General Requirement: The Plan administrator must use measures reasonably calculated to ensure actual receipt of the material by plan participants, beneficiaries and other individuals. Material must be sent by methods of delivery likely to result in full distribution. (DOL 2520.104b-1(b)). As a practical matter, you should be able to demonstrate how the distribution was made. […]
This Summary Plan Description Checklist for 2017 is based on DOL regulation 29 CFR 2520.102-3. Section 102 of ERISA specifies information that must be included in the summary plan description. The summary plan description must accurately reflect the contents of the plans as of the date not earlier than 120 days prior to the date […]
ERISA requires that each plan subject to ERISA provide a summary plan description (SPD) as part of their Plan Documents. The DOL provides the content requirements of the SPD. Over time other language has been added by practitioners and generally you will find the DOL required language as well as “good to have” language in […]
On March 11, 2016, the Department of Labor released FAQs about Affordable Care Act Implementation (Part 30) that addresses implementation dates for the proposed Summary of Benefits and Coverage template and associated documents (published on February 26, 2016). (See ErisaALERT 2012-06 for background information). The government intends to act “expeditiously” to finalize the new documents. […]
ACA, HCA, SBCThe IRS has issued Notice 2014-19 and posted Answers to Frequently Asked Questions Regarding the Application of the Windsor Decision and Post-Windsor Published Guidance to Qualified Retirement Plans on its website. ErisaALERTs 2013-04 and 2013-06 discussed government guidance issued as a result of the United States v Windsor (the Supreme Court decision that holds Section 3 […]
compliance, DOMA, IRS, WindsorA summary of any material modification to the plan and any change in information required to be in the SPD must be disclosed to participants. A copy of the SMM must be provided to the DOL upon request. Note: This material is for the sole purpose of providing general information and does not under any […]
ERISA §402 requires that every employee benefit plan “be established and maintained pursuant to a written instrument”. There is no specific dollar for not having ERISA plan documents. However, failure to comply with an ERISA requirement can have serious consequences. In addition to ERISA, the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) requires written ERISA plan documents including: IRC […]
On March 19, 2012 the IRS, DOL and HHS jointly issued Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) Affordable Care Act Implementation (Part VIII) regarding the implementation of the Summary of Benefits and Coverage (SBC) requirements under the Affordable Care Act Implementation (Part VIII of the Act). We provided an extensive description of the proposed SBC regulation in […]
2012 archive, ACA, SBCThe IRS, DOL and HHS jointly published final regulations regarding the Summary of Benefits and Coverage and Uniform Glossary as well as other guidance regarding the SBC in February. The regulations indicate that this guidance is for the first year of applicability and the Departments intend to issue updated material for later years. You can […]
2012 archive, ACA, SBCBottom line: As noted in Part I, a summary of benefits and coverages (SBC) must be provided to health plan participants and beneficiaries. The SBC consists of a 4 page (double sided) summary in a prescribed format and includes a glossary of terms as well as examples of how certain conditions will be covered by […]
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