Certificate In Employee Benefits Law Seminar Agenda
Seminar: ID# 1277694
Agenda
Block I: Retirement Plans (Monday and Tuesday)
Overview of the Statutes and Regulatory Agencies Governing Retirement Plans
- The Alphabet of Laws (ERISA, ADA, COBRA, FMLA, GATT, USERRA, HIPAA and EGTRRA) and agencies
(IRS, DOL, EBSA, PBGC, EEOC, SEC and HCFA)
- ERISA Title I and Title II and the division of authority between the IRS, the Department of
Labor and the PBGC
- Overview of plan types and qualification requirements
Fiduciary Rules and Investing Plan Assets
- Overview of prohibited transactions, exemptions, penalties and corrections
- Participant investment direction-Is 404(c) worth all the trouble?
- Participant investment direction in an up and down market
- When investments go bad, who is liable?
- Plan fiduciaries, co-fiduciary liability and the liability of service providers
- Paying expenses from plan assets.
- Why is the Department of Labor so interested in proxy voting?
- The lessons being learned from Enron
- Investment of education versus advice
Nondiscrimination Testing for Retirement Plans
- Overview of nondiscrimination testing of participation, benefits, and contributions
- Controlled groups rules
- Highly compensated employee definition
- Coverage rules (Code Section 410(b)), including QSLOBs
- Nondiscriminatory Contributions (Code Section 401(a)(4))
- Safeharbors and general rules for contributions
- Testing benefits, rights, and features
- Cross testing and age weighted profit sharing plans
- 401(k) and 401(m) testing and safe harbor plans
- Dealing with failed 401(k) and 401(m) testing
Plan Administration
- Day-to-Day challenges of plan administration
- Participant loans
- QDROs
- Salary deferrals and catch-up contributions
- Paperless administration
- Sarbanes-Oxley and blackout periods
- ERISA Section 204(h) notices
- Suspension of benefits provisions
Plan Distributions
- When can participants take money out of the plan?
- Withholding and rollovers
- Consent rules
- Joint and survivor rules
- Hardship distributions
- Code Section 411(d)(6) Anti-cutback rules and elimination of distribution methods
- Minimum required distributions at age 70½
- Retroactive annuity starting dates
Plan Audits and IRS and DOL Voluntary Compliance Programs
- Plan Qualification: What is it?
- What happens if a plan is disqualified?
- IRS audit targets
- Correcting errors under IRS compliance programs
- Correcting errors discovered by IRS in an audit
- Late forms filing and how to resolve
- Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program
- Compliance audits/compliance controls
Early Retirement Incentive Programs
- Designing the program to achieve goals
- Designing the program to comply with ADEA waiver rules
- Designing to comply with 401(a)(4) rules for retirement early windows
- What the courts are telling us about early retirement windows and ADEA waivers
Government and Nonprofit Employers - Qualified and Nonqualified Plans
- Who is the employer? How controlled group rules apply to government and nonprofit employees
- Qualification standards for government plans
- Code Section 403(b) plans-contribution limits and IRS audit and voluntary correction programs
- Eligible and Ineligible Code Section 457 plans
Block II: Special Employee Benefits Issue (Wednesday)
ERISA Compliance
- Learn which plans ERISA covers
- How to deal with state law requirements
- Plan documentation and reporting obligations to participants and the government
- Administering benefit claims
- Making your administrative decisions bullet-proof
- Arbitration of benefit claims
- Understanding and satisfying fiduciary obligations
- Identifying and investing plan assets
- Protecting your plan's right to reimbursement
- Avoiding the anti-cutback rule
Executive Compensation
- Qualified versus non-qualified plans
- Top Hat Plans - how to avoid the trap set by ERISA and the Code
- Code Section 409A - the new deferred compensation rules
- Stock options and other equity-based awards
- Change-in-control and severance payments
Benefit Issues Arising in Corporate Mergers and Acquisitions
- Understand the benefits issues and alternatives in M&A transactions
- Partial plan terminations and vesting
- How to terminate a plan
- Protected benefits and formerly protected benefits
- Wraparound or wear-away benefits
- Transition periods for minimum coverage and participation requirements
- Health plan issues: COBRA and related matters
- Severance
Block III: Welfare Benefit Plan Issues (Thursday and Friday)
ERISA Compliance for Health & Welfare Plans
- Which welfare plans are subject to ERISA
- Reporting requirements (Form 5500)
- Disclosure requirements (SPD, SMM, etc.)
- Electronic SPDs
- Plan funding rules
- Trust requirements
- What funds are plan assets
- Cafeteria plan trust moratorium
- Fiduciary Obligations
- Prohibited transaction issues
- New DOL claim procedure requirements
- ERISA 510 claims
- Impact of ERISA on claims litigation
- Preemption and state law regulation
HIPAA's Impact on Health Plans
- HIPAA Portability
- Pre-existing condition limitations
- HIPAA non-discrimination requirements
- HIPAA certificates of creditable coverage
HIPAA Privacy Overview
- Privacy issues for health plan sponsors
- Business associate contract requirements
The H & W Plan Alphabet
- Impact of employment nondiscrimination laws on H & W benefits
- ADEA (Erie update)
- Pregnancy Discrimination Act
- Americans With Disabilities Act
- Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
- Military leave (USERRA)
- Health plan mandates
- QMCSOs
- Mental Health Parity
- Medicare Secondary
- Cancer Rights Act
Cafeteria Plan Issues
- Cafeteria plan basics
- Which benefits can be pre-taxed
- Who can participate
- The irrevocable election rule and change in status exceptions
- Health FSAs
- Which expenses qualify
- Claim substantiation rules
- Dependent Care FSAs
- Which expenses qualify
- Impact on child care tax credit
- Transit/Parking Plans
Consumer Driven Health Care
- Health Savings Accounts (HSAs)
- Introduction to HRA rollover accounts
Order:
Certificate In Employee Benefits Law Seminar
Pricing:
$2,375.00
Metropolitan Area:
Atlanta
Venue:
Atlanta Marriott Suites Midtown
35 14th Street
Atlanta
949-760-1700
Dates:
APRIL 17 - 21, 2023 (See Course Description)
Qty: