Compliance

Coming on the heels of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dudenhoeffer decision, which eliminated a pro-fiduciary presumption with respect to company stock holdings in qualified retirement plans, the Fourth Circuit issued a decision last week that could cause even more unrest for plan fiduciaries.

The IRS has issued guidance on how the IRS and the Treasury Department will administer the definition of a “covered entity” for purposes of the health insurance fee under the Affordable Care Act.

The IRS has issued its first adjustment to the ACA definition of “affordability” for the 2015 plan year. Building a solid ACA compliance plan with your employer clients means understanding the act clearly provides for such changes.

Commentary; 2015 is getting close and the Employer Shared Responsibility Mandate (“Play or Pay”) under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is almost here. So what does this mean for your organization?

California lawmakers are currently weighing a legislative proposal that would bring vision care options to qualified individuals and employers through an exchange.

From fees and features to funds and fiduciaries, there's lots to consider when reviewing your 401(k) plan.

Employers are increasingly adopting best practices to ensure compliant retirement plan administration — and one of those practices is using an adviser.

The IRS’ new draft forms for employer reporting on health care coverage unveils a glimpse of the administrative onus in store for benefit advisers and their employer clients working to comply with the Affordable Care Act.

In a landmark challenge to traditional labor law, the National Labor Relations Board is attempting to lump together McDonald’s and its independent franchises as joint employer, which leaves many questions on what this could mean for other collective benefit plan structures.

Technical glitches and data-management challenges have dominated HIX headlines at both the state and federal level, with the latest news showing how even the most widely regarded and most vilified state-run operations now share this common thread.

Minimum-wage activists seized on a decision against McDonald’s by the National Labor Relations Board’s general counsel Tuesday, saying the move may make it easier to unionize workers and ultimately raise wages.

Accountable care organizations promise better alignment of health care provider incentives and patient outcomes. Can ACOs revolutionize employer-sponsored health care?

Commentary: Benefit advisers and their employer clients continue to have questions about private exchanges. Blogger Dan Garlitz shares some recent FAQs fielded by exchange administrator bswift.

Withdrawal liability is a seldom understood threat that could cost some of your employer clients tens of millions of dollars. Benefit advisers hoping to soften the blow can direct employers to do three things.

Hiring managers take note: State laws banning criminal background checks until after a candidate has been offered an interview are gaining momentum.

The bill that would establish a federal clearinghouse for state-by-state broker and agent licensing has successfully passed the U.S. Senate as an amendment to the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, known as TRIA. It was previously left off another insurance industry bill at this point in the process.

Commentary: In today’s ubiquitous social media environment, employers face tremendous risks when utilizing social media as part of the hiring process. Even the most stringent recruitment process can become infiltrated with discriminatory practices, whether it’s intentional or not. Human resources professionals continue to struggle with this.

Released this week, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s new enforcement guidance on how employers are to accommodate their pregnant workforce is creating mixed emotions from legal experts in the employment space.

An increase in the offering of consumer-driven health care products has not translated into increased understanding on the part of consumers — exposing a need for more assistance from benefit professionals and educational tools.

Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Mark Udall (D-Colo.) on Tuesday introduced new legislation to counter the debated Supreme Court Hobby Lobby decision, which favored religious exemptions to certain contraception methods.