Employers who fail to remit timely participant contributions to a 401(k) plan on their Form 5500 are likely to receive a letter from the Employee Benefits Security Administration regarding the potential use of the Department of Labor's Voluntary Fiduciary Correction program. The letter informs employers that the failure to remit participant contributions, or the untimely remittance of participant contributions, violates ERISA. Such failure can result in significant civil penalties for the employer.

As a professional who assists in conducting hundreds of employee benefit plan audits each year, I have seen everything and heard so many lame excuses for the errors that we find. Some infractions range from plans allowing participation to ineligible participants, to not allowing eligible participants to participate timely, or even at all. Although the list of mistakes plan sponsors make is a long one, there are three common errors noted during our audits

In guidance issued on March 18, 2011, the U.S. Department of Labor: • extended the enforcement grace period previously provided for some of the new requirements relating to internal claims and appeals that are imposed on group health plans and health insurers under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), and • relaxes in some cases the prior requirement that plans and insurers must be working in good faith to implement the new requirements in order to take advantage of the grace period.

New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits fell slightly more than expected last week, according to a government report on Thursday that pointed to firming labor market conditions.

After a lengthy wait, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has issued final regulations and interpretive guidance for the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (ADAAA), the new disability law which was passed in 2008.

You may have been a benefits professional for a long time, but just like spring cleaning, you should review the governance for your benefit plans on a periodic basis.

Many U.S. employers maintain operations in Puerto Rico. Employees frequently are hired in Puerto Rico, and some employees are transferred from the United States to Puerto Rico.

Greg Scandlen has long been regarded as one of the nation’s most outspoken experts on health care financing, insurance regulation, and employee benefits. EBA caught up with Scandlen to get his take on implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and its impact on brokers and advisers.

In case you missed these recent headlines: "Health Care Brokers Fight for Fees" - Washington Post "The Debate Over Brokers' Fees" - New York Times "Brokers Seek to Preserve Role in Health Insurance Marketplace" - Kaiser Health News The stories - and other recent media coverage - focus on efforts underway to push back against PPACA's medical loss ratio rules. At least as far as the popular media is concerned, broker commissions are big news right now.

Wal-Mart got a sympathetic hearing from several Supreme Court justices on Tuesday as the retailer sought to prevent female employees from bringing the largest class-action sex-discrimination lawsuit in history.

Sometimes cases turn on a single word or phrase, whether those pivotal words are found in a statute, regulation, rule, handbook or an e-mail.

The U.S. Small Business Administration has proposed to adjust the size definition of small businesses in professional, scientific, and technical sectors, and other service sectors, to expand eligibility for small business programs.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc will urge the Supreme Court next week to reject the largest class-action sex-discrimination lawsuit in history, brought by female employees who seek billion of dollars.

North Carolinians are just sick about health insurance, doctors, medical billing and collection practices, health products and services — more so than questionable loans and lending practices, Do Not Call list violations and telemarketing schemes.

A U.S. judge dealt a setback to a lesbian federal employee's bid to obtain health insurance for her same-sex spouse, according to a court ruling.

A U.S. judge on Friday temporarily blocked a controversial new law in Wisconsin that strips public employee unions of key collective bargaining rights.

In Staub v. Proctor Hospital, the U.S. Supreme Court held that an employer may be liable for the discriminatory motives of a supervisor who influences but does not make the final decision on an adverse employment action.

New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits fell as expected last week, with the four-week moving average dropping to its lowest level in more than 2-1/2 years, pointing to a strengthening labor market.

Benefit professionals have tirelessly lobbied for an end to the so-called use-it-or-lose it rule governing pretax employee contributions to a flexible spending account, which is now the centerpiece of a bipartisan proposal in Congress.

Republican governors across the United States are betting that now is the time to cut corporate taxes, despite the tattered condition of state budgets.