Insights

In an era where businesses are increasingly global, understanding the intricacies of regional and global benefits management is paramount. Our recent webinar, led by NFP's international benefits experts, provided a comprehensive look into this domain. Agenda Centralizing Your Approach: Firsthand experiences on how global businesses are streamlining their approach to well-being, employee engagement and benefits management. Global Trends in Employee Well-Being and Engagement: Delving into the im

Forty-four states currently have laws that require the continuation of group health insurance coverage that would otherwise be lost because of the termination of employment, reduction of hours, or other reasons. Many of these laws mirror some or most of the provisions of the federal COBRA law and are for this reason often called “mini-COBRA” laws for short. Benefits consultants and human resource professionals are generally familiar with the continuation requirements of federal COBRA, but even

On August 15, 2023, in PCMA v. Mulready, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals (Tenth Circuit) held that Oklahoma's Patient's Right to Pharmacy Choice Act (the Act) is preempted by ERISA, reversing a ruling by the US Western District Court of Oklahoma. The case was remanded with instructions to the district court to enter judgment consistent with the Tenth Circuit’s opinion. As background, ERISA is federal law that generally preempts (i.e., supersedes) conflicting state laws that regulate employer

The DOL recently issued a guide to help health plan enrollees understand their mental health and substance use disorder benefits and rights under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA). The goal of MHPAEA is to ensure that people seeking coverage for mental health and substance use disorders can access treatment as easily as people seeking coverage for medical treatments. MHPAEA applies to individuals who are enrolled in both fully insured and self-insured group health plans

On July 17, 2023, the IRS released an issue snapshot on the deductibility of employer 401(k) contributions made after the plan year end. Issue Snapshots represent the IRS’ periodic research summaries on tax-related issues. This snapshot discusses how IRC timing rules apply to employers who establish a new 401(k) plan after the end of the tax year. These rules determine whether a retirement plan can be retroactively established and, if so, whether plan contributions are allocable to and deductib

On August 25, 2023, the IRS released Notice 2023-62, which provides transition relief for implementation of the new Roth catch-up contribution requirement under section 603 of the SECURE 2.0 Act. Under present rules, 401(k), 403(b) and governmental 457(b) plans can allow participants who are age 50 or older by year end to make catch-up contributions, which are additional elective deferrals that exceed the otherwise applicable elective deferral limit. Currently, as permitted by the plan, catch-u

Paid leave benefits will begin on September 3, 2023, for Oregon employees eligible for medical leave (for an employee's own serious health condition), family leave (caring for a family member with a serious health condition or caring for and bonding with a child in the first year after birth, adoption, or foster care placement), or safe leave (time off for survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence, harassment, and/or stalking). Both employee and large employer (25 or more employees) contri

On August 23, 2023, the IRS published Revenue Procedure 2023-29, which provides the employer contribution percentage requirements applicable for plan years beginning in calendar year 2024 and the 2024 premium tax credit (PTC) table. The ACA’s employer-shared responsibility rules (also known as the “employer mandate”) require an employer to provide affordable, minimum-value coverage to its full-time employees. The IRS’ required contribution percentage is used to determine whether an employer-spo

The global construction market is currently experimenting with a wide variety of project delivery models to find the ideal mix of risk allocation between owners, design firms and contractors. Never have so many delivery models been actively used by owners in all major construction economies worldwide. Given this wide array of project delivery models in the market, how are construction stakeholders measuring the effectiveness of each model? Well, the answer to that question isn’t quite clear, as