Insights

Although COBRA is not a new law, there are still mistakes that employer plan sponsors can make when administering their COBRA offering. Among the possible mistakes is failing to include the required content in the COBRA election notice. As a reminder, the following 14 items must be included in every COBRA election notice: Contact information for the plan, including the plan name and the name, address and telephone number of the entity that administers COBRA on behalf of the plan. The qualif

On May 30, 2023, the DOL issued an opinion letter that affirms its prior guidance regarding how to calculate the amount of FMLA leave entitlement when a workweek includes a holiday. "Workweek" is defined under the FMLA as the employee's normal schedule (hours/days per week) prior to the start of FMLA leave. The opinion letter confirms that when a holiday falls during a week when an employee is taking a full workweek of FMLA leave and is not expected to work on the holiday, the entire week is co

On May 3, 2023, in Salim v. Health Svc & Indemnity, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (the Fifth Circuit) affirmed a lower court ruling that Blue Cross abused its discretion when it denied the plaintiff coverage even when substantial evidence did not support that decision. The plaintiff, Robert Salim, was a business owner who bought a health insurance plan from Blue Cross to cover himself and his employees. Blue Cross insured the plaintiff when he was diagnosed with t

The SECURE 2.0 Act made significant changes to the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS) self-correction program but also granted the IRS broad latitude to limit self-correction as it deems appropriate. The IRS has now provided interim guidance pursuant to these provisions in Notice 2023-43, which provides that plan sponsors may self-correct an "eligible inadvertent failure," defined as a failure that occurs despite the existence of practices and procedures that satisfy standards

The IRS recently released updated instructions for Form 5300, Application for Determination for Employee Benefit Plan; Form 5307, Application for Determination for Adopters of Modified Non-standardized Pre-Approved Plans; and Form 5310, Application for Determination for Terminating Plan. Form 5300 is filed to request a determination letter from the IRS for the qualification of an individually designed or preapproved defined benefit or a defined contribution plan and the exempt status of an

Gov. DeSantis recently signed the following bills into law: HB 721, as enacted, amends the insurance laws to specify standards for transacting paid family leave insurance in Florida. The state does not require employers to provide paid family leave, but HB 721 allows insurers to provide paid family leave coverage for an employer wishing to offer such leave. Specifically, life insurers may transact paid family leave insurance as a policy or as a rider to a group disability income policy. Further

On April 12, 2023, Gov. Youngkin signed SB 1086 into law, expanding unpaid leave for Virginia employees following an organ or blood marrow donation. Beginning July 1, 2023, the law requires Virginia employers with 50 or more employees to provide eligible employees with up to 60 business days per 12-month period of unpaid leave for organ donation and up to 30 business days per 12-month period of unpaid leave for bone marrow donation. Employees are eligible if they have worked for the employer fo

The RetirePath Virginia Retirement Savings Program was initially created by legislation on April 15, 2021, and is expected to launch in July 2023. The program is an automatic-enrollment payroll deduction state-run IRA program for employers who do not otherwise offer employees a qualified retirement savings program. RetirePath contributions default to a Roth IRA, but employees have the option to recharacterize their contributions to a traditional IRA. An employee is eligible to participate in Re

On May 25, 2023, Gov. Walz signed a bill that created a statewide Paid Family and Medical Leave program. Under the program, Minnesota employees will be eligible for paid family and medical leave once they have earned more than $3500 within the state over the course of a year. These employees will be entitled to partial wage replacement for 12-20 weeks of leave in a 52-week period for medical leave, bonding or caring for a family member. A fund maintained by the state will pay the partial wage r