Labor & Employment Developments Blog

The DOL recently released a final rule intended to provide small businesses with greater access to quality and affordable retirement plans.  The new rule, effective September 30, 2019, clarifies that a small employer group (association) -- such as employers in the same locale or particular industry/trade -- can band together and offer a defined contribution retirement plan to their employees through an Association Retirement Plan (“ARP”).  This significantly relaxes the “commonality” standard previously required for separate employers to offer a combined retirement ...

What tax treatment applies when a participant fails to cash a distribution check?  In Rev. Rul. 2019-19, the IRS recently confirmed that the distribution is taxable in the year distributed, whether or not the check is cashed.  Thus, when a distribution is made to an individual and the individual could cash the check, the amount is included in income (provided that no exception to income inclusion applies), subject to withholding, and the distribution must be reported on a 1099-R for the year of distribution.  What’s more, the result is the same whether the individual keeps the ...

Accumulator programs have become a popular utilization management technique that enables health plans to exclude the cost of drug manufacturer coupons or copay assistance cards when calculating a participant’s out of pocket costs. In essence, these programs allow health plans to more accurately determine a participant’s true out of pocket costs, as opposed to amounts that are subsidized by drug companies.  However, in recently released regulations (effective 2020), HHS appears to have limited the use of such programs to circumstances in which there is also an available and ...