Compliance Stuff

Benefits Boost! The Short Plan Year: PCORI Fee Edition Gallagher Calculating the PCORI fee can cause unforeseen issues when there is a short plan year. Boost your PCORI fee knowledge when you have a short plan year. Reminder: PCORI Fee Due July 31 Gallagher Remember to file the updated Form 720 and pay your PCORI Fee. Review these reminders ahead of the due date. Catch-Up on Health Plan Excessive Fee Litigation Gallagher As a result of an uptick in litigation against plan fiduciaries with respect to their selection process of PBMs, health plan fiduciaries should stay vigilant. Examine how the PBM excessive fee cases are taking shape. OCR Continues to Focus on HIPAA Enforcement Gallagher Fines and corrective action plans abound as covered entities fail to comply with HIPAA Privacy and Security regulations. Review of HIPAA policies and procedures never goes out of style. How Self-Directed Brokerage Accounts Offer Your Employees More Investment Options Gallagher Self-Directed Brokerage Ac...

Missing participants are a pain point for plan sponsors as they create a long-term liability for the plan, add to costs and incur fiduciary risk. The Department of Labor (DOL) is aggressively investigating the practices and procedures of plan sponsors for locating and distributing benefits to missing participants. In some cases, the DOL has asserted breaches of fiduciary duty for failure to perform regular searches for missing and unresponsive participants. In January 2021, the DOL at long last posted best practices for finding those missing participants and how to document the necessary steps taken. In January 2025, the DOL issued a temporary enforcement policy to allow plans to send, or escheat, small account balances for missing participants to a state’s unclaimed property program.    Missing participants can be defined as:  Participants and beneficiaries for whom the plan administrator does not have a valid address or contact information.  Individuals ...

 ERISA: Over the Hill and Still Thriving Throughout 2024, we have honored ERISA's 50th year by highlighting the major concepts of this foundational federal benefits law in our Benefits Boost! series. To round out the year, we highlight our Boosts and Gallagher's ERISA resources to help you comply. Is your benefits subject to ERISA? Reiew our step-by-step too:  How to Determine if Your Benefits are Subject to ERISA. Learn to apply the ERISA exemptions properly in ERISA Exemptions: A "Payroll Practice" and ERISA Exemption #2: Voluntary Plan Safe Harbor. Participant disclosures  are the core of ERISA. Verify that you satisfy the requirements in Summarizing Delivery Deadlines. Participants have the right to request documents as well.  Stay in compliance with an often-overlooked plan obligation in The Dos and Dont's to Document Requests. Annual reporting is required and mistakes can be costly: EBSA Searching for Missed Form 5500s. Stay audit ready  with DOL Audits: S...

 To round out our ERISA 50th anniversary series, this Benefits Boost focuses on ERISA’s recordkeeping requirements. ERISA requires plan sponsors to maintain all records documenting the accuracy of Form 5500 required reporting information as well as records with information that would have been required but for a reporting exemption. Because the Department of Labor (DOL) has not issued guidance on what exactly those records should be, ERISA plans have had to rely on informal remarks, court cases, and advisory opinions to determine which documents to retain. ERISA requires plan sponsors to keep records and make them available for examination for a period of not less than six years after the filing date of the Form 5500 based on those records . Where an exemption or simplified reporting requirement applies (e.g., small, unfunded employers), the records must be kept for six years after the date the Form 5500 would have been filed but for the exemption or simplified reportin...

North Carolina Discrimination Law prohibiting discrimination in public employment was expanded to allow not only veterans, but also the National Guard, preference to file a grievance as an applicant alleging that he or she was denied veterans' preference or National Guard preference in violation of the law (H.B. 223, Gen. Assemb. (N.C. 2024), effective June 28, 2024). Source(s):  Gallagher via Wolters Kluwer , received on October 8, 2024; H.B. 223, Gen. Assemb. (N.C. 2024 )   This was an e-mail Compliance received from Gallagher "Compliance Directions", received on Tuesday October 8, 2024.  We decided to break the information out by State.  Compliance Calendar will be updated appropriately.

 New York Confidentiality of AIDS Test Results New law amends notice requirements for those asked to obtain an HIV test. Notice must be provided by readily accessible means and in multiple languages and may be provided orally, in writing by prominently displayed signage, by electronic means or other appropriate form of communication. Such communication must include information that HIV testing is voluntary (A.B. 8475, 2023-2024 Leg. Sess. (N.Y. 2024)).  Source(s):  Gallagher via Wolters Kluwer , received on October 8, 2024; ( A.B. 8475, 2023-2024 Leg. Sess. (N.Y. 2024)   This was an e-mail Compliance received from Gallagher "Compliance Directions", received on Tuesday October 8, 2024.  We decided to break the information out by State.  Compliance Calendar will be updated appropriately.

 New Jersey Immigration The legislation establishes penalties for employers who disclose or threaten to disclose an employee's immigration status to a public body with the intent of concealing violations of state wage, benefit, or tax laws. The Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development is authorized to impose administrative penal ties on such employers, with fines not exceeding $1,000 for the first violation, $5,000 for the second, and $10,000 for any subsequent violations. The determination of the penalty amount will consider factors such as the employer's history of previous violations, the seriousness of the violation, the employer's good faith, and the size of the business. Employers must be notified of the violation and the penalty amount, and they are entitled to request a hearing before the commissioner or a designee. For violations related to state wage, benefit, or tax laws, excluding state unemployment and disability benefits laws, employers have ...

  New Hampshire Discrimination New Hampshire became the 26th U.S. state to enact a version of the model CROWN Act, which stands for “Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair.” The new law, which went into effect on September 1, 2024, states no person shall be subjected to discrimination in employment because he or she wears a protective hairstyle, which means hairstyles or hair type, including braids, locs, tight coils or curls, corn rows, Bantu knots, Afros, twists, and head wraps. An exception was made for those employed by the Department of Corrections (Ch. 117 (H.B. 1169), L. 2024, effective Sept. 1, 2024). In addition, new law prohibits an employer from discharging or any other disciplinary action against any employee for failing to report to work where the failure is due to the employee's responding, in his or her capacity as a volunteer member of a fire department or ambulance department, to an emergency they witness or come upon while en route to a p...

Minnesota Discrimination  The Minnesota Human Rights law was amended to enhance anti-discrimination protections. The amendment expands definitions related to disability and familial status, mandates alternative dispute resolution, extends civil action timeframes, and imposes civil penalties and punitive damages on violators (H.F. 4109, 93rd Leg., Reg. Sess. (Minn. 2024), effective Aug. 1, 2024).  Minnesota Minimum Wage Effective January 1, 2025, the minimum wage in Minnesota will increase to $11.13 per hour. The $11.13 per hour minimum wage rate for 2025 will apply to all employers, including large employers, small employers, youth, and J-1 visa wages for hotels, motels, and lodging establishments. However, the law does will still allow for a 90-day reduced training wage. The training wage, where youth under the age of 20 may be paid a reduced training wage for the first 90 days of employment, will increase to $9.08 per hour on Jan. 1, 2025. These rates reflect a 2.6...

Massachusetts Equal Pay New law increases equity and transparency in pay by requiring employers to disclose salary ranges and protects an employee's right to ask for salary ranges.  Specifically, the law: (a) requires public and private employers with 25 or more employees to disclose pay ranges in job postings, provide the pay range of a position to an employee who is offered a transfer or promotion, and, upon request, provide the pay range to employees who already hold that position or are applying for it; (b) requires public and private employers within 100 or more employees to submit wage data reports to the state; (c) gives enforcement authority to the Massachusetts Attorney General's office along with the ability to impose fines or civil citations for violations of the law; and (d) provides protections via the Massachusetts Attorney General's office against retaliation for asking for salary ranges when applying for a job or promotion (HB 4890, 193rd Gen. Ct. (Mass. 202...

  Maine Minimum Wage The Maine Department of Labor (MDOL) announced on September 11, 2024, that pursuant to Main law (26 Maine Rev. State. §664), the s tate minimum wage will increase from $14.15 to $14.65 per hour on January 1, 2025 , based on data recently made available by the US Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. Main law requires annual adjustments to the minimum wage based on the cost-of-living index CPI0W) for the Northeast Region.  Between August 2023 and August 2024, there was a 3.6% increase in the CPI-W.  In addition to the minimum wage, the new "tip wage," or service employee minimum wage, 2025, will be $7.33 per hour.  This means that service employees must receive at least a direct cash wage of $7.33 per hour from the employer.  The employer must be able to show that the employee received at least the minimum wage of $14.65 per hour when the direct wage and tips are combined at the end of the week.  The amount of tips necessary to...

Illinois Human Rights Act Effective January 1, 2026, a new law protects employees from discrimination caused by the use of AI in the workplace and also ensures that employers are transparent about their use of AI for employment-related decisions (HB 3773, 103rd Gen. Assem. (Ill. 2024)). Illinois Wage Payment The Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act was amended to enhance the transparency and accountability of wage payments to employees. Under the changes, employers will be required to provide detailed pay stubs that must include information such as hours worked, rate of pay, overtime pay, gross wages earned, deductions, and year-to-date totals. Employers will be required to maintain copies of the pay stubs for at least three years, even after the employee's termination.  Additionally, employers must furnish covers of pay stubs to current and former employees upon request, with specific timelines and conditions for compliance. The legislation also stipulates that employers must ...

Colorado Antidiscrimination Act New law adds "hair length" to the states existing CROWN Ac t definition of "race" for purposes of the state's antidiscrimination laws (HB 1451, Reg. Sess. (Colo. 2024)). Colorado Workers' Compensation Law Law relating to workers' disability benefits was amended to allow claimants to refuse offers of modified employment under specific conditions, such as when the modified employment would require travel exceeding 50 miles or when a treating physician has restricted the claimant from driving.   It also increases the aggregate limits on temporary and permanent injury benefits and mandates that the Director of the Division of Workers' Compensation adjust these limits annually.   Further, the legislation requires workers' compensation insurers to pay benefits via direct deposit if requested by the claimant (HB 1220 (Colo. 2024), effective Aug. 7, 2024, and January 1, 2025). The bill was signed into law by the Governor ...

Alaska Drug and Alcohol Testing Law regulating drug and alcohol testing by employers was amended to expand the types of samples that employers can collect and test from employees and prospective employees.  Effective October 28, employers may collect and test samples of an individual's urine, oral fluid or breath (SB 196, Alaska Sess. Law, 33rd Leg. Sess. (Alaska 2024), enacted July 30, 2024, and effective October 28, 2024. Alaska Holidays Juneteenth, the 19th of June, is added as a legal holiday in the State of Alaska (SB 22, 33rd Leg (Alaska 2024), effective September 25, 2024). Alaska Workers Compensation Alaska's workers' compensation provisions were amended to enhance reemployment rights, establish a stay-at-work benefits program, and presume compensability for PTSD in certain occupations (SB 147, Alaska Sess. Law, 33rd Leg. Sess. (Alaska 2024), effective January 1, 2025). Source(s): Gallagher via Wolters Kluwer , received on October 8, 2024.   This was an e-mail Compl...