December 15, 2022
To close out the year, the Benefits Compliance team recapped benefits-related legislative, regulatory and judicial highlights from 2022. They also looked forward to 2023 and any potential guidance that may be on the horizon.
Topics discussed included:
- Election Results
- COVID & Benefits Compliance
- Family Glitch 'Fixed'
- Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) & Comparative Analysis
- State Law Trends
- Retirement Updates/SECURE Act
- Surprise Billing & Transparency
- Other H&W Compliance Issues
For a sampling of what's included in the webinar, check out the below section on Retirement Updates/SECURE Act.
What happened?
- Retirement updates due to COVID-19 were minimal and mostly completed last year (i.e. additional loan and hardship relief).
- The IRS has codified hardship relief for disasters over the last few years.
- The SECURE Act, passed in late 2019, was the most recent major legislation effecting retirement.
- The Biden administration has taken on some retirement topics in the executive space.
What could happen next?
- Congress already has bipartisan report for provisions of what has been coined SECURE Act 2.0.
- House passed Securing a Strong Retirement Act
- Senate HELP committee approved the 'RISE and SHINE' Act
- Senate Finance committee approved the 'EARN' Act
- We'll continue to see litigation on fees/expenses of plans, but the holdings so far have been employer-friendly.
Employer plan sponsor takeaways:
- We expect SECURE Act 2.0 to come and require compliance in the near future.
- The retirement space is not as volatile as the health and welfare space. However, continued compliance is essential.
- Employers should be diligent on routine compliance obligations (such as reporting & disclosure, fiduciary duties, avoidance of prohibited transactions).