Employee Benefits Archives | Page 89 of 151

New Legislation Extends Future Form 5500 and 990 Deadlines, Affects Veterans Health Benefits and Extends Excess Pension Asset Transfer Rules

by Jeffrey Holdvogt and Sarah L. Engle | Oct 30, 2015 | Benefit Controversies, Employee Benefits, Health and Welfare Plans, Retirement Plans

The recently enacted Surface Transportation and Veterans Health Care Choice Improvement Act of 2015 includes provisions that will extend the deadlines for filing future Form 5500 and Form 990 series information returns. In addition, the legislation modifies rules relating to the ability of veterans to participate in health savings accounts (HSAs), allows employers to disregard employees receiving certain veterans benefits when determining whether they are subject to the shared responsibility requirements of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and further extends the ability of employers to use excess pension assets to pay for retiree health and group-term life insurance.

Read the full article.

IRS Adjusted ACA Fee Amounts for the 2015/2016 Policy or Plan Years and Additional Payment Options

by McDermott Will & Emery | Oct 27, 2015 | Employee Benefits, Employment, Health and Welfare Plans

The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) fee was established under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to advance comparative clinical effectiveness research. The PCORI fee is assessed on issuers of health insurance policies and sponsors of self-insured health plans. The fees are calculated using the average number of lives covered under the policy or plan, and the applicable dollar amount for that policy or plan year.

Read the full article.

What All Employers Need to Know About the New Joint-Employer Standard

by McDermott Will & Emery | Oct 22, 2015 | Employee Benefits, Employment

On September 17, 2015, McDermott hosted a webcast featuring, among others, four speakers from our own Employee Benefits, Compensation and Labor & Employment practice discussing the ramifications of the NLRB’s decision and the steps businesses should be taking to decrease risk associated with joint-employer relationships.

Click here to view the archived webinar (materials available here until December 17, 2015).

Ruling on UK Executive’s Lawsuit Involving U.S.-Based Stock Option Plan

by Katie Clark | Oct 8, 2015 | Employee Benefits, Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs), Employment

The English Court of Appeals ruled that UK court has jurisdiction over UK executive’s lawsuit involving a U.S.-based stock option plan, despite the stock option plan’s clear language requiring Massachusetts choice of law and jurisdiction. Multinational companies sponsoring broad-based employee plans should be on notice that non-EU exclusive jurisdiction clauses may not be enforceable against EU-based employees.

Read the full article.

Further Guidance on the ACA’s Cadillac Tax

by McDermott Will & Emery | Oct 6, 2015 | Benefit Controversies, Employee Benefits, Employment, Health and Welfare Plans

Effective for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2018, an excise tax of 40 percent will be imposed on the cost of employer-sponsored health coverage that exceeds an annual limit. This tax is informally known as the “Cadillac Tax” and will impose a penalty on employers, health insurers and “persons who administer plan benefits” with regard to high-cost health care coverage.

Read the full article.

Seventh Circuit Continues to Apply Federal Successor Liability Doctrine to Multiemployer Pension Plan Withdrawal Liability

by Alan D. Nesburg, PC and McDermott Will & Emery | Oct 2, 2015 | Employee Benefits, Employment, Health and Welfare Plans, Retirement Plans

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit recently addressed the notice requirement of the federal successor liability doctrine where withdrawal from a multiemployer pension plan occurred after a sale of assets.

Read the full article.

Massive Terminations: A 2015 Key Issue for China Labor

by John Z.L. Huang | Sep 29, 2015 | Employee Benefits, Employment, Labor

“Massive terminations” occur in China when an employer terminates more than 20 employees or more than 10 percent of its total employees at one time. Even though there are no official statistics on massive terminations of employees in China, recent news reports indicates an increase based on overseas investment leaving China. This article provides an overview of some of the common characteristics of massive terminations and of the issues companies with Chinese employees should consider in implementing a massive termination.

Read the full China Law Alert.

Seventh Circuit Finds that State Insurance Law Applies, Resulting in De Novo Review of Benefit Claim

by Jacob Mattinson, Michael T. Graham and Todd Solomon | Sep 24, 2015 | Benefit Controversies, Employee Benefits, Employment, Retirement Plans

On September 4, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled in Fontaine v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Company that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA), does not preempt an Illinois state insurance regulation that prohibits discretionary authority clauses in health and disability plan insurance policies. The Seventh Circuit upheld the ruling of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, which decided that the Illinois regulation was not subject to preemption under precedent set forth in prior decisions by the Supreme Court of the United States.

Read the full article.

Expert Q&A on Same-sex Partner Benefits After the US Supreme Court’s Obergefell Decision

by Jacob Mattinson and Todd Solomon | Sep 17, 2015 | Employee Benefits, Employment

In June 2015, the US Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges that same-sex couples may exercise the right to marry in all states and that states may not refuse to recognize a lawful same-sex marriage performed in another state based on the marriage’s same-sex character. Practical Law asked McDermott lawyers Todd Solomon and Jacob Mattinson to discuss the implications of the Obergefell ruling for employers.

Read the full article.

WEBCAST : What All Employers Need to Know About the New Joint-Employer Standard

by McDermott Will & Emery | Sep 9, 2015 | Employee Benefits, Employment

Thursday, September 17, 2015
12:00 – 1:00 pm CDT

On Thursday, August 27, 2015, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a decision significantly expanding the definition of a joint employer. The decision has implications for most employers, both unionized and non-unionized. Joint-employer issues may affect businesses using contractors or staffing agencies; franchisers and franchisees; parent entities and subsidiaries; and private equity groups and their portfolio companies.

In addition to the NLRB’s decision, other federal agencies have signaled their interest in a broadened definition of what constitutes an employment relationship: the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed an amicus brief in the NLRB litigation urging a broader joint-employer standard, and the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor recently issued guidelines with a sweeping definition of employee status. These changes may also have implications for the Affordable Care Act compliance and qualified benefit plans.

Please join us for a one-hour webcast to discuss the ramifications of the NLRB’s decision and the steps businesses should be taking to decrease risk associated with joint-employer relationships.

Click here to view the event listing.

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