Health and Welfare Plans Archives - Page 52 of 129

Tax Reform Changes to Employee Compensation and Benefit Deductions

by Diane Morgenthaler | Apr 10, 2018 | Employee Benefits, Executive Compensation, Health and Welfare Plans

Partner Diane Morgenthaler presented at this year’s first Tax in the City® meeting on March 15, 2018. Below is a recap of the key takeaways from the event.

Employee Benefits impacts of federal tax reform:

Alter procedures to ensure no 2018 employer deduction is taken for qualified transportation fringe benefits, except for bicycle transportation subsidies.
Alter procedures to ensure no 2018 employer deduction is taken for “entertainment” and its related travel and meal expenses, including sporting events, theatre, golf, and other activities.
Analyze 2018 financial effect to your employer of any proposed gross ups for loss of moving expense deduction for employer and employee.
If your employer is a US publicly traded company, a foreign issuer with US publicly traded American Depository Receipts (ADRs), or a private company with US publicly traded debt, then careful legal and financial planning is recommended to try to utilize the grandfather exception to the $1M compensation deduction limit under Code section 162(m).

View full presentation.

LIVE WEBINAR | Employee Benefits and Employment Integration: How to Handle Transactions Without Losing Your Workforce

by McDermott Will & Emery and McDermott Will & Emery | Mar 22, 2018 | Employee Benefits, Employment, Health and Welfare Plans, Retirement Plans

Avoid the culture wars and legal issues post-transaction. Join our lawyers Kristin E. Michaels, Maureen O’Brien and moderator Judith Wethall for a discussion of how to best integrate employees and employee benefit plans after a transaction.

Register Today.

Federal Appellate Court Finds That Title VII Bans Sexual Orientation Discrimination

by Todd Solomon | Mar 15, 2018 | Employee Benefits, Employment, Health and Welfare Plans, Retirement Plans

On February 26, 2018, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (covering Connecticut, New York and Vermont) ruled that workplace discrimination on the basis sexual orientation violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII).

The language of Title VII does not expressly prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. However, in 2015, the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) took the position that Title VII prohibits sexual orientation discrimination under the purview of prohibited sex discrimination. In 2016, the EEOC began filing sexual orientation discrimination lawsuits enforcing that position.

Circuit courts are divided on the question of whether claims of sexual orientation discrimination are viable under Title VII. In March of 2017, the Eleventh Circuit held that sexual orientation discrimination does not violate Title VII. The Seventh Circuit held the opposite the following month, and the Supreme Court declined to decide the split in December. With its en banc decision in Melissa Zarda et al. v. Altitude Express, dba Skydive Long Island, et al., the Second Circuit sided with the EEOC and the Seventh Circuit.

As a result of the decision, employers may see increased litigation in the area of sexual orientation discrimination. To protect against potential lawsuits, employers should consider updating their nondiscrimination policies to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. In addition, employers should perform sexual orientation harassment training for employees and managers.

The decision also raises potential concerns for employee benefit plans. Although the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA) generally preempts state laws that relate to employee benefit plans, ERISA does not preempt other federal laws, including Title VII. While certain spousal benefits and rights under qualified retirement plans are required by federal law to be extended to same-sex spouses, the same explicit mandates do not apply to welfare plans. Employers should consider whether any of their employee benefit plans discriminate against employees with same-sex spouses (e.g., excluding same-sex spouses from coverage under a self-funded medical plan). Such distinctions may be ripe for legal action as a result of the decision and the EEOC’s ongoing enforcement efforts.

Benefits Emerging Leaders Working Group

by Jacob Mattinson | Mar 1, 2018 | Benefit Controversies, Employee Benefits, Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs), Employment, Executive Compensation, Fiduciary and Investment Issues, Health and Welfare Plans, Labor, Privacy and Data Security, Retirement Plans

McDermott’s Benefits Emerging Leaders Working Group provides benefit professionals with tools to better serve employees in an ever-changing and evolving benefits landscape.

Presentations will tackle the latest benefits hot topics and best practice solutions, supplemented with important networking opportunities aimed to connect tomorrow’s benefit leaders with a broad network of professionals.

Planned agenda topics include:

What’s Happening in Washington?
Lessons from an RFP
Lunch Discussion: Changing Behavior through Benefits Communication
Global Benefit Plans
Moderated Group Discussion (including Voluntary Benefits)

Register Now.

Fridays with Benefits Webinar: Bipartisan Budget Act Breakdown

by Anthony A. Bongiorno and Sarah L. Engle | Feb 21, 2018 | Employee Benefits, Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs), Health and Welfare Plans, Retirement Plans

The Bipartisan Budget Act helped avoid another government shutdown, but did it cause problems for your benefit plans? Sarah L. Engle and D. Finn Pressly will discuss everything you need to know about the new legislation, including changes to hardship distributions and new wildfire relief. The panel will also bring you up to speed on other key developments in the employee benefits sphere over the last month.

Register now.

Update on Tax Reform’s Impact on Fringe Benefits

by Anthony A. Bongiorno and McDermott Will & Emery | Feb 20, 2018 | Employee Benefits, Health and Welfare Plans

Partners Judith Wethall and Finn Pressly discuss the impact of tax reform on popular fringe benefit programs including relocation costs and pre-tax transportation programs.

Access our Tax Reform Resource Center for more of our Tax Takes video series, along with other strategies and tools that will continue to help you lead your organization through the opportunities and risks brought about by the new legislation.

Going Up but Never Down | 2018 ERISA Penalties

by McDermott Will & Emery and Diane Morgenthaler | Feb 15, 2018 | Employee Benefits, Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs), Health and Welfare Plans, Retirement Plans

The Department of Labor announced increased penalties for employee benefit plans under ERISA. The increases generally apply to penalties that involve employee benefit reporting and disclosure failings if the penalty is assessed after January 2, 2018, and if the violation occurred after November 2, 2015. We’ve compiled a resource outlining the ERISA penalty amounts assessed for violations on or before January 2, 2018, and those amounts assessed after January 2.

Digital Health Year in Review: 2017 Trends and Looking Ahead to 2018

by McDermott Will & Emery, Bernadette M. Broccolo, Dale C. Van Demark, Jennifer S. Geetter, Jiayan Chen, Lisa Schmitz Mazur, Michael Ryan, Ryan Marcus, Scott Weinstein, Sarah T. Hogan and Vernessa T. Pollard | Feb 8, 2018 | Health and Welfare Plans, Privacy and Data Security

Throughout 2017, the health care and life sciences industries experienced a widespread proliferation of digital health innovation that presents challenges to traditional notions of health care delivery and payment as well as product research, development and commercialization for both long-standing and new stakeholders. At the same time, lawmakers and regulators made meaningful progress toward modernizing the existing legal framework in a way that will both adequately protect patients and consumers and support and encourage continued innovation, but their efforts have not kept pace with what has become the light speed of innovation. As a result, some obstacles, misalignment and ambiguity remain.

We are pleased to bring you this review of key developments that shaped digital health in 2017, along with planning considerations and predictions for the digital health frontier in the year ahead.

Final Rule on Disability Claims under Welfare and Retirement Plans Effective April 1

by Megan Mardy | Feb 1, 2018 | Employee Benefits, Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs), Health and Welfare Plans, Retirement Plans

After some speculation about a delay in implementation of the final rules on claims adjudication of disability claims under welfare and retirement plans (the Final Rule), the US Department of Labor (DOL) confirmed that the Final Rule will be applicable beginning April 1, 2018. McDermott’s article detailing the new requirements in the Final Rule can be found here. A disability welfare or retirement benefit claim, as well as claims under certain executive compensation arrangements, severance plans and other payment plans subject to ERISA’s claims procedures, will be subject to the Final Rule if the benefit is conditioned upon a claimant’s disability, and the claims adjudicator must make a determination of disability in order to decide the claim. However, if a plan links the finding of disability to a determination made by a party other than the plan (e.g., a finding made under the employer’s long-term disability plan or a determination of disability made by the Social Security Administration), then the special rules for disability claims are not applicable to a claim for benefits under such plan.

Plan sponsors and administrators should review retirement, welfare, executive compensation and severance plans to determine whether such benefits are subject to the Final Rule’s additional requirements. Any language detailing claim procedures in plan documents and summary plan descriptions should be updated, and disability claim and appeal administrative practices and procedures, as well as disability claim and appeal notices should be revised to comply with the Final Rule.

Live Webinar: Tax Reform and Your Employee Benefit Plans

by Anthony A. Bongiorno and McDermott Will & Emery | Jan 30, 2018 | Employee Benefits, Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs), Employment, Health and Welfare Plans

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 was signed into law last year. From biking benefits to leave tax credits, we’ll discuss the employee benefit provisions and strategies for compliance, as well as opportunities your company won’t want to miss! Join the McDermott team on Friday, February 2 for a discussion of how the new law impacts fringe benefit plans, executive compensation and retirement plans.

Friday, February 2, 2018
10:00 – 10:45 am PST
11:00 – 11:45 am MST
12:00 – 12:45 pm CST
1:00 – 1:45 pm EST

Register Here.

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