September was a busy month in the employee benefits world. The U.S. Senate confirmed Eugene Scalia as the new Secretary of the Department of Labor (DOL). The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) published proposed rules regarding affordability safe harbors and Section 105(h) nondiscrimination rules as applied to individual coverage health reimbursement arrangements (ICHRAs). The IRS also announced that the health insurance providers fee will resume for 2020. The IRS released an information letter regarding transition relief and whether employer shared responsibility penalties may be waived under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The DOL, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and Treasury (collectively, the "Departments") released final FAQs on mental health parity. The DOL issued an opinion letter regarding delaying Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave. The DOL also issued an opinion letter regarding whether employer contributions to health savings accounts (HSAs) are earnings subject to wage garnishment…

In Executive Order 13877, issued June 2019, the Treasury Department and the IRS were directed to consider ways to expand the use and flexibility of HSA's and HDHP's. In response to the Executive Order, the Treasury Department issued guidance on July 17, 2019, that lists newly identified preventive care items and services that may now be covered by a high deductible health plan. Read the complete executive order details here, including the list of identified items: HDPS Additional Preventive Care HDHP sponsors should review the new guidance promptly. For some HDHPs, plan sponsors may seek to expand the list of preventive care items and services covered under the HDHP. For other HDHPs, which already treated certain chronic care expenses as preventive, plan sponsors will need to consider whether changes to that list of preventive items and services are now necessary or appropriate. If you have any questions regarding these additional…

Effective July 20, 2019, Pennsylvania will recognize anxiety and Tourette Syndrome as serious medical conditions in the medical marijuana program.   The Pennsylvania Department of Health stated that the decision came after a research-based recommendation by the state’s Medical Marijuana Advisory Board, followed by Health Secretary Rachel Levine’s careful review of the medical literature available about the conditions. You can read more in Pennsylvania’s press release: https://www.media.pa.gov/Pages/Health-Details.aspx?newsid=620 The Pennsylvania Medical Marijuana Act allows individuals with a serious medical condition to receive a certification to use medical marijuana obtained from a licensed dispensary in the Commonwealth. Employers need to be familiar with the Act and prepared to properly manage employees at the worksite that are certified to use medical marijuana. The Act provides protections for employees certified to use medical marijuana and in particular, it prohibits employers from discriminating or taking an adverse action against an employee “solely on the basis of the employee’s…

On July 2, 2019, following initial notifications to employers of the upcoming Component 2 filing deadline, the EEOC updated the Component 2 website to include both Additional Information https://eeoccomp2.norc.org/info.html and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) sections. https://eeoccomp2.norc.org/faq.html Under the Additional Information section, employers can find a sample form, an instruction booklet, a fact sheet, a sample initial Component 2 notification letter sent to employers, and reference documents. Under the FAQs section, employers can find answers to questions related to the filing deadline, the filing requirements, the summary compensation and hours worked data to be reported, multi-establishment reporting, the Component 2 online filing system, and confidentiality concerns. Many of the FAQs are consistent with previous guidance from EEOC. However, one particularly helpful and new FAQ is related to whether an employer must choose the same “workforce snapshot period” for Component 2 data that it chose for Component 1 EEO-1 reporting for 2017…

The Department of the Treasury (Treasury), Department of Labor (DOL), and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) (collectively, the Departments) recently released their final rules regarding health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs) and other account-based group health plans. An HRA is a type of account-based group health plan funded solely by employer contributions that reimburses an employee for IRC Section 213(d) medical care expenses incurred by the employee, or the employee’s spouse, dependents, and children who are not age 27 as of the end of the taxable year, up to a maximum fixed-dollar amount during a coverage period. Link to IRC Section 213(d):  https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2011-title26/pdf/USCODE-2011-title26-subtitleA-chap1-subchapB-partVII-sec213.pdf These reimbursements are excludable from the employee’s income and wages for federal income tax and employment tax purposes. An HRA can allow amounts that remain at the end of the year to be available to reimburse medical care expenses incurred in later years. The final rules were…

On July 2, 2019, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed a bill into effect that overhauls the state’s existing medical cannabis program and law, the Compassionate Use of Medical Marijuana Act (CUMMA), and greatly expands patient access to medical marijuana. For employers who must address the issue of employees and job applicants who use and test positive for cannabis, the New Jersey Assembly Bill A20 provides certain job protections for medical cannabis users. This is a significant change for employees and employers, since CUMMA previously did not explicitly contain such protections.  These changes are summarized below. The CUMMA Amendment Assembly Bill A20 now contains a non-discrimination provision which provides that an employer cannot take an adverse employment action against an employee “based solely on the employee’s status as a registrant” for medical cannabis. Unlike the previous draft of the bill, there is no carve-out in Assembly Bill A20 allowing an…

Compliance Alert: IRS Raises HSA/HDHP limits for 2020 The IRS has announced that effective January 1, 2020, an individual in a High Deductible Health Plan (“HDHP”) with self-only coverage has a new maximum allowable annual contribution into a Health Savings Account of $3,550, increased from $3,500.  The maximum annual contribution for individuals with family coverage will increase from $7,000 to $7,100.  The catch-up contribution for people age 55+ remains at $1,000. See below for the updates to the annual contributions and cost sharing.   Because of the cost-sharing limits change for HDHPs in 2020, employers that sponsor High Deductible Health Plans may need to make plan design changes for plan years beginning in 2020.  Employers that allow employees to make pre-tax HSA contributions should review their benefit guides and election forms to reflect the updated HSA contributions limits for 2020.

Governor Murphy signed a new law on March 1, 2019, read here: Commuter Law, requiring certain employers to provide pre-tax commuter fringe benefits to employees.  New Jersey employers with at least 20 employees in the state will need to begin offering those employees pre-tax transportation fringe benefits covering commuter highway vehicle and mass transit costs. The program must be implemented by March 1, 2020, or the effective date of New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce regulations, whichever occurs first. Covered Employers The benefit applies to employers and employees covered by New Jersey’s unemployment insurance law. Employers covered by a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) are exempt until any current CBA expires. The mandate doesn’t specify how soon after hire employers must be offered these benefits or impose any notice or posting requirements, but these issues may be addressed in the impending regulations. Mandated Benefit The pre-tax commuter benefit must comply with…

March was a busy month in the employee benefits world. The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it will not defend the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) in the court case challenging the ACA's constitutionality. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) updated two Q&As regarding ACA reporting for 2018. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published its 2020 Actuarial Value Methodology and 2020 AV Calculator. HHS also released a bulletin that allows grandmothered plans to be extended through 2020. A U.S. District Court vacated the bona fide associations and working owner provisions contained in the Department of Labor's association health plans final rule. The Department of Labor (DOL) released two information letters. One information letter clarifies when an authorized representative may receive claim-related notices on behalf of an ERISA plan participant. The other information letter addresses whether employees may delay taking FMLA leave and whether the statutory…

A lot has been happening in New Jersey since the new year began, and there have been a few critical updates for New Jersey employers and employees. New Jersey Minimum Wage On January 17, 2019, Governor Phil Murphy and legislative leaders agreed on legislation that will incrementally increase New Jersey’s minimum wage to $15.00 an hour by the year 2024, making New Jersey one of the most progressive states in the nation on this topic.  The minimum wage is currently $8.85 as of January 1, 2019. New Jersey Earned Sick Leave law The New Jersey Earned Sick Leave law went into effect on October 29, 2018 and employees are eligible to start using this accrued leave as of February 26, 2019.  Don’t forget to carryover any time that accrued from October 29, 2018 through the end of 2018.  As a reminder, employees cannot accrue more than 40 hours in a…

December was a relatively quiet month in the employee benefits world. A U.S. District Court issued an order declaring that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) is unconstitutional. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued two final rules to remove certain wellness program incentives. The Department of Labor (DOL) updated its Form M-1 filing guidance for association health plans. U.S. District Court Declares ACA Unconstitutional On December 14, 2018, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas (Court) issued a declaratory order in ongoing litigation regarding the individual mandate and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). The Court declared that the individual mandate is unconstitutional and declared that the rest of the ACA – including its guaranteed issue and community rating provisions – is unconstitutional. The Court did not grant the plaintiffs' request for a nationwide injunction to prohibit the ACA's continued implementation and…