Compliance

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.

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.

The Sixth Circuit’s ruling in Moyer makes clear that administrators of ERISA-governed plans with contractual time limits on when a participant must initiate judicial review of a denial of benefits should err on the side of caution.

Commentary: Consider that employers nationwide spend billions of dollars to give their employees access to medical care and other important insurance coverage. While most businesses offer health and welfare benefits to remain competitive for talent, they end up creating a valuable by-product in the process.

Commentary: Open enrollment time means employer clients will be reviewing fee disclosures. Columnist John Ludwig discusses several steps plan sponsors should take when reviewing the disclosures for accuracy and to determine if fees are fair and reasonable.

Ever since final rules under the Affordable Care Act dictated that outcomes-based wellness programs must offer reasonable alternatives to employees unable to achieve the program’s health benchmarks, employers have continued to worry over the effectiveness of their health improvement efforts.

Despite the ever-changing world, ERISA remains strong and steady. The average American worker is far better off because of ERISA, which has held up remarkably well over the past four decades.

Earlier this week, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn signed a new law that is intended to prevent workplace discrimination against pregnant women by offering guidance on reasonable accommodation measures that all employers in the state are expected to follow.

The case, EEOC v. Orion Energy Systems, serves as a reminder for advisers and their employer clients, when putting together a wellness plan, to pay careful attention to how the EEOC defines liability.

The White House Friday proposed two rules in response to the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision earlier this summer that will allow women to receive contraception coverage if an employer refuses to offer it for religious reasons.

Although your employer clients may consider granting employee requests for exceptions to health plan rules or limits, doing so could cause trouble down the road. Advising them to consider a plan amendment may be a better choice.

Enrollment on the SHOP exchanges remains stagnant, a concern benefit advisers attribute to inadequate marketing practices. Brokers also remain concerned about the poor quality of training for those assisting employers with enrollment.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued a new one-page publication with information about exemptions to the health coverage requirements of the Affordable Care Act.