Employee Benefits Blog

“A Trap for the Unwary” – Does Your Self-Funded Health Plan Provide Transgender Benefits? It Might Need to Soon.

Assistant Secretary of Labor Phyllis Borzi recently offered informal guidance on the broad scope of nondiscrimination regulations proposed under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act. During her remarks at the ABA Labor Section Employee Benefits Committee Meeting in February, Ms. Borzi indicated that the proposed regulations would apply to any health plan that receives […]

| 2 min read | Tagged: , , , , , ,
MC

Proposed IRS Regulations Simplify Section 83(b) Filing Requirements

As explained in a prior blog post, an employee who timely files a Section 83(b) election will be taxed on the fair market value of property transferred (typically restricted stock) to him or her in exchange for services on the date of grant rather than as the stock vests.  In addition, by making a Section […]

| 2 min read | Tagged: , , , , ,
GG

Proposed Regulations for Summary of Benefits and Coverage Seek to Simplify Compliance

As part of Health Care Reform, employers and insurers are required to provide group health plan participants with a Summary of Benefits and Coverage (“SBC”) describing the important features of the group health plan option(s) offered by the employer/insurer.  The SBC is also intended to provide participants a way to easily compare different group health […]

| 2 min read | Tagged: , , , , ,
KH
Former Associate

FMLA to Apply to All Employees in Same-Sex Marriages

When the U.S. Supreme Court declared DOMA unconstitutional in United States v. Windsor, many federal benefits that were previously denied to individuals in same-sex marriages became available to those individuals.  However, job-protected leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) was not one of them. Generally, an employee is able to take 12 weeks […]

| 2 min read | Tagged: , , , ,
KH
Former Associate