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Welcome to the Snell & Wilmer Benefits Blog. We will be posting about current employee benefits and executive compensation topics and issues. We invite you to contact the authors with your thoughts or questions.Blog Contributors
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Subsidized COBRA Elections under ARPA Override COBRA Election Deadline Extensions
As detailed in our SW Benefits Update, “Ironing Out the Wrinkles – IRS Answers 86 Questions About COBRA Relief Under the American Rescue Plan Act,” the IRS recently released Notice 2021-31 (the “Notice”), providing welcome guidance on the COBRA election and subsidy requirements under the American Rescue Plan Act (“ARPA”). As mentioned in that SW Benefits Update, the Notice included some unexpected guidance regarding the impact of ARPA COBRA elections on the COBRA election deadline extensions under the Joint Notice and EBSA Disaster Relief Notice 2021-01 (the “Disaster Relief”).
In part, the Notice provides that an individual who elects subsidized COBRA coverage under ARPA, effective April 1, 2021, must also elect or decline COBRA coverage retroactive to their loss of coverage before April 1, 2021 (if applicable). Read More ›
Posted in Employee Benefits, Health & Welfare Plans
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In Case You Missed It – Key 2021 Employee Benefits Topics
This year is off to a fast start and plan sponsors might find their heads spinning as they try to keep track of rapidly developing employee benefits legislation and guidance. We periodically consolidate key newsletters and blog posts to help our readers stay organized and catch up on items they might have missed. Below, please find links to several SW Benefits Updates and blog posts covering developments in the employee benefits realm. As always, you can access our entire catalogue of employee benefits blog posts here on the Snell & Wilmer L.L.P. website. You can also view all of our SW Benefits Updates here, and our COVID-19-specific SW Benefit Updates here. Read More ›
Posted in Employee Benefits, Executive Compensation, Health & Welfare Plans, Health Care Reform, Qualified Retirement Plans
| Tagged COBRA, Consolidated Appropriations Act, multiemployer plan, wellness program
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Credit Where Credit Is Due: IRS Offers Long-Sought Guidance on Employer Retention Credit Program
As we previously reported, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”) provided for an employee retention credit (“ERC”) designed to encourage employers to retain workers during the COVID-19 crisis. In general, the ERC permits eligible employers to claim a refundable tax credit of a portion of qualified wages paid to employees over a given period.
Initially, the IRS issued guidance on ERCs in the form of online Frequently Asked Questions (the “FAQs”). The FAQs were non-binding and subject to change. As of March 1, 2021, the IRS published formal rules with respect to ERCs in Notice 2021-20 (the “Notice”). Read More ›
Posted in Employee Benefits, Executive Compensation, Health & Welfare Plans, Health Care Reform, Qualified Retirement Plans
| Tagged CAA, CARES Act, eligible employer, employee retention credit, ERC, paycheck protection program, PPP, Qualified wages
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Wellness Program Incentives – New Year, New EEOC Proposed Rules
For years we have been trying to understand how the EEOC regulates wellness programs. Although we still do not have a complete picture, we are getting closer with the EEOC’s new Notices of Proposed Rulemaking on wellness programs under the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (“GINA”). This blog summarizes the status of the ADA wellness program rules and the changes under the recently released proposed ADA wellness program rules.
Title I of the ADA
Title I of the ADA prohibits discrimination against individuals on the basis of disability in regard to employment compensation and other terms, conditions, and privileges of employment, including “fringe benefits available by virtue of employment, whether or not administered by the covered entity.” The ADA also restricts the medical information employers may obtain from employees by generally prohibiting them from making disability-related inquiries or requiring medical examinations. Read More ›
Posted in Employee Benefits, Health & Welfare Plans, Health Care Reform
| Tagged ADA, EEOC, medical, regulations, wellness, wellness program
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Get Ready, Get Set, to Cover COVID-19 Vaccines for Free
Last month, we reported that Moderna was seeking FDA authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine and reminded readers about the immunization coverage requirements in Section 3202 of the CARES Act in our SW Benefits Blog, “Free COVID-19 Vaccine and Testing Update.” As of the date of this blog, the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines have been approved and group health plans must act quickly to meet the requirements of the CARES Act.
On October 28, 2020, HHS, DOL, and the Treasury issued interim final rules (the “new regulations”) about the COVID-19 immunization coverage requirements. The new regulations generally took effect November 2, 2020 and are effective until the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency declared by HHS. Read More ›
Posted in Employee Benefits, Health & Welfare Plans
| Tagged CARES Act, covid-19, Group health plans
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Free COVID-19 Vaccine and Testing Update
On November 30, Moderna announced that it is seeking FDA authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine. In addition, on November 17 the FDA issued an emergency use authorization for the first COVID-19 diagnostic test for self-testing at home. With these recent developments, a COVID-19 update for health and welfare plans might be helpful.
- Free COVID-19 Vaccines – As reported in our April 1, 2020 SW Benefits Update: “The CARES Act – What Are the Health and Welfare Plan Issues to Consider?,” Section 3203 of the CARES Act requires group health plans and health insurance issuers to cover without cost-sharing any “qualifying coronavirus preventive service,” which includes an item, service, or vaccine that is intended to prevent or mitigate coronavirus that is: (1) an evidence-based item or service with an A or B rating recommended by the U.S.
Posted in Health & Welfare Plans, Health Care Reform
| Tagged covid, covid-19, fda, health plans, moderna, testing, vaccines
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‘Tis the Season: Four Year-End Employee Benefit Plan Checklists
Each year, we publish health and welfare, cost-of-living, executive compensation, and qualified retirement plan checklists to help individuals and employers stay apprised of updates to the law of employee benefits. We recently published the last of these annual checklists. In case you missed them, the links are below.
Happy holidays!
2020 End of Year Plan Sponsor “To Do” List (Part 1) Health & Welfare
2020 End of Year Plan Sponsor “To Do” List (Part 2) Annual Cost of Living Adjustments
2020 End of Year Plan Sponsor “To Do” List (Part 3) Executive Compensation
2020 End of Year Plan Sponsor “To Do” List (Part 4) Qualified Retirement Plans
Posted in Employee Benefits, Executive Compensation, Health & Welfare Plans, Health Care Reform, Qualified Retirement Plans
| Tagged COLA, cost-of-living, Executive Compensation, health and welfare, qualified plans, year end checklist
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Finally, Some Good News: IRS Extends Certain ACA Reporting Deadlines and Transition Relief
As in prior years, the IRS has provided relief for employers preparing to comply with the Affordable Care Act’s (“ACA”) information reporting requirements in early 2021 for the 2020 calendar year. In particular, Notice 2020-76 (the “Notice”) extends the deadline to furnish Forms 1095-B and 1095-C to employees. The new deadlines are provided, below.
| Original Deadline | Extended Deadline | |
| Form 1095-B (to employees) | January 31, 2021 | March 2, 2021 |
| Form 1095-C (to employees) | January 31, 2021 | March 2, 2021 |
Importantly, the Notice does not extend the deadline for filing Forms with the IRS. Instead, the deadline to file with the IRS remains February 28, 2021 (for paper filings) and March 31, 2021 (for electronic filings). Read More ›
Posted in Employee Benefits, Health & Welfare Plans, Health Care Reform
| Tagged 4980H, ACA, deadlines, extension, notice 2020-76, reporting
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IRS Approves Additional Leave-Based Donation Programs for COVID-19 Relief
We previously posted about two leave-sharing programs available to employers during the COVID-19 pandemic: major disaster leave-sharing programs and medical emergency leave-sharing programs. These leave-sharing programs may allow employees to donate paid leave to co-workers affected by COVID-19. When properly structured under Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) guidance, the donated leave is excluded from the gross income of the donor employee.
On June 11, 2020, the IRS published Notice 2020-46, which permits employers to establish an additional type of leave-sharing program: a leave-based donation program under which employees can donate vacation, sick, or personal leave in exchange for cash payments that the employer makes to a charitable organization described in Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”) Section 170(c) (a “Section 170(c) Organization”). Read More ›
Posted in Employee Benefits, Health & Welfare Plans
| Tagged 2020-46, IRS, leave, leave donation, leave sharing, sick leave, tax
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In Case You Missed It … Recent Posts From the SW Benefits Update
We periodically consolidate our prior blog posts and push them out as a single package to help individuals catch up on what they might have missed with respect to important health and welfare, qualified retirement plan, and executive compensation issues. The posts highlighted here largely focus on the CARES Act and the impact the COVID-19 pandemic is having on employee benefit and executive compensation plans. As always, please feel free to reach out to any member of our employee benefits and executive compensation group with questions. Please enjoy (and have a safe) Memorial Day weekend!
Posted in Employee Benefits, Executive Compensation, Health & Welfare Plans, Health Care Reform, Qualified Retirement Plans
| Tagged blog, CARES Act, covid-19, Executive Compensation, health and welfare, retirement plan, roundup
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