I have blogged in the past about individuals and businesses that are not signatories to a collective bargaining agreement being found liable for withdrawal liability imposed by multiemployer pension plans (plans jointly trusteed by union and management trustees for the benefit of a number of unionized employers). Withdrawal liability is imposed when an employer exits
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ACA Pay or Play: Is Your Dependent Coverage Compliant?
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Now that the IRS has issued final regulations under Section 4980H, the so-called “pay or play” provision of the Affordable Care Act, employers are deciding how to determine whether employees are full-time (30 hours or more a week on average), whether the coverage the employer offers is affordable (generally no more than 9½% of the …
Maintaining Poor COBRA Procedures Can be Expensive – Part 2
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Back in 2013 I blogged about an employer who was ordered to pay a COBRA penalty of $1,852,500 to a class of employees to whom timely COBRA notices had not been sent. That amount was equal to $2,500 per affected participant. I mentioned that the class would also be entitled to attorneys’ fees yet to …
MARCH 2014 – IRS Issues Final “Pay or Play” Regulations
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On February 12, 2014, the Treasury Department issued final regulations for the employer shared responsibility (“pay or play”) requirement under the Affordable Care Act (proposed regulations were issued in December of 2012). The regulations provide a large number of clarifications and transition relief – this article highlights several important transition relief provisions that employers should …
DOL Has Helpful ERISA Self-Compliance Tool
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The Department of Labor recently issued the Form M-1, an annual report that must be filed by Multiple Employer Welfare Arrangements (MEWAs). In general, a MEWA is an arrangement that offers health or other welfare benefits to employees of more than one employer. Employers that are part of a controlled group of businesses are …
An SPD Can be a Plan Document
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In Cigna v. Amara, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the plan document is the governing document for an ERISA plan and that in a conflict between the plan document and the summary plan description (SPD), the plan document must be enforced. A participant misled by an SPD may be able to bring various …
Even a Tax Lawyer can get the IRA Rollover Rules Wrong
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Individuals are permitted to roll over amounts in one IRA to another IRA only once in a 12 month period. The rollover must be completed within 60 days. A tax lawyer at a major New York law firm recently tripped on this rule to his detriment. The tax lawyer had several different IRAs. He took …
Former Employee Cannot Recover Penalties for COBRA Notice Violation
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Terminating employees who lose coverage under an employer’s group health plan are frequently entitled to continue that coverage under the federal law commonly known as COBRA. Employers are required to provide a former employee with a notice at the time of termination of employment describing the employee’s rights to continue coverage and the cost of …
Gas Prices Must be Going Down
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Every year the IRS issues optional standard mileage rates that can be used by taxpayers to calculate the deductible cost of operating an automobile for business, charitable, medical or moving purposes. Many employers reimburse employees based on this standard mileage rate. The standard mileage rate also factors into medical expense reimbursement account plans for mileage …
Have You Told the IRS that Your “Responsible Party” Has Changed? By Samuel Butler IV
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The bloggers who bring you BenefitsNotes.com are attorneys at Leonard, Street and Deinard. We are proud to announce that we will merge with Stinson Morrison Hecker on January 1, 2014, to form the firm of Stinson Leonard Street. You can learn more about our new firm at http://stinsonleonardmerger.com/.
We welcome guest blogger Sam Butler, …