After a somewhat torturous journey to becoming law, HR 133, Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, was signed late on December 27, 2020. It is a massive piece of legislation covering much ground. Notably, it includes both coronavirus relief as well as the appropriation portion to keep the government running for the next fiscal year. The law includes direct economic impact payments of $600/each as well as temporary extension of supplemental unemployment relief. Further, it includes Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan expansion.
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Topics:
retirement plans,
IRS,
employee benefit plan,
FSA,
Employee Benefits,
Paid Family and Medical Leave,
Stimulus,
cafeteria plan relief,
educational assistance,
mental health parity,
pharmacy
We know you’re concerned about the impacts of COVID-19 on your employees and benefits, but there are steps you can take to mitigate those impacts . . . and CBIZ is here to guide you every step of the way. To that end, we are providing you with this summary of the most critical issues that your business must be aware of.
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Topics:
employee benefit plan,
Sick leave,
Employee Benefits,
COVID19,
Coronavirus,
employees,
benefits
Headlines tell the story about the cybersecurity threats facing consumer or customer data, but employee data can be an information security target as well. Employee data carries a lot of the information that cyber criminals seek, including Social Security numbers, dates of birth, financial and medical information, bank account details, beneficiary information and confidential emails. Former employee data may also be vulnerable if your plan has weak employee off-boarding procedures which may inadvertently result in storing old information off-network.
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Topics:
employee benefit plan,
cybersecurity,
ebp,
cyber risks,
cyber attacks
The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) is examining options to simplify employee benefit plan (EBP) accounting standards.
EBP financial reporting has historically been complex. During the 2014 fiscal year, the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) processed 26,665 applications from plan sponsors seeking to voluntarily correct mistakes in their benefit plan reporting.
Prompted by the AICPA's EBP Expert Panel, FASB's Emerging Issues Task Force (EITF) added Issue No. 15-C, Accounting Issues in Employee Benefit Plan Financial Statements to its agenda in November 2014. A proposed agenda for employee benefit plan simplifications was made available prior to the March 19, 2015, EITF meeting.
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Topics:
employee benefit plan,
Kevin Petrosino
Beginning on July 1, 2015 all Massachusetts private sector employers with more than 10 employees must provide up to 40 hours of paid sick time per calendar year, while private sector employers with fewer than 11 employees must provide 40 hours of unpaid sick time per calendar year. These requirements are the result of a new sick leave law passed by Massachusetts’ voters on Nov. 4, 2014.
The new law ensures employees can take sick leave without repercussion to:
- Care for a physical or mental illness, injury or medical condition affecting the employee or the employee’s child, spouse, parent, or parent of a spouse;
- Attend routine medical appointments of the employee or the employee’s child, spouse, parent, or parent of a spouse;
- Address the effects of domestic violence on the employee or the employee’s dependent child.
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Topics:
Tarra Curran,
employee benefit plan
A new FASB proposal affects employee benefit plans, particularly employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs). The proposal allows for indefinite deferral of certain Level 3 fair value measurement disclosure requirements for nonpublic employee benefit plans holding private company employer equity securities, which would otherwise take effect for periods beginning on or after December 15, 2011 (calendar year 2012) and would be included in Form 5500 filings generally due within seven months after the plan’s year-end.
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Topics:
FASB,
employee benefit plan
