Trucker Huss sponsored the American Bar Association (ABA) TIPS 49th Annual Midwinter Symposium on Employee Benefits, ERISA, Life, Health & Disability Insurance and Insurance Regulation last month in La Jolla, California.  Sarah Kanter presented on the panel “Health Coverage Trends in Employee Benefits: Abortion Services, Family Forming Benefits, and Gender Affirming Care.” The panel covered employee benefits trends in health coverage, including abortion services, family-forming benefits, and gender-affirming care. Brian Murray was a moderator and presenter on the “ERISA Hot Topics, Part One: Health and Welfare Benefits” panel. The presenters discussed significant ERISA health and welfare benefits developments over the past year.  Sarah Bowen and Catherine Reagan served on the planning committee for the conference.

Trucker Huss, APC is pleased to announce that Joe Faucher has been selected to the 2025 Southern California Super Lawyers list. Joe has consistently been recognized as a Southern California Super Lawyer since 2005. Each year, no more than five percent of the lawyers in the state are selected by the research team at Super Lawyers to receive this honor. Super Lawyers, part of Thomson Reuters, is a rating service of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The annual selections are made using a patented multiphase process that includes a statewide survey of lawyers, an independent research evaluation of candidates and peer reviews by practice area. The result is a credible, comprehensive and diverse listing of exceptional attorneys. Read more about the firm’s Super Lawyers recognition in Northern California. https://www.truckerhuss.com/firm_news/fifteen-trucker-huss-2025-best-lawyers/ In addition to his Super Lawyers recognition,

Brian Murray will be a moderator at the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Annual TIPS Mid-Winter Symposium on Employee Benefits, ERISA, Life, Health & Disability Insurance, and Insurance Regulation. The event will be held at the Estancia La Jolla Hotel on February 21-22, 2025. Brian will be the moderator of ERISA Hot Topics: Health and Welfare Benefits. This panel will discuss significant ERISA health and welfare benefits developments over the past year. The perspectives of both plaintiff and defense counsel will be offered on a range of topics, including litigation against plan fiduciaries for alleged mismanagement of prescription drug benefits through selection and monitoring of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), the latest cybersecurity guidance from the federal Department of Labor relating to health and welfare plans, and recent cases challenging federal regulations affecting welfare benefit plans. Click here to learn about the event.

Mary Powell will co-present on February 20 during the American Bar Association (ABA) 2025 Midyear Tax Meeting. The subcommittee panel “Employee Benefits: Welfare Plans, EEOC, FMLA and Leave Issues” will address the 2024 Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) regulations, explore issues plans should consider before sharing plan data with point solution administrators, voluntary benefit insurers, consultants, and other service providers, provide an update on pharmacy benefit design and compliance, and revisit key legal challenges to federal regulations governing health plans (including lawsuits targeting ACA preventive care mandates and HIPAA privacy regulations). Learn more about the event.

Trucker Huss is a Platinum Sponsor of the ABA, Labor and Employment Law, Employee Benefits Committee Midwinter Meeting, and the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Luncheon Program at the meeting being held February 5-8, 2025, in Savannah, Georgia. The annual meeting program will feature presentations by panelists representing management, union, and employee perspectives on hot topics and cutting-edge issues in the field of employee benefits law.  Clarissa A. Kang holds a leadership position in the ABA Section as the Employer/Management Co-Chair of the Committee. She also served as Co-Chair in 2024. Robert Gower will be co-presenting on the panel “More Tightly Secure 2.0” on Wednesday, February 5. The panel will explore SECURE 2.0’s automatic enrollment and Roth catch-up contribution provisions and what has been happening on the ground level with retirement overpayments since the law’s passage. The presentation will also offer insights regarding the 401(k) required minimum distribution rules, including distributions to beneficiaries.

Scott E. Galbreath will present “Self-Correction Under the Updated Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program” during the National Institute of Pension Administrators (NIPA) Webcast on Tuesday, February 25, 2025. He will discuss the Department of Labor’s updated Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program and its changes from the former program. These include the new Self-Correction Component (SCC), which allows self-correction of certain fiduciary breaches for delinquent participant contributions and loan repayments to pension plans and eligible inadvertent participant loan failures that are self-corrected under the IRS Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System. The eligibility, process, and relief available under the SCC will be covered. Scott E. Galbreath leads the Executive and Equity Compensation Practice Team. He has over 30 years of experience representing employers in ERISA, employee benefits, and executive compensation matters. He is the author of The Benefit of Benefits blog, which is an online resource for information and commentary on new legislative, regulatory,