Certificate In Employee Benefits Law Seminar Agenda

Seminar: ID# 1003530

This course is available in both in-person and video conference formats.

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Agenda

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

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

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