Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation

By: Rex Iacurci , Lexis Practice Advisor This article discusses recent guidance by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) addressing how entities subject to the Health Insurance Protection and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and their business associates must continue... Read More

NINTH CIRCUIT REINSTATES EMPLOYEES’ SUITS OVER PAYMENT FOR POST-SHIFT INSPECTION PERIODS EMPLOYEES OF NIKE AND CONVERSE MAY PROCEED with class action suits alleging that the athletic wear companies violated California law by refusing to pay them for time spent during mandatory post-shift security... Read More

EEOC LEAVES WORKPLACE WELLNESS PROGRAMS IN LIMBO EFFECTIVE JANUARY 1, 2019, REGULATIONS ISSUED by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) concerning incentive-based workplace wellness programs are rescinded, leaving employers without guidance until at least June. By way of background,... Read More

STATE ATTORNEYS GENERAL FILE APPEAL FROM RULING INVALIDATING AFFORDABLE CARE ACT ATTORNEYS GENERAL FROM 16 STATES AND THE DISTRICT of Columbia have filed a notice of appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit following a ruling by a Texas federal judge striking down the Patient Protection... Read More

By: Jason Brocks This article highlights some key considerations for attorneys representing employer sponsors of group health plans that are considering contracting directly with health care providers. As the idea of direct contracting arrangements between plan sponsors and health care providers becomes... Read More

By: George M. Sepsakos and Michael P. Kreps , Groom Law Group, Chartered This article discusses the implications of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals’ vacatur of the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Fiduciary Rule 1 and related amendments to other prohibited transaction exemptions (PTEs) in... Read More

By: Hannah DeLuca , W. Andrew Douglass , and Elizabeth Bray , Polsinelli P.C. This article addresses the steps that plan sponsors and fiduciaries must take to locate and notify missing participants in qualified defined contribution and qualified defined benefit plans regarding benefits that are due... Read More

By: Richard Lieberman , Dykema Gossett PLLC THE TAX REFORM LEGISLATION ENACTED IN LATE 2017, known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (Pub. L. No. 115-97) (the Tax Act), made relatively few far-reaching and substantive changes in the area of executive compensation and employee benefits. These changes, summarized... Read More

By: Brian M. Murray , Baker & Hostetler LLP This article discusses aspects of Section 510 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) (29 U.S.C. § 1140), which prohibits interference with benefits and retaliation for the exercise of rights under ERISA and ERISA employee benefit... Read More

LABOR DEPARTMENT RESUMES OPINION PROGRAM, REISSUES 17 RESCINDED LETTERS THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR (DOL) HAS REISSUED 17 opinion letters originally issued in January 2009 during the last few weeks of the Bush administration but later withdrawn by the Obama administration “for further consideration... Read More

By: Richard Lieberman , Dykema Gosset PLLC This article addresses fundamental considerations in structuring equity compensation for general and limited partnerships, as well as limited liability companies (LLCs) that are classified as partnerships for federal income tax purposes. IT SUMMARIZES THE... Read More

SUPREME COURT TO RULE ON VALIDITY OF CLASS WAIVERS IN EMPLOYMENT CONTEXT By: Lexis Practice Advisor Staff THE U.S. SUPREME COURT IS expected to decide this term whether the collective-bargaining provisions of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) prohibit enforcement of agreements requiring employees... Read More

By: Jeffrey Lieberman SKADDEN, ARPS, SLATE, MEAGHER & FLOM LLP This article identifies best practices to assist a 401(k) plan investment committee in satisfying its fiduciary obligations under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ( 29 U.S.C. § 1001, et. seq. , as amended) (ERISA... Read More

By: Emily D. Zimmer and Lynne S. Wakefield , K&L Gates LLP. This article discusses how to design and operate compliant employer-sponsored health reimbursement accounts (HRAs) under the Internal Revenue Code (I.R.C.), with a particular focus on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA... Read More