On May 7, 2012 the Department of Labor issued a set of questions and answers via Field Assistance Bulletin FAB No. 2012-02 (http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/regs/fab2012-2.html) concerning the new fiduciary fee disclosures in Labor Regulations §2550.408(b)-2 and participant fee disclosure requirements outlined in Labor Regulations §2550.404(a)-5. Q&A 30 of the May 7th FAB... Read More
A recent federal court decision from the Eastern District of Wisconsin dealt with a situation of an employer who failed to provide a former employee proper COBRA notices and failed to accept a premium payment for the COBRA coverage. The employer had sent the required COBRA notice when the employee... Read More
An employer who wishes to terminate a defined benefit pension plan must make sure that the plan is fully funded in order to do so. Sometimes the employer must contribute funds to the plan in order to provide sufficient assets to pay all the benefits on plan termination. A recent... Read More
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... Read More
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... Read More
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... Read More
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,... Read More
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) provided a number of new taxes to help finance the new health care law. One such tax is an additional Medicare tax on high earners that takes effect for tax years beginning after 2012. To assist taxpayers and employers in implementing the... Read More
The Department of Labor recently updated its self-compliance tool for plan sponsors and plan administrators of group health plans. The self-compliance tool contains questions relating to requirements on issues such as limitations on preexisting conditions, certificates of creditable coverage, special enrollment rights, HIPAA nondiscrimination rules, wellness programs, Mental Health Parity... Read More
On June 29, 2012, Congress passed a highway funding bill (H.R. 4348) which includes as a funding source, certain pension funding stabilization provisions. The impact of the pension changes would be to increase the segment rates used to calculate liability and normal costs for purposes of determining minimum required contributions and... Read More