Feds confirm vaccine wellness programs are ok, and that employers may ask about vaccination status
Federal authorities, in two new announcements, have validated employers’ use of healthcare plan-related wellness programs to incent employees to obtain a COVID-19 vaccine and confirmed that the HIPAA privacy rules do not prevent employers from asking employees or...
Feds to require reporting of air ambulance claim data, tip their hand on impending broker compensation rules
The federal Departments of Health & Human Services (HHS), Labor, and Treasury issued a second round of proposed rules late last week which, when finalized, will solicit utilization and cost data from health insurance carriers, group health plans and air ambulance...
San Francisco ups HCSO rates, clarifies (sort of) coverage of teleworkers
San Francisco has announced an increase in required health care expenditures for 2022 under its Health Care Security Ordinance (HCSO). San Francisco also amended the ordinance to address its applicability to employees who typically work in the city but, due to public...
PCORI deadline just passed – “What happens if I messed up?”
We all celebrated the end of the PCORI fee [1] only to have it sneak back in under the cover of the elimination of the Cadillac tax (and some other fees on health plans) in 2019. The PCORI fee filing and payment deadline recently passed, but if you missed it or made a...
Smaller employers beware: IRS doesn’t want paper ACA filings next year (or paper W-2 and similar filings, for that matter)
Start lining up a payroll and/or ACA reporting vendor now The IRS has proposed two significant changes to electronic filing requirements for various information returns including not just the Forms 1094-C and 1095-C filings required of many employers by the Affordable...
HR Compliance Check: With National Breastfeeding Month around the corner, be sure your lactation break policy and related facility accommodations are compliant
August is National Breastfeeding Month. With many employers starting to see employees migrating back to the office with more regularity, addressing lactation breaks and related accommodations may be something you haven’t had to give much thought to during this time of...
HHS announces ACA maximum out-of-pocket limit for 2022; allows for marketplace enrollment when COBRA subsidy ends
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has announced the inflation-adjusted maximum out-of-pocket (OOP) limits that will apply to non-grandfathered plans for plan years beginning in 2022. The OOP limit includes the plan’s deductible and cost sharing...
Say it isn’t so! Does FMLA apply when an asymptomatic employee tests positive for COVID-19 but cannot work from home?
In a pending Pennsylvania case (Payne v. Woods Services, Inc.), the trial court hints that the FMLA may apply in the case of an employee who is asymptomatic but tests positive for COVID-19 and is unable to telework. While the case survived a motion to dismiss, the...
“For every cloud, a silver lining.” San Francisco postpones HCSO reporting deadline
Amidst the pall of the pandemic, we celebrate little rays of sunshine. Here’s one: San Francisco has postponed its Health Care Security Ordinance (HCSO) annual reporting obligation for the 2020 calendar year from the end of this month to at least Oct. 31, 2021....
“You just missed the exit” (Where’s the guidance on ending the outbreak period?)
You’re driving along, your partner’s in the passenger seat playing navigator. You drive smoothly past an exit only to have said partner exclaim, “Hey! Where are you going! You missed our exit!” Your reply: “Well you’re in charge of directions! Give me a little heads...
ACA litigation merry-go-round: ‘Round and ’round we go…
The Department’s new position, in a case currently pending with the court, is that not only is the ACA’s individual mandate constitutional but that if the court concludes the mandate is not constitutional, it can and should be severed from the rest of the ACA so as to not to take the entire ACA down with it.
Department of Labor adjusts penalty amounts, summarizes 2020 enforcement actions
ERISA penalties adjusted for inflation The Department of Labor’s (DOL) enforcement wing, the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), recently released inflation-adjusted penalty amounts for various ERISA welfare benefit plan violations. Federal regulations...
Finally, some good news! California’s Franchise Tax Board delays individual mandate reporting and disclosure deadlines
Well, 2021 is off to a contentious start politically, and coronavirus infections are surging again, but we have good news from California! The state’s taxing authority, the Franchise Tax Board (FTB), has extended or effectively extended the deadlines in 2021 for...
Furloughs, layoffs, ACA measurement periods and next year’s medical plan eligibility: Chaos gives way to confusion
As if 2020 has not already wrought enough chaos, many employers are finding that their medical plan eligibility rules are about to add insult to their employees’ injuries triggered by furloughs, layoffs or reduced work hours in 2020. Those reduced hours in 2020 may...