I’ll Be Back! Handling Benefits during Employee Leaves of Absence

There are many reasons employees may take leave (bereavement, sickness, vacation, sabbatical, disability, military leave). Some leaves provide employees with protections, such as leaves under the Family Medical Leave Act, USERRA, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, or state law. Employers must account properly for the accrual of an employee's benefits and service during a leave of absence and still provide opportunities for the inactive employee to make benefit elections, often contributions (sometimes, make-up contributions), or otherwise participate in the plan. Don’t forget these and other employees (like COBRA participants), during your open enrollment.

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Practical Guidance Updates 
Featuring the latest updates from your Practical Guidance account.      

• Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Key Legal Developments Tracker (Current)
  Stay informed on new developments.
  • ERISA. DOL’s EBSA division clarifies and updates its cybersecurity guidance indicating that the guidance applies to all types of ERISA plans, including health and welfare plans. EBSA, Compliance Assistance Release No. 2024-01.
  • Retirement Plans. IRS issues guidance in the form of questions and answers for section 110 of the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022, which allows employers to match employees' qualified student loan payments under section 401(k) plans, section 403(b) plans, SIMPLE IRA plans, and governmental section 457(b) plans. R.S. Notice 2024-63.
  • Health and Welfare Benefits. IRS, EBSA, HHS, and CMS issue final rules amending regulations that implement the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA) and add new regulations implementing the nonquantitative treatment limitations comparative analyses requirements under the MHPAEA, as amended by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021. 89 Fed. Reg. __ (prepublished version and CMS News).
  • Health and Welfare Plans. HHS Office of the Inspector General disallows an entity's proposal to share a percentage of its savings with Certain Groups to Which It Provides Health Coverage through Employer Group Waiver Plans (EGWPs) indicating that the proposed arrangement would implicate the Federal anti-kickback statute because the requestor, an organization that offers EGWPs, would offer remuneration that could induce the group to refer its enrollees to a requestor that would then arrange for the furnishing of services reimbursable by a Federal health care program. HHS OIG Advisory Opinion 24-08 (redacted).
• Stay informed on SECURE 2.0 Act developments by using our SECURE 2.0 Act Guidance Tracker.
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• For Practical Guidance content on important recent trends, review easy-to-use Resource Kits on these emerging topics:
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• The Fall 2024 Edition of The Practical Guidance Journal features guidance on the use of AI in employment decisions, AI considerations in acquisition agreements, Chevron deference reversal challenges in FDA rulemaking, 50 years of ERISA pension protection, plus obligations and risks related to the provision of anti-overdose medication in the workplace.
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• Legal Developments provide the latest updates and analyses of emerging topics impacting your practice area. Visit the Legal Developments page to see the latest topics, which also include breaking legal news and related Practical Guidance content. 

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