The Effect of Health Care Reform on Employers (2:00PM EST/ 11:00AM PST)

10 Aug 2010

Now that the Affordable Care Act has become law, employers and their advisors face the task of learning what health care reform really means for employer health plans.  Although the key elements of this reform (the individual mandate and the employer "free rider penalty") do not take effect until 2014, a surprising number of provisions will become effective either later this year or by January of 2011.  And while existing health plans are "grandfathered" from many of these new requirements, there is no grandfather protection for many others.  In this webinar, we'll focus on the (i) changes effective in 2011 (technically, plan years beginning on or after September 23), (ii) regulatory guidance that has been issued to date (i.e., grandfathered plan rules, dependent coverage, and lifetime and annual limits), and (iii) changes to be aware of that will take effect in later years. ...View More

Cafeteria Plan Compliance (2:00PM EST/ 11:00AM PST)

13 Jul 2010

Most employers maintain a cafeteria plan, often more than one (including flexible spending accounts).  In addition, many states now require that employers establish cafeteria plans to allow their employees to pay health insurance premiums on a pre-tax basis.  Yet these are some of the least understood - and most poorly documented - benefit plans.  In fact, many employers create cafeteria plans without knowing that they have done so, and without understanding the applicable rules.  In this session, we will:

• Explain what a cafeteria plan is, and what it is designed to do;
• Outline the IRS guidance in this area;
• Highlight cafeteria-plan changes made by the Affordable Care Act; and
• Touch on some of the common mistakes in cafeteria plan administration.

Compliance 201 - Advanced ERISA (2:00PM EST/ 11:00AM PST)

15 Jun 2010

Taking up where we left off in our "Compliance 101" webinar, "Compliance 201 for Plan Administrators" will take a deeper dive into some of the issues facing HR professionals and welfare plan sponsors.  Topics will include:

• Understanding When Welfare "Plan Assets" Must be Held in Trust
• ERISA Preemption
• Cafeteria Plan Compliance Issues
• Fiduciary Duties
• Plan Discrimination Issues After Health Care Reform
• Claims and Appeal Procedures and Judicial Review of Denied Claims

Form 5500 Annual Report for 2009 - Are You Ready? (2:00PM EST/ 11:00AM PST)

11 May 2010

The 2009 Form 5500 (the annual return for most employee benefit plans) includes several significant changes from prior years, including:

• Mandatory electronic filing under the DOL's EFAST 2 filing system
• Increased disclosure of compensation paid to service providers (on Schedule C)
• The requirement that Section 403(b) plans complete all lines of the Form 5500 (and attach an independent auditor's report, if the plan has over 100 participants)

Complying With New Mental Health Parity Rules (11:00 A.M. PST)

09 Mar 2010

Now that the federal agencies charged with enforcing the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) have finally issued regulations in this area, sponsors of employer group health plans will want to turn their attention to complying with the regulatory requirements.  The MHPAEA not only broadened the scope of the 1996 Mental Health Parity Act - for instance, by prohibiting virtually any differential in coverage between mental health benefits and medical/surgical benefits - but also applied the new parity rules to substance use disorder benefits. ...View More

Employee Handbooks: How They Help And Hurt Employers

16 Feb 2010

An employee handbook is generally considered an essential tool in communicating expectations and rules of conduct to employees.  It is considered a key document in most employment litigation and its content can either help or hurt an employer.  Do you know what policies you must include in your handbook, which are highly recommended, and which are optional?  Do you know if the content of your handbook is sound?  This Webinar will cover the pro's and con's of handbooks, the types of written policies that are "must haves" and "should haves," and common errors in drafting handbooks.
...View More

GINA Reshuffles The Deck: Complying With The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act

12 Jan 2010

As is so often the case, Congress took an unobjectionable goal - protecting individuals from discrimination on the basis of their genetic make-up - and turned it into a nightmare for employers.  The 2008 Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) imposes a number of constraints on employers' actions. This is true in both the pure employment context and as sponsors of group health plans.  Moreover, GINA "reshuffled the deck" on a number of other federal laws - including the ADA, FMLA and HIPAA - thereby forcing employers to go back to school on those laws, as well. The primary focus of this webinar will be GINA's impact on employer health plans.  You will learn how GINA extends even to wellness programs including health risk assessments. ...View More