On June 17, 2024, the IRS issued FAQs related to educational assistance programs under Section 127 of the IRC. Educational assistance programs are sponsored by employers and provide up to $5,250 in tax-free benefits to employees for certain qualified educational expenses. These expenses include items such as tuition, fees, books, supplies, equipment, etc. Principal or interest payments on qualified education loans made by the employer are also...

On June 20, 2024, the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas ruled that guidance issued by the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) on the use of third-party online tracking technologies by HIPAA-regulated entities, which include covered entities (such as healthcare providers) and business associates, was unlawful and that OCR overstepped its authority when it issued the guidance. The district court invalidated OCR’s guidance that...

On June 13, 2024, the Supreme Court of the United States held in Food and Drug Administration v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine that a consortium of doctors and medical organizations opposed to abortion did not have legal standing to challenge the FDA’s actions regarding mifepristone.

On May 31, 2024, in Bristol SL Holdings, Inc. v. Cigna Health and Life Insurance Company, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (Ninth Circuit) held that ERISA preempts state law claims challenging the denial of out-of-network provider reimbursements by group health plans. The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Cigna, the TPA for the ERISA plans, in the action brought by a drug treatment center’s successor-in-interest, Bristol SL Holdings, Inc. (Bristol).

On June 11, 2024, the DOL announced a recent settlement with Unum Life Insurance Company of America (Unum) following an investigation into the carrier’s group supplemental life insurance claims practices. The DOL investigation found that Unum routinely accepted premiums (via employer payroll deductions) for many years without verifying if participants satisfied an evidence of insurability (EOI) standard. Then, when a plan participant died,

On June 6, 2024, in N.C., individually and on behalf of minor A.C., v. Premera Blue Cross (Premera), the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (Ninth Circuit) affirmed the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of plaintiff-appellee N.C. regarding their ERISA claim for recovery of residential treatment benefits.

On April 29, 2024, the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) published a Field Assistance Bulletin (FAB) on the application of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and other federal labor standards regarding the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and other automated systems in the workplace. The FAB also provides detailed guidance on the challenges that may arise with the use of AI and compliance with the FMLA. or purposes of FMLA compliance, AI...

On May 21, 2024, in Scanlan, et al. v. American Airlines, the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ruled that employees are entitled to paid military service leave where their employer provides paid leave for bereavement and jury duty leave if the leaves are comparable in duration, frequency, purpose, and control. The plaintiffs in this case, a group of American Airlines pilots, sued their employer under the Uniformed Services...

The DOL, HHS, and IRS have jointly updated the Submission Instructions and User Manual for the Gag Clause Prohibition Compliance Attestation (GCPCA), dated May 2024. Group health plans and health insurance issuers (insurers) offering group or individual health insurance coverage must annually submit a GCPCA to the DOL, HHS, and IRS (collectively, the agencies). The statutory provisions added by the CAA 2021 generally prohibit...

On May 30, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published its amended final rule covering health breach notifications (HBNs) in the Federal Register. The HBN rule requires vendors of personal health records (PHRs) and related entities that are not covered by HIPAA to notify individuals, the FTC, and, in some cases, the media of a breach of unsecured personally identifiable health data.