Employee Benefits Archives | Page 45 of 152

Missing Participants, Cybersecurity Top Challenges for Plan Advisors

by McDermott Will & Schulte | Oct 28, 2021 | Employee Benefits, Privacy and Data Security, Retirement Plans

Missing participants and cybersecurity are among the top challenges for retirement plan advisors, according to participants at the National Association of Plan Advisors’ 2021 NAPA 401(k) Summit in Las Vegas. During the Summit’s opening day workshop session, McDermott Partner Erin Turley said advisors should make an effort to discuss cybersecurity with clients in advance of a US Department of Labor audit.

“The plan document says X, the recordkeeping agreement says Y, and maybe the (summary plan description) says something different—if it’s even addressed in the SPD,” Turley noted. “So make sure all those documents sync and your process actually matches your documents as equally.”

Read more here.

IRS Provides Further Guidance on COBRA Election and Payment Deadlines

by Sarah Raaii and McDermott Will & Schulte | Oct 27, 2021 | Employee Benefits, Employment, Health and Welfare Plans

In Notice 2021-58, the Internal Revenue Service clarified that the one-year tolling relief periods for Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) elections and initial premium payments run concurrently, not consecutively. This means that a qualified beneficiary generally will have only one year of total disregarded time for the election and initial payment periods.

Read more here.

Employers on Hook for Mental Health Parity Despite New Target

by McDermott Will & Schulte | Oct 20, 2021 | Employee Benefits, Health and Welfare Plans

The US Department of Labor (DOL) is casting a skeptical eye on health insurance companies’ inconsistent coverage of mental health and substance use disorder benefits. The DOL recently commenced litigation against an insurer to require mental health and substance use disorder coverage be on par with regular physical care.

In an article in Bloomberg Law, McDermott Partner Judith Wethall said employers are usually unaware about these violations. Self-funded employers typically simply accept whatever their third-party administrator (TPA) is offering.

“Sometimes a TPA does things behind the scenes that might violate mental health parity and an employer might not even know it,” Wethall said.

Access the article.

Supreme Court Agrees to Review Medicare Payment Cuts to 340B Drugs

by Drew Elizabeth McCormick and Emily J. Cook | Oct 19, 2021 | Employee Benefits, Health and Welfare Plans

The US Supreme Court announced in July that it will take up review of the decision by the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upholding Medicare’s 2018 payment cuts to 340B drugs. The case will be closely watched, given its potentially far-reaching impacts on reimbursements to most hospitals that participate in the Medicare program, not just those that participate in the 340B Program.

Read more here.

Premium Surcharges for the Unvaccinated Are Lawful Within Limits

by McDermott Will & Schulte | Oct 14, 2021 | Employee Benefits, Health and Welfare Plans

Many plan administrators expressed bewilderment at the Biden administration’s recent guidance to limit vaccine incentive or surcharge programs for unvaccinated plan participants. According to this SHRM article, which features insight from McDermott Partner Judith Wethall, any premium surcharges must comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act’s (HIPPA) nondiscrimination rules. HIPPA nondiscrimination rules allow for participatory and health-contingent permissible wellness programs.

Read more here.

FTC Issues Policy Statement Expanding Interpretation of Health Breach Notification Rule’s Scope

by Carolyn Metnick, Edward G. Zacharias and Sam Siegfried | Oct 13, 2021 | Digital Health, Employee Benefits, Health and Welfare Plans, Privacy and Data Security

On September 15, 2021, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted 3–2 along party lines (with Republican commissioners dissenting) to issue a policy statement announcing an expansive interpretation of the FTC’s Health Breach Notification Rule, 16 CFR Part 318 (the Rule). According to the policy statement, the Rule applies to health apps and connected devices that are not subject to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) but are capable of drawing information from multiple sources—for example, through a combination of consumer inputs and application programming interfaces (APIs).

Read more here.

The Questions Your Board’s Human Capital Committee Needs to Ask

by Michael W. Peregrine | Oct 12, 2021 | Employee Benefits, Employment, Labor

What questions should a governing board’s human capital committee ask itself? According to this August 2021 e-book edited by McDermott Partner Michael Peregrine, committee members should regularly ask themselves questions about workforce strategy and engagement, outstanding litigation, talent pipeline and management strategy and human capital technology.

Access the e-book (Page 8).

Mitigating ERISA Litigation in Current Environment

by Andrew Liazos | Oct 7, 2021 | Employee Benefits, Retirement Plans

What steps can retirement plan sponsors take to mitigate Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 litigation risks? McDermott Partner Andrew Liazos presented on this topic and shared best practices during the Plan Sponsor Council of America’s National Conference.

Access the slides.

Vaccine Requirements in the Workplace

by Michelle S. Strowhiro | Oct 6, 2021 | Employee Benefits, Employment, Health and Welfare Plans

As more and more private and public companies require vaccinations, employees are finding it increasingly difficult to avoid these mandates. In this BBC Radio 5 Live interview, McDermott Partner Michelle Strowhiro noted that US employers have a right to mandate vaccination for any employee that is in an employer’s office.

“As such, if an employee is violating that policy and is coming into an office unvaccinated, an employer can take action and terminate that employee,” Strowhiro said.

Access the audio.

$4 Billion in Pension Payments Returned

by Jeffrey Holdvogt | Oct 5, 2021 | Employee Benefits, Retirement Plans

Even though it is the employer’s responsibility to track down former employees and let them know of leftover retirement benefits, it doesn’t always work out that way. In recent years, the US Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration has demanded companies improve their methods for finding former workers.

In this article published by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, McDermott Partner Jeffrey M. Holdvogt said regulators “put a lot of pressure, in a good sense, on plan administrators to really up their games.” Holdvogt shared his comments in a May webinar hosted by the Pension Action Center at the University of Massachusetts, Boston.

Access the article.

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