manage their finances, but are incorrectly classifying their workforces.

The IRS has released long-awaited final regulations that clarify market rate of return issues for cash balance and other hybrid plans. The new rules, effective for the first plan year that begins on or after Jan. 1 2016, sponsors of hybrid plans a clearer path forward.