Employee Benefits

We all know how confusing health care can be. Between copays, eligible expenses and dense coverage policies, sometimes it feels like you need a master’s degree just to understand your hospital bill. And with high deductible health plans gaining popularity

The Department of Labor (DOL) has provided new resources to promote compliance with the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA). The MHPAEA requires parity between mental health and substance use disorder (MH/SUD) benefits and medical and surgical benefits.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit has ruled that employers may not use salary history as a basis for paying one employee less than it pays another employee of the opposite gender for equal work resulting in

A health savings account (HSA) is a popular type of tax-advantaged medical savings account available to individuals who are enrolled in high deductible health plans (HDHPs). Individuals can use their HSAs to pay for expenses that are covered under the

Did you know both the World Health Organization and the American Medical Association (AMA) recognized infertility as a disease in 2017? This is expected to have a great impact on how insurers and employers treat fertility when it comes to

In 2017, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) resolved more than 99,109 workplace discrimination claims—securing more than $398 million from employers in the private and public sectors as a result of these claims. Discrimination lawsuits can be very time-consuming and

On Jan. 22, 2018, President Donald Trump signed into law a short-term continuing spending resolution to end the government shutdown and continue funding through Feb. 8, 2018. The continuing resolution impacts three ACA taxes and fees. Specifically, the continuing resolution:

The HR department must constantly adapt to new requirements from both internal and external sources. Unexpected factors like new regulations from the White House and additional workplace responsibilities commonly disrupt HR departments. These disruptors can influence HR’s trajectory for the

On Jan. 5, 2018, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced that it would adopt a new standard for determining whether interns and students are “employees” who must be paid under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The DOL clarified

On Jan. 5, 2018, the Department of Labor (DOL) published a proposed rule that would give small employers and sole proprietors more freedom to join together as a single group to purchase health insurance in the large group market or

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (Act), which was signed into law on Dec. 22, 2017, creates a new business tax credit for eligible employers that provide paid family and medical leave to their employees. The tax credit, which applies

On Dec. 22, 2017, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued Notice 2018-06 to: Extend the due date for furnishing forms under Sections 6055 and 6056 for 2017 for 30 days, from Jan. 31, 2018, to March 2, 2018; and Extend

On Sunday, Dec. 3, 2017, CVS Health, a large provider of pharmacy services, said that it had agreed to buy Aetna Inc., one of the biggest U.S. health insurers, for about $69 billion. This proposed merger, according to industry experts,

Some employers may want to be selective and treat employees differently for purposes of group health plan benefits. For example, employers may consider implementing the following health plan designs: A health plan “carve-out” that insures only select groups of employees