Employee Benefits

Subscribe to Employee Benefits

On April 30, 2020, the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Labor extended certain time frames for special enrollment in a health plan, COBRA coverage, claims procedures, and external reviews for all welfare and pension plans.  Under the Rule, all group health plans, disability and other employee welfare benefit plans, and employee pension benefit…

Over the past several weeks, human resources and employee benefits professionals (and their attorneys) have been scrambling to assemble staffing plans, telework arrangements and strategies for complying with the paid leave provisions in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“Response Act”).  However, amidst the flurry of new laws, guidance and blog articles landing in your…

Yesterday, President Trump signed into law historic legislation that will have a significant impact on a many employers nation-wide.  The legislation, called the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, has many provisions.  We will focus this discussion on the workplace issues that most employers can expect to face.

Paid Sick Leave

The law includes the Emergency…

In the past few months, we have seen significant changes to the laws governing employee benefits, from the new hardship withdrawal regulations for 401(k) participants, to the SECURE Act, to the new individual coverage health reimbursement arrangement (“HRA”).  Here is what you need to know for 2020:

Starting December 20, 2019:

  • Qualified Plan loans

…

Not all 401(K) and other qualified plans allow hardship withdrawals, but if your plan does allow hardship withdrawals, make sure it is compliant with the new rules finalized in September.   All of the changes are optional for a qualified retirement plan’s 2019 Plan year.  Operational compliance must begin January 1, 2020.  Key changes outlined in…

On July 29, 2019, the Department of Labor issued final rules clarifying when an employer group or association, or professional employer organization (“PEO”) may sponsor a defined contribution multiple employer retirement plan (“MEPs”).   Although MEPs already exist, the Department issued the regulation to alleviate the uncertainty surrounding the ability of PEOs and associations to sponsor…

On June 13, 2019, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Department of Labor, and Department of Health and Human Services issued final regulations which expand the options for employers to fund health insurance for employees.  Previously, employers were not permitted to establish heath reimbursement accounts (“HRAs”) for employees to purchase individual health insurance coverage unless…

In Revenue Procedure 2019-19 effective April 19, 2019, the IRS expanded a plan sponsor’s ability to Self-Correct certain retirement plan failures. This expansion makes it easier for plan sponsors to fix retirement plan mistakes without paying the fee assessed for corrections and, more importantly, without contacting the IRS. The changes expand the Self-Correction Program in…

2019 is the year of “tidying up” thanks to the popular Netflix show.   Start the year off by reevaluating your employee benefit plans to determine whether they continue to meet the changing needs of your workforce while complying with changing regulatory requirements.   Here is our top-ten list of changes to consider in 2019 (in no…

McNees Wallace & Nurick LLC is pleased to announce the expansion of its Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Practice Group with the recent addition of attorney Renee Lieux and specialist Kimberly Weibley.

Renee has focused her practice on executive compensation and employee benefits for nearly 20 years.  She assists both private and publicly traded companies…