ANGEL L. GARRETT and ALYSSA OHANIAN, October 2015 — On September 11, 2015, the Ninth Circuit, in Resilient Floor Covering Pension Trust Fund Board of Trustees v. Michael’s Floor Covering, Inc., Case No. 12-17675, 2015 WL 5295091, joined the Seventh Circuit in holding that an employer may be subject to withdrawal liability as a successor […]
Author: Trucker Huss
NICHOLAS J. WHITE, October 2015 — In 2008, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued a safe-harbor regulation for plan investment fiduciaries regarding a prudent process for selecting and monitoring annuity providers and contracts for defined contribution plans (the “Safe Harbor Rule”). In Field Assistance Bulletin (FAB) 2015-2 (the “FAB”), issued this past summer, the DOL […]
SHANNON OLIVER and KEVIN E. NOLT, October 2015 — The Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) has announced the annual cost-of-living adjustments applicable to dollar limitations for retirement plans and other items for Tax Year 2016. The retirement plan limitations generally are unchanged in 2016 because in most cases the slight increase in the cost-of-living index […]
JENNIFER TRUONG, September 2015 — On September 1, 2015, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) issued new proposed regulations on the determination of whether an employer-sponsored health plan provides “minimum value,” for purposes of the employer “offer of coverage requirement under Section 4980H of the Internal Revenue Code Under the proposed regulations and consistent with IRS […]
T. KATURI KAYE, September 2015 — On September 9, 2015, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) issued final regulations on determining minimum required pension contributions under Internal Revenue Code (“Code”) section 430 for single employer defined benefit pension plans for plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2016. Code section 430 was added by the […]
CLARISSA A. KANG, September 2015 — “Yes,” says the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. The Third Circuit in Mirza v. Insurance Administrator of America, Inc., et al. recently held that a plan administrator violated section 503 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”) for failing to disclose in a […]
MARY POWELL and ERIC SCHILLINGER, August 2015 — On August 7, 2015, the IRS issued new draft forms and instructions to be used by certain health-coverage providers and employers who are required by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (the “ACA”) to report health coverage offered and provided in the prior calendar year on […]
TIFFANY N. SANTOS, August 2015 — As the end of the 2015 calendar plan year and the next open enrollment period for the 2016 calendar year group health plan fast approach, employers and other plan sponsors of self-insured health plans must implement and administer a number of changes to comply with the Affordable Care Act […]
MARY POWELL and ERIC SCHILLINGER, August 2015 — Beginning this year in 2015, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’s Employer Shared Responsibility Provisions under Internal Revenue Code (“Code”) Section 4980H (often referred to as the “Employer Mandate” or the “Pay-or-Play Rules”) took effect, requiring an “applicable large employer” to either offer certain health coverage […]
MICHELLE S. LEWIS, July 2015 — The Supreme Court has issued a unanimous opinion in favor of plan participants in Tibble v. Edison International, 135 S. Ct. 1823 (2015), a case that raised an issue on the amount of time a plan participant has to bring a claim for breach of fiduciary duty under ERISA. […]
ROBERT R. GOWER, July 2015 — On July 21, 2015, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) released Announcement 2015-19, announcing a significant curtailment of the IRS determination letter program for individually designed retirement plans. Announcement 2015-19 eliminates the five-year remedial amendment cycle for individually designed retirement plans and restricts the IRS determination letter program to limited […]
ROBERT R. GOWER, May 2015 — After years back at the drawing board following the withdrawal of proposed fiduciary regulations issued in 2010, on April 20, 2015, the United States Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued a new proposed rulemaking package that more broadly defines the circumstances in which a person who provides “investment advice” may […]
ERIC J. SCHILLINGER, May 2015 — As mid-2015 is fast approaching, employers and plan sponsors that have not yet contemplated their reporting obligations under the Affordable Care Act may wish to consider starting now. In early 2016, insurers, plan sponsors of self-funded plans and employers with 50 or more full-time equivalent employees will need to […]
FREEMAN L. LEVINRAD, May 2015 — On March 18, 2015, the Department of Labor, the Department of the Treasury, and the Department of Health and Human Services (the “Departments”) jointly issued final rules (the “Final Rules”) amending proposed regulations previously issued under the Affordable Care Act (the “ACA”) regarding the inclusion of “limited wraparound coverage” […]
VIRGINIA PERKINS, December 2014 — On November 5, 2014, the Ninth Circuit issued an opinion in Spinedex Physical Therapy USA, Inc. v. United Healthcare of Arizona, Inc., 770 F.3d 1282 (9th Cir. 2014), of potentially great importance to sponsors and administrators of ERISA plans. Of particular interest are the Ninth Circuit’s holdings that: A contractual […]
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