As we get closer to the September 30 expiration date of the COBRA premium subsidy provided under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), the IRS has issued a second set of FAQs in Notice 2021-46 (Notice) to supplement its prior guidance and provide some specific answers to questions that remained unanswered. The first set of IRS FAQs were provided under Notice 2021-31, which we summarized in our previous LawFlash.
ML BeneBits
EXAMINING A RANGE OF EMPLOYEE BENEFITS
AND EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION ISSUES
AND EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION ISSUES
As we described in our August 31, 2020 LawFlash, the US Department of Labor (DOL) issued an Interim Final Rule (Rule) on August 18, 2020 outlining the requirement of the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (SECURE Act) for employers to provide “lifetime income illustrations” to defined contribution plan (e.g. 401(k), 403(b), etc.) participants. The purpose of the Rule is to provide participants with disclosures that will help them understand how their defined contribution plan accounts may translate into an income stream in retirement.
On July 19, the US Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Treasury (the Departments) issued Part 47 of their frequently asked questions (FAQs) about Affordable Care Act (ACA) implementation. There are three new FAQs, all of which pertain to coverage of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) under Section 2713 of the Public Health Service Act (PHS Act). PrEP is an antiretroviral medication for individuals at high risk of contracting human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
The US Department of Labor (DOL) issued Information Letter 06-14-2021 last month to the attorney of a plan participant who requested a copy of an audio recording and transcript of a phone conversation he or she had with the plan’s insurer. The participant was requesting this information in relation to the participant’s denied claim under the plan.
Addressing what they call the four major “crises” facing the nation—COVID-19, the economy, climate, and inequity—US President Joseph Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have consistently framed many of their most important executive actions and policy proposals as attempts to prioritize one or more of these four policy concerns. Read our LawFlash for a recap of some of the more wide-reaching and impactful (or in some cases, potentially impactful) executive orders, legislative actions, policy proposals, and other developments during the first 100 days of the Biden-Harris administration.
The US Department of Labor (DOL) issued three long-awaited pieces of subregulatory guidance on April 14, addressing the cybersecurity practices of retirement plan sponsors, service providers, and plan participants, respectively. The guidance provides an important window into the DOL’s expectations of what ERISA’s prudence standards require with respect to cybersecurity matters.
As we described in our March 15, 2021 LawFlash, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) includes a 100% COBRA premium subsidy for any employee or dependent who is a COBRA qualified beneficiary (or will become one) resulting from an involuntary termination of employment or a reduction of hours (referred to as an Eligible Individual).
In a somewhat expected development, the US Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) issued an enforcement statement on Wednesday announcing that it will not enforce the recently published final rules on “Financial Factors in Selecting Plan Investments”—commonly known as the ESG Rule—and “Fiduciary Duties Regarding Proxy Voting and Shareholder Rights” (Proxy Voting Rule).
The US Senate on March 6 passed the Butch Lewis Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act of 2021 (EPPRA) as part of the American Rescue Plan of 2021 (H.R. 1319), the Biden administration’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus package.
At the 11th hour, the US Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), with coordination and review by the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Health and Human Services (collectively, the Agencies), finally issued guidance on the suspension of certain deadlines under the Employee Retirement Income Securities Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA) and the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (Code). As we described in our February 25, 2021 blog post, the Agencies previously issued EBSA Disaster Relief Notice 2020-01 and a joint final rule (collectively, Guidance) suspending timeframes for special enrollment elections, claims and appeals filing deadlines, and COBRA notice, election, and premium payment deadlines.