The Department of Labor (DOL) recently finalized regulations containing civil penalty inflation adjustments for 2017.
This past summer, the DOL announced substantial increases in civil penalty amounts for certain ERISA violations in accordance with the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 2015 (the “Act”). Additionally, the Act calls for the DOL to publish annual inflation adjustments no later than January 15 of all subsequent years.
The recently announced penalty increases were not as substantial as those proposed in the summer, but did result in some penalty amounts going up . For penalties assessed after January 13, 2017, the penalty amounts for some of the more common ERISA violation related to employee welfare plans are as follows:
|
Violation |
Rate for Penalties Assessed Between August 1, 2016 and January 13, 2017 |
Increased Rate for Penalties Assessed After January 13, 2017 |
| Failure to File Form 5500
Note: Late filers who voluntarily submit overdue Forms 5500 pay reduced penalties under the Delinquent Filer Voluntary Correction Program. |
$2,063/day per plan | $2,097/day per plan |
| Failure to File Form M-1 (annual MEWA filing) | $1,502 per day | $1,527 per day |
| Failure to timely provide a compliant Summary of Benefits and Coverage per Affordable Care Act requirements | $1,087 per failure | $1,105 per failure |
| Failure to comply with Medicaid/CHIP notice requirements | $110 per day per employee | $112 per day per employee |
| Violation of Genetic Information Nondisclosure Act (GINA) by group health plan sponsor or health insurer | $110 per day per participant | $112 per day per participant |
| Failure to furnish employee benefit documents (including plan documents, summary plan descriptions, and summary of material modifications) to the Department of Labor upon request | $147 per day
(not to exceed $1,472) |
$149/ per day
(Not to exceed $1,496) |