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On May 18, 2021, the IRS furnished much-needed guidance to employers on how to implement the COBRA premium subsidy provisions under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). Notice 2021-31 includes more than seven dozen Q&As, which cover topics including eligibility requirements, applicable coverage periods and limitations, and notice and election procedures.

As summarized in our prior post, ARPA includes a 100% COBRA premium subsidy for “assistance eligible individuals” who elect (or who previously elected) COBRA continuation coverage for the period from April 1, 2021 through September 30, 2021. “Assistance eligible individuals” are generally those whose terminations occur as a result of an involuntary termination of employment (other than due to gross misconduct, for which COBRA is not available) or due to a reduction of hours.

ARPA provides that, by May 31, 2021, employers are required to distribute a notice regarding the COBRA premium subsidies to “assistance eligible individuals.” Given the May 31 deadline, employers were anxiously awaiting guidance from the IRS on many of the aspects of the COBRA premium subsidies. Pending issuance of guidance by the IRS under ARPA, many looked to the guidance that was issued to implement the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) COBRA subsidy for some indication of how the IRS might interpret ARPA’s provisions. Fortunately, much of the ARPA guidance—particularly relating to what constitutes an involuntary termination of employment—is consistent with that prior ARRA guidance.…

Continue Reading IRS Issues Much Needed COBRA Guidance

On April 14th, 2021, the Department of Labor (“DOL“) issued cybersecurity guidance to plan sponsor and fiduciaries, recordkeepers and other service providers and participants and beneficiaries of plans regulated by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”). The guidance is presented in three separate parts: Tips for Hiring a Service Provider with Strong Cybersecurity Practices, Cybersecurity Program Best Practices and Online Security Tips for Participants and Beneficiaries.

Over the past ten years, cybersecurity has become an area of critical importance to plan sponsors, plan administrators and plan participants. With plans holding trillions in assets as well as sensitive participant information, retirement accounts have been attractive targets for cyber-enabled fraud. Plan participants are known to check their retirement account balances less frequently than personal banking, credit card or other financial accounts. As a result, there can be a delay before attacks on retirement accounts are discovered, making tracing and recovery efforts exceptionally difficult. Plans also permit electronic access to funds and rely upon outside service providers, which provide additional access points for breach. There is a growing body of litigation involving participants who have suffered retirement plan losses due to cyberattacks. Bartnett v. Abbott Laboratories, No. 20-cv-02127 (ND Ill., 2020) (motion to dismiss participant suit against plan sponsor and administrator granted, but denied with respect to third party record-keeper); Leventhal v. The MandMarblestone Group LLC, No. 18-cv-2727 (ED PA, 2019) (motion to dismiss suit by plan sponsor and participant against third party administrator denied); and Berman v. Estee Lauder, No. 4:19-cv-06489 (ND CA, 2019) (participant suit against plan sponsor, committee and third party record-keeper settled).…

Continue Reading U.S. Department of Labor Weighs in on Cybersecurity for ERISA Plans

All too often, retirement plan administrators and benefits attorneys encounter situations with missing participants or uncashed checks that result in head scratching and exasperation.  It is difficult to believe that trying to deliver money to someone could produce such frustration, but it happens more than one would think.  In an attempt to alleviate some of these woes and help ensure that participants and their beneficiaries receive the retirement benefits due to them, the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) came out with three related pieces of guidance on January 12, 2021: (1) a set of Best Practices for Pension Plans (the “Best Practices”), describing steps that plan fiduciaries can take to reduce missing participant issues; (2) Compliance Assistance Release No. 2021-01, outlining the investigative approach that guides the DOL’s regional offices under its Terminated Vested Participants Project; and (3) Field Assistance Bulletin 2021-01, authorizing fiduciaries of terminating defined contribution plans to transfer missing participants’ account balances to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s (PBGC) Missing Participants Program as a matter of temporary enforcement policy.  This blog post highlights key points from the Best Practices and focuses on practical tips plan fiduciaries can take away from the DOL guidance.
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Continue Reading Key Takeaways From The DOL’s “Best Practices” Missing Participant Guidance

This is the second of two installments on the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA). Mayer Brown’s first installment describes provisions of ARPA relating to COBRA premium subsidies, changes to the cap on pre-tax dependent care assistance benefits, changes to section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code relating to a corporation’s deduction for executive compensation, and updates to the employee retention credit (initially implemented as a part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, also known as the CARES Act).

This installment focuses on the provisions of ARPA that provide relief to multiemployer and single employer defined benefit plans.…

Continue Reading Multiemployer and Single Employer Plan Provisions of the American Rescue Plan Act: Help is on the way!

On March 11, 2021, President Biden signed into law the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) which contains a variety of employee benefit provisions. ARPA contains both mandatory and discretionary provisions relating to benefits. The following summarizes the provisions of ARPA relating to COBRA premium subsidies (mandatory changes), changes to the cap on pre-tax dependent care assistance benefits (discretionary), changes to section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code relating to a corporation’s deduction for executive compensation in excess of certain limitations (mandatory but not effective until 2026), and updates to the employee retention credit (initially implemented as a part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, also known as the CARES Act).…

Continue Reading ARPA to the Rescue: COBRA Subsidies, DCAP Relief and More!

Last year, the Department of Labor (working in concert with other agencies) issued two notices extending a variety of benefit plan deadlines as a result of the COVID-19 national emergency, as discussed in detail in our May 2020 blog. The relief generally provided that, in determining deadlines, the period from March 1, 2020 until 60 days after the end of the COVID-19 national emergency or such other date announced by the agencies (also known as the “Outbreak Period”) would be disregarded. However—and notably—the Outbreak Period was generally subject to the one-year duration limitation set forth in Section 518 of ERISA.

If the “one-year duration limitation” had in all cases begun on March 1, 2020, that one year would have already come and gone, even while the COVID-19 national emergency continues.  But the DOL has now, by way of EBSA Disaster Relief Notice 2021-01, issued further guidance that provides for an individualized application of the one-year duration limitation.…

Continue Reading After One Year, the Outbreak Period is Ongoing – What’s a Plan Sponsor to Do?

The first 100 days of President Biden’s presidency are likely to bring a number of changes for employer-sponsored health and welfare plans. The more than three dozen Executive Orders that were issued by the end of January included orders providing a special Affordable Care Act enrollment period, directing the review of policies (and strengthening of protections) related to the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid, and expanding coverage for COVID-19 treatment (including through group health plans) and healthcare for women. As is typical for an incoming administration, President Biden also issued a regulatory freeze, potentially impacting several pending and recently finalized health and welfare-related regulations.

These 100 days may also bring guidance on the various health-related provisions that were a part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (the “Act”), which became law at the end of 2020. We have already discussed the changes for health and dependent care flexible spending accounts under the Act. However, the Act also contained a number of other provisions applicable to health and welfare plans, many of which are intended to increase transparency for plan participants and patients. …
Continue Reading The First 100 Days: Changes Afoot for Health and Welfare Plans

This post has been updated as of March 25, 2021 to reflect changes made under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, as further described here.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) capped off a busy year with its annual cost-of-living adjustments applicable for 2021.  A year-to-year comparison of limitations applicable to plan sponsors can be found here: 2021 Annual Limitations Chart.

Consistent with prior years, and reflecting general inflation, the IRS increased certain qualified retirement plan limitations.  For example, the contribution limitation for defined contribution plans increased from $57,000 to $58,000 for 2021 (although the contribution limitation for defined benefit plans stayed stagnant).  The annual compensation limit for purposes of Section 401(a)(17) of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) increased from $285,000 to $290,000 (from $425,000 to $430,000 for certain governmental plans). The IRS did not, however, increase the amount of elective deferrals or catch-up contributions that can be made to defined contribution plans ($19,500 and $6,500, respectively).…

Continue Reading IRS Makes Cost-of-Living Adjustments for 2021

On December 27, 2020, President Trump signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act (the “Act”) which includes a $900 billion economic stimulus package intended to provide additional relief for the ongoing pandemic. As part of this stimulus package, the Act expands the employee retention tax credit that was originally included for 2020 in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”) into the first two quarters of 2021 with significant changes as described below that increase the credit and make the credit available to more employers, and the Act makes technical corrections to the credit provisions in the CARES Act as summarized below (our summary of the employee retention tax credit as included in the CARES Act can be found here).
Continue Reading The Consolidated Appropriations Act Extends and Expands the Employee Retention Tax Credit

After several delays, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (the “Act”) was signed into law on December 27, 2020.  Although the Act primarily addresses coronavirus emergency response and relief and appropriations through September 30, 2021, it also contains several provisions of interest for employers that sponsor benefit plans, including temporary flexibility for health care and dependent care flexible spending accounts (FSAs), changes to retirement plan provisions, and certain health care plan changes related to so-called “surprise billing”.  The following summarizes the provisions of the Act that affect health care and dependent care FSAs.
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Continue Reading New Year, Old FSA Money?