Commentary: Game on at the DOL means game on for employers. Are your employers prepared for a DOL audit? Are you prepared to advise them on what an audit involves and the fines for non-compliance?

Whether being subject to an involuntary EBSA Audit, or undertaking a voluntary correction program, there are certain things a plan sponsor should be looking for (and looking out for) if they are going to have the EBSA nosing around their plans. The EBSA recently held an online seminar about things to anticipate in an EBSA investigation and here are some things that are important to remember. …

With the Affordable Care Act looming large, employers turn to benefit outsourcing to keep their plans compliant.

An organization that could impact the work lives of agents and brokers who are licensed in multiple states was supposed to be included in the flood insurance bill that passed the U.S. House Tuesday evening, but the language for it was left out. What happened, and are brokers invested in this idea anyway?

Much has been made about how the exchanges are playing in Peoria, but what about Portugal, Poland or Peru?

While outsourcing is a dirty word for many U.S. workers, most organizations that outsource benefits administration do so not to reduce HR head count, but rather to achieve legal compliance, reduce burdens on internal staff, gain efficiencies and gain access self-service technology.

Employers are begging for information on compliance with the Affordable Care Act, and as their benefit adviser you can and should offer them guidance — or risk losing them to an adviser who will. Attorney Peter Marathas of Proskauer Rose LLP has outlined four ACA issues you should already be discussing with your clients.

Lawmakers in Maryland and Wisconsin are working to make retirement plans more readily available to private sector employees. Their efforts follow recently enacted California legislation that requires employers to contribute 3% of a worker’s salary to a retirement account.

Increasing the U.S. minimum wage may lift some workers out of poverty while leading to as many as 1 million job losses, according to a report from the Congressional Budget Office.

If the last few years were an age of reform, then we’ve definitely entered a new era — a time of compliance.

Republicans were trying to dismantle the ACA’s risk corridor premium stabilization program as recently as this week but several factors, possibly including the insurance industry itself, took them off course.

This week started out with the much anticipated employer responsibility ruling and first shocked us with the additional employer mandate delay. But there’s much more to the ruling that advisers and plan sponsors need to be aware of in the coming months.

Commentary: There are murky new ACA liabilities for your benefit agency. Craig Davidson shares how these potential liabilities lie with insurance protection coverage that you may need.

The employer coverage mandate and other ACA requirements relevant to employer sponsors of health and welfare plans will be discussed in detail as part of the “ACA Update — What Went Right, What Went Wrong — And What Now?” presentation at the Workplace Benefits Renaissance on Feb. 24, 2014.

Only time will tell if the president’s self-declared year of the executive order will solicit more action from Congress on legislation. But what are the immediate implications for employees who heard his State of the Union call for a minimum wage increase?

A long-fought battle to ease the burden of insurance brokers’ licensing procedures moved a step closer to reality on Thursday afternoon. Still, hurdles remain for NARAB, with passage in the House uncertain, and the White House scrutinizing some components of the language.

The legislation meant to cut through the red tape of state-by-state insurance broker licensing is stalled in the Senate as a standalone bill, but has been attached to another bill up for vote soon.

Among benefits-related cases in 2013, courts addressed offerings to same-sex couples, statute of limitations, remedies under ERISA and 401(k) plan fees. Here’s a look at five cases that could have implications for your benefit plans in the year ahead.

The court agreed with the plaintiff’s contention that while a church-affiliated entity may “maintain” an ERISA-exempt church plan, only plans established directly by a church or convention of churches qualify as church plans.

The case at issue is Rochow v. Life Ins. Co. of N. America. His estate sued for a denial of long-term disability benefits as well as profits allegedly made on the benefits.