Benefits Blast

On July 25, 2023, the Departments of Labor, Treasury, and Health and Human Services (the Departments) released a Proposed Rule under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA).

The Benefits Bulletin provides timely and consistent updates on industry hot topics.

In a June 2020 Information Letter, the Department of Labor opened the window slightly for defined contribution retirement plans to offer indirect investment in private equity funds.

The Department of Labor (“DOL”) recently issued another set of proposed regulations seeking to address the perceived “artificial impediments” imposed by its two sets of final regulations finalized in late 2020.

On April 7, 2021, the Department of Labor (the DOL) issued guidance (the Guidance) and model notices and forms for the COBRA subsidy provision of the American Rescue Plan Act (the Act). 

The Department of Labor (DOL) recently issued three guidance documents addressing a plan fiduciary’s obligations when participants or beneficiaries do not apply for retirement benefits because they cannot be located (or do not respond to critical plan communications). 

Most retirement plans calculate benefits on the basis of a participant’s pay or compensation. For example, in a profit-sharing plan, an employer typically contributes a percentage of the employee’s pay each year, or, in a defined benefit pension plan, the employee’s benefit will be based on his or her final average pay or career average pay.

Recently, the United States Department of Labor (the Department) published a Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA) fact sheet called the USERRA Fact Sheet 1. 

Earlier this month, the Department of Labor (Department) issued an updated model notice for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

The U.S. Department of Labor (Department) has released a policy statement and a Questions and Answers – Part Two (FAQ) in reaction to the district court for the District of Columbia’s ruling in State of New York v. U.S. DOL of Labor, which vacated a key part of the Department’s final regulations expanding the availability of association health plans (AHPs).

Questions constantly arise as to whether certain expenses incurred by an employee benefit plan can be paid from the assets of the plan or by the plan sponsor. Expenses incurred by an employee benefit plan fall into two broad categories: settlor expenses and fiduciary expenses. Fiduciary expenses can be paid from plan assets; however, settlor expenses cannot be paid from plan assets. Improperly paying expenses with plan assets could constitute a breach of fiduciary duty. It is, therefore, important for plan sponsors to correctly identify which expenses can be charged to the plan and which cannot.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently made available an information letter that confirms general preemption under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA), of state civil laws that require employers to obtain written consent before withholding amounts from employees’ wages for contribution to a benefit plan subject to ERISA. 

The Department of Labor (DOL) recently issued an ERISA compliance assistance bulletin for Association Health Plans (AHPs). The guidance highlights the various rules that apply under ERISA for managing and operating a group health plan.

On March 23, 2018, the National Association for Fixed Annuities and the U.S. Department of Labor (the “Department”) and Secretary of Labor R. Alexander Acosta, in Case No. 16-5345, an ongoing legal challenge to the Department’s fiduciary rule, have stipulated and agreed to voluntarily dismiss the case.