Understanding Employee Benefits and key developments in the employee benefits field and items of interest to our clients. MORE

Benefits Notes

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In one of the few cases that has considered the legality of an employer wellness program, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals considered a challenge by an employee of Broward County, Florida to the county’s imposition of a $20.00 bi-weekly charge on employees enrolled in the group health insurance plan who refused to participate in …

I recently blogged about an employer who continued health insurance coverage for an employee on short term disability in contravention of the health plan document. The employer lost its stop-loss coverage for health claims incurred by the disabled employee because the health plan document did not specifically allow for continued coverage during disability. Today’s blog …

A recent Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals decision considered whether a third party administrator of a self-funded medical plan was a fiduciary under ERISA. Under ERISA, fiduciaries owe strict duties of loyalty and prudence to plan participants and beneficiaries and can be personally liable for losses if they are not. Many third party administrators of …

Employers participating in multiemployer plans should be well aware of the funded status of those plans. Annually the employer must receive notice from the plan about its funded status including whether it is in “endangered” or “critical” status. Under the Pension Protection Act of 2006, a multiemployer pension plan is endangered if among other criteria, …

Sole proprietors, partners (including LLC members) and two percent shareholders in an S corporation are not treated as “employees” for purposes of certain benefits. Among those benefits is employer provided health insurance coverage. While employer subsidies for health coverage are generally excluded from the income of employees, that is not the case for sole proprietors, …

As we have blogged before (here and here), certain service providers to qualified plans are required to provide plan administrators with fee disclosures. The initial disclosures were due July 1, 2012. The Department of Labor has now published a new mailing address and web based procedures for employers and plan administrators to report …

A recent Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals decision involved high ranking executives who participated in a company’s long-term incentive plan. Under the plan agreements, executives who did not continue employment for a three year performance period forfeited benefits under the plan unless they qualified for a pro-rated award. A pro-rated award was available for participants …

In a recent federal district court case, Whirlpool Corporation closed a factory and notified a number of former employees about the status of their pensions, including their years of credited service. The corporation’s records differed from the service records maintained by the union. Approximately five years after the factory closed, some of the participants …