The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced new general compliance fees for voluntary correction program (VCP) submissions under the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS), effective February 1, 2016.
The Internal Revenue Service has issued correction procedures for Forms 941 and W-2 in response to the retroactive increase in transit benefit exclusions.
On December 30, 2015, a federal judge in the Western District of Wisconsin ruled in favor of Flambeau, Inc. and against the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in holding that Flambeau’s medical exams as part of its wellness program and self-insured medical plan did not violate the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
As part of the insurance market reforms enacted under the ACA, large employers are required to maintain a certain level of health insurance for their common law employees (and only their common law employees) or pay a penalty — the so-called pay or play or employer shared responsibility rules. The rules for determining which workers should, or even can, be offered coverage are quite daunting. This article provides a road map for determining which workers must have an offer of health insurance coverage from the employer to avoid triggering penalties under the employer shared responsibility requirements.
Two new laws require employers in Washington, D.C., and New York City to offer pre-tax transit benefits, effective on January 1, 2016. Employers with employees in these cities must take action quickly to ensure compliance with the new requirements.
President Barack Obama signed into law the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 (the Budget Act), which raised Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) premium rates beginning in 2017.
Background
Single-employer defined benefit pension plans must pay annual premiums to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), the U.S. government agency that insures these plans. All single-employer defined benefit pension plans pay an annual fixed premium. Those plans with unfunded vested benefits at year-end must pay an additional variable rate premium. The due date for payment of these premiums has generally been the fifteenth day of the tenth full calendar month of the premium payment year.
In 2016, the fixed premium is set at $64 per participant. The variable rate premium is based on the amount of potential liability that the plan creates for the PBGC. Calculated on a per-participant basis, the variable rate premium is a specified dollar amount for each $1000 of unfunded vested benefits under the plan as of the end of the preceding year, subject to a $500 per-participant cap. For 2016, it will equal $30 per $1000 of underfunding, subject to the cap. Both premiums are indexed for inflation.
Changes to PBGC Rates
The Budget Act makes the following changes:
For more information regarding the PBGC premium increases described above or the other employee benefits provisions included in the Budget Act, please contact your regular McDermott lawyer or one of the authors.
Now, faced with an aging baby-boomer generation and increased costs related to disability litigation, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefit Security Administration (DOL) has proposed new rules that would revise and strengthen the current rules for claims adjudication of disability claims under welfare and retirement plans.
A new obligation has been introduced requiring large commercial organisations operating in the United Kingdom to publish a “slavery and human trafficking statement” at the end of each financial year.
The requirement extends to all commercial organisations in any part of a group structure (wherever incorporated, and whether a company or a partnership) that carry on a business, or part of a business, supplying goods or services in any sector in the United Kingdom and have annual turnover of at least £36 million. This includes the turnover of any subsidiary undertakings, regardless of where those subsidiaries are based or operate.
Read the full UK Employment Alert.
On October, 30, 2015, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued a proposed rule that would amend regulations implementing Title II of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA), as they relate to employer wellness programs. Title II of GINA protects employees from employment discrimination based on their genetic information, including the health status of workers’ families.
On October 23, 2015, the U.S. Departments of Labor (DOL), Health and Human Services (HHS) and Treasury issued frequently asked questions (FAQs) on the implementation of preventive care and wellness provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and mental health parity disclosure, adding to the existing list of 28 previous editions of FAQs on the implementation of ACA.
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