Benefits Blast

The FTC recently appealed a Texas federal court’s decision from August to block the implementation of the FTC’s rule banning worker non-competes.

The IRS recently released Notice 2024-80 to announce cost-of-living adjustments to the indexed dollar limits applicable to retirement plans. Most importantly, the new IRS guidance addresses the SECURE 2.0 change to the catch-up contribution limit for participants aged 60 to 63.

On October 4, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to resolve a three-way circuit split regarding the pleading standard for alleged prohibited-transaction claims under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA).

Institutional Shareholder Services, one of the leading proxy advisory firms, uses its Annual Global Benchmark Policy Survey to gauge investor and other stakeholder interests and market sentiment. 

There is still time to submit responses to Glass Lewis’s 2024 Policy Survey, which the proxy advisor uses to gauge investor and other stakeholder interests and market sentiment. Since Glass Lewis selects the questions, the policy survey also indicates the advisor’s areas of policy focus. In this blog post, we identify a few highlights from the Executive Compensation portion of the survey we think practitioners should be tracking.

As the Supreme Court’s 2024 term comes to a close, we want to highlight several decisions that impact employer-sponsored group health plans. Health plan sponsors will want to monitor the impact of these decisions.

Last month, the United States (U.S.) Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit partially upheld a lower court ruling in Braidwood Management, Inc. v. Becerra that invalidated the preventive care mandate under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). 

The IRS recently released Rev. Proc. 2024-25, which provides the inflation-adjusted limits related to health savings accounts (HSAs), high deductible health plans (HDHPs), and excepted benefit health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs) for the 2025 calendar year.

On April 3, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor (Department) published its final amendment (the Final Amendment) to Prohibited Transaction Class Exemption 84-14 (the QPAM Exemption or Exemption). 

On April 25, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (the Department) published the Retirement Security Rule: Definition of an Investment Advice Fiduciary (the 2024 Fiduciary Rule). The 2024 Fiduciary Rule defines when a person is considered a fiduciary under Title I and Title II of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) in connection with providing investment advice or making an investment recommendation to a retirement investor. In addition to the 2024 Fiduciary Rule, the Department also finalized amendments to certain Prohibited Transaction Exemptions (PTEs) to reflect the Department’s updated definition of an investment advice fiduciary.

As discussed in prior blog posts, on June 9, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) approved listing standards promulgated by the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and Nasdaq Stock Market (Nasdaq) regarding the recovery of erroneously awarded incentive-based compensation, referred to as “clawbacks.” 

New transparency requirements under the Affordable Care Act and the Consolidated Appropriations Act have ushered in a new era of fee and pricing transparency with respect to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) group health plans.

In January, the 2024 federal poverty level (FPL) was announced as $15,060. 

Due to increased physical and cybersecurity concerns, executives are increasingly provided travel on the company aircraft for both business and personal purposes. However, any non-business travel invokes Form W-2 income inclusion using the Standard Industry Fare Level (SIFL) rates published by the Department of Transportation twice per year, effective for a six-month period.

Effective January 15, 2024, the United States Department of Labor increased its ERISA health and welfare civil penalties for non-compliance

On January 10, 2024, the Department of Labor (DOL) published a final rule (the Final Rule) regarding independent contractors under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The Final Rule, which is effective March 11, 2024, replaces the 2021 rule and applies a “six-factor” test that does not give a predetermined weight to any of the economic reality factors, but rather looks at the individual’s activity as a whole in determining whether they are an independent contractor.

On October 31, 2023, the United States Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (the Department) released its most recent proposed amendment to the guidance addressing when a person would be considered a fiduciary under Title I and Title II of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) if it provides investment advice or makes an investment recommendation to a retirement investor.