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2024 Newfront EB Compliance Guides

By Brian Gilmore | Published January 2, 2024

Enjoy these compliance guides covering common employee benefits issues and strategies for employers!

2024 Newfront ACA Employer Mandate & ACA Reporting Guide

• Covers the ACA employer mandate basics for ALEs to avoid potential penalties
• Who qualifies as a full-time employee under the mandate and why it matters
• Overview of the ACA reporting requirements for employers

2024 Newfront COBRA for Employers Guide

• A full summary of the COBRA basics from qualifying events, elections and payment, to coverage options
• Deep dive on persistent issues such as COBRA subsidies, M&A, Medicare, and domestic partners
• A practical insight into the best practice approaches and strategies for employers who largely delegate day-to-day operations to a COBRA TPA

2024 Newfront Compliance Considerations for Self-Insured Plans Guide

• A practical step-by-step guide for employers transitioning to self-insured plans or reviewing compliance for established plans
• Addressing ACA reporting, CAA transparency, HIPAA, ERISA, PCORI, §105(h), COBRA, domestic partner, LOA, and other considerations
• A quick reference checklist for the main areas of concern when maintaining a self-insured group health plan

2024 Newfront ERISA for Employers Guide

• An overview of the basic plan document and SPD content and distribution rules
• Understanding the core four fiduciary duties for employers with respect to their health and welfare plans
• The Form 5500, SAR, eligibility, preemption, and common situations where it’s difficult to determine whether a benefit is subject to ERISA

2024 Newfront Fringe Benefits for Employers Guide

• Understanding supplemental-type benefits designed to recruit and retain employees beyond the standard H&W offerings
• Covers fringe benefits (specialty HRAs, LSAs, commuter, education/student loan, adoption benefits) that add tremendous value
• Reviews many potential compliance pitfalls that many have not considered

2024 Newfront Go All the Way With HSA Guide

• A full overview of everything HDHP/HSA
• HSA eligibility, contributions, distributions, and all the tricky issues that arise
• Includes multiple new forms of relief and changes to expand HSAs in recent years

2024 Newfront Health Benefits for Domestic Partners Guide

• Addresses the registered domestic partner situations where plans are required to offer coverage based on state and local law
• Understand why most coverage is based on employers expanding eligibility with the optional company-defined domestic partnership category
• The enduring imputed income tax issues for domestic partner coverage, plus how other group health plan rules like COBRA apply

2024 Newfront Health Benefits While on Leave Guide

• The rules that apply to maintaining health coverage during FMLA and other state-protected leaves
• How employers can and often do address the desire to continue active coverage during a non-protected leave
• Reminders of the tricky ACA employer mandate issues that commonly arise in a leave context

2024 Newfront HIPAA Training for Employers Guide

• A one-hour recorded HIPAA training session with sign-in sheet to cover the required training for employers with self-insured health plans
• Tackles both HIPAA portability and privacy issues affecting employers from a compliance and practical perspective
• Full overview of the privacy and security issues facing employers, plus a summary checklist to point employers in the right direction moving forward

2024 Newfront ICHRA for Employers Guide

• Are ICHRAs the new 401(k) as a true defined contribution health plan alternative?
• A forward-looking review of where ICHRAs are headed and the likely changes to the industry that will result
• Practical guidance addressing the compliance and administrative challenges that still present some concerns

2024 Newfront M&A for H&W Employee Benefits Guide

• Covering the top five issues for health and welfare plans that typically arise in the M&A context
• Employer decisions and strategies with whether to keep plans separate or combine, including an overview of MEWA considerations
• Discussion of ACA employer mandate, ACA reporting, COBRA, and health FSA approaches to complete the transition after the deal

2024 Newfront Medicare for Employers Guide

• Answering common questions on the relationship between group health plans and Medicare that arise as employees reach age 65
• How Medicare interacts with active coverage vs. COBRA, and the important pitfalls to avoid
• Understanding how and when Medicare affects HSA eligibility, plus employer and employee strategies to address concerns

2024 Newfront San Francisco Health Care Security Ordinance (HCSO) Guide

• Understanding San Francisco’s uniquely challenging law for employers requiring specific levels of health care expenditures for employees
• Which employees can be excluded from the required health care expenditures, including voluntary waiver rules and strategies
• How employers can comply for certain employees by contributing to the City Option to fund an MRA on their behalf

2024 Newfront San Francisco Paid Parental Leave Ordinance (PPLO) Guide

• Understanding San Francisco’s uniquely challenging law for employers to supplement compensation for employees on new child bonding leave
• How PPLO compensation interacts with California PFL to provide full pay to employees on parental leave, including the applicable caps
• Common issues that arise, including compliance strategies that employers have developed both to comply and satisfy employees

2024 Newfront Section 125 Cafeteria Plans Guide

• Why Section 125 matters as a crucial safe harbor from the doctrine of constructive receipt
• The challenging rules governing how employees can make and change elections under a cafeteria plan
• The use-it-or-lose-it rule and its exceptions, plus strategies to address the dreaded dependent care FSA 55% average benefits nondiscrimination test

2024 Newfront Wellness Program Guide

• Understanding the many different forms of wellness programs and the many different intersecting (and typically unrelated) areas of law that govern compliance
• An overview of the complex legal scheme for wellness programs that can catch many employers by surprise
• How to deal with uncertainty after the courts ordered the EEOC to vacate portions of the ADA/GINA regulations

Disclaimer: The intent of this analysis is to provide the recipient with general information regarding the status of, and/or potential concerns related to, the recipient’s current employee benefits issues. This analysis does not necessarily fully address the recipient’s specific issue, and it should not be construed as, nor is it intended to provide, legal advice. Furthermore, this message does not establish an attorney-client relationship. Questions regarding specific issues should be addressed to the person(s) who provide legal advice to the recipient regarding employee benefits issues (e.g., the recipient’s general counsel or an attorney hired by the recipient who specializes in employee benefits law).

Brian Gilmore

Lead Benefits Counsel, VP, Newfront

Brian Gilmore is the Lead Benefits Counsel at Newfront. He assists clients on a wide variety of employee benefits compliance issues. The primary areas of his practice include ERISA, ACA, COBRA, HIPAA, Section 125 Cafeteria Plans, and 401(k) plans. Brian also presents regularly at trade events and in webinars on current hot topics in employee benefits law.