INFORMATION OF USE TO BENEFIT PLAN SPONSORS AND BENEFIT ADVISERS

Just Adopted a New 401(k) Plan?  Beware These Common Pitfalls

By June 30, 2022, businesses with 5 or more California employees must either enroll in CalSavers, a state-managed system of Roth IRA accounts, or establish their exemption from CalSavers by adopting 401(k) or other retirement plans of their own.  Other states have implemented or are rolling out similar auto-IRA programs.  Below are some potential pitfalls for new plan adopters that business owners should be aware of, and, where possible, take steps to avoid.  Immediate top-heavy status.  The “top-heavy” rules compare the combined plan account balances of certain owners and officers, called “key employees,”…

Keep reading

How to Prepare Business Owners for the Approaching CalSavers Deadline

CalSavers is a state-run retirement program that applies to employers who do not already sponsor their own retirement plan.  It automatically enrolls eligible employees in a state-managed system of Roth IRA accounts. It has been in place since September 30, 2020 for employers with more than 100 employees and since June 30, 2021 for employers with more than 50 employees.  On June 31, 2022, it goes into effect for employers with 5 or more employees.  Below we cover key aspects of the CalSavers program, focusing on the types of issues that California business owners…

Keep reading

Call Me Maybe?  Prerecorded Wellness Messages Trigger Anti-Telemarketing Laws

WellCare Health Plans, Inc., which primarily services Medicare and Medicaid enrollees, fell afoul of federal laws governing unsolicited telephone calls when it reached out with voicemail and pre-recorded messages about preventive services, and medical management and educational health programs.  In Fiorarancio v. WellCare Health Plans, Inc., 2022 WL 111062 (D.N.J. 2022), a New Jersey federal trial court denied WellCare’s motion to dismiss a compliant that the calls violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and related FCC regulations, even though the calls promoted free services.  The case provides some helpful insight on when wellness…

Keep reading

Loading…

Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.

Subscribe to receive the latest articles

“I am a benefits (ERISA) attorney. I help businesses prevent, and fix, problems with their employee benefit plans in order to preserve the tax-qualified status of those plans, and ultimately the saleability of their businesses.”

-Christine P. Roberts

Posts Worth Revisiting

Contact

Christine P. Roberts
Mullen & Henzell L.L.P.
phone: (805) 966-1501
email: croberts@mullenlaw.com

Please Read our Disclaimer and Privacy Policy before filling out the above form. Thank you.

Recent Posts

Just Adopted a New 401(k) Plan?  Beware These Common Pitfalls

By June 30, 2022, businesses with 5 or more California employees must either enroll in CalSavers, a state-managed system of Roth IRA accounts, or establish their exemption from CalSavers by adopting 401(k) or other retirement plans of their own.  Other states have implemented or are rolling out similar auto-IRA programs.  Below are some potential pitfalls for new plan adopters that business owners should be aware of, and, where possible, take steps to avoid.  Immediate top-heavy status.  The “top-heavy” rules compare the combined plan account balances of certain owners and officers, called “key employees,”…

Continue reading → Just Adopted a New 401(k) Plan?  Beware These Common Pitfalls

How to Prepare Business Owners for the Approaching CalSavers Deadline

CalSavers is a state-run retirement program that applies to employers who do not already sponsor their own retirement plan.  It automatically enrolls eligible employees in a state-managed system of Roth IRA accounts. It has been in place since September 30, 2020 for employers with more than 100 employees and since June 30, 2021 for employers with more than 50 employees.  On June 31, 2022, it goes into effect for employers with 5 or more employees.  Below we cover key aspects of the CalSavers program, focusing on the types of issues that California business owners…

Continue reading → How to Prepare Business Owners for the Approaching CalSavers Deadline

Call Me Maybe?  Prerecorded Wellness Messages Trigger Anti-Telemarketing Laws

WellCare Health Plans, Inc., which primarily services Medicare and Medicaid enrollees, fell afoul of federal laws governing unsolicited telephone calls when it reached out with voicemail and pre-recorded messages about preventive services, and medical management and educational health programs.  In Fiorarancio v. WellCare Health Plans, Inc., 2022 WL 111062 (D.N.J. 2022), a New Jersey federal trial court denied WellCare’s motion to dismiss a compliant that the calls violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and related FCC regulations, even though the calls promoted free services.  The case provides some helpful insight on when wellness…

Continue reading → Call Me Maybe?  Prerecorded Wellness Messages Trigger Anti-Telemarketing Laws

What the Supreme Court’s Hughes Decision Means to Plan Sponsors

“The point is that you’re not insulated from making bad [investment] decisions in your — [ . . . ] plan by the fact that you’ve made some good [investment] decisions in your plan, are you?”[1] The fiduciaries of two 403(b) plans maintained by Northwestern University were sued for ERISA fiduciary breach on the grounds that the plans paid excessive recordkeeping fees, in part because of the existence of multiple recordkeepers, offered retail share class mutual funds and annuities when cheaper and materially identical institutional class alternatives were available to a plan of…

Continue reading → What the Supreme Court’s Hughes Decision Means to Plan Sponsors

Five Fast Facts About Reproductive Health Benefits

Employers are increasingly looking to offer employees assistance in starting and adding to their families, which in a growing number of cases involves dealing with infertility treatments and other reproductive health issues.   Below are five fast facts about this trending employment benefit. Reproductive health benefits are increasingly in demand.  According to a survey by the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans, summarized here, 24% of employers surveyed covered the cost of in vitro fertilization benefits in 2020, up from 13% in 2016.  Similar or greater increases in coverage were seen across other categories,…

Continue reading → Five Fast Facts About Reproductive Health Benefits

In A Competitive Job Market, Helping With Student Loan Payments May Give Your Business the Edge

Through 2025, businesses have the opportunity to help employees pay off up to $5,250 in student loans each year ($21,000 total), through adoption of a simple written reimbursement program.  If structured properly, the assistance is deductible by the employer and excluded from employees’ taxable income. This is thanks to one of the lesser known provisions of the CARES Act of 2020, which expended the use of the existing Internal Revenue Code Section 127 for tuition reimbursement programs, to permit repayments of principal or interest on an eligible employee’s “qualified education loan,” as defined…

Continue reading → In A Competitive Job Market, Helping With Student Loan Payments May Give Your Business the Edge