October is National Cybersecurity Awareness month, and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a newsletter to educate stakeholders on the importance of cybersecurity awareness.

HHS recently released an updated federal independent dispute resolution (IDR) process guidance document. The agency issued the guidance document for group health plans and insurers who are seeking to resolve a payment claim for items and services covered by the surprise billing protections under the No Surprises Act (NSA) of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CAA, 2021).

On September 22, 2022, in Howard v. Ivy Creek of Tallapoosa, LLC et al., the US District Court for the Middle District of Alabama ruled that a delegation of COBRA notice obligations to a third-party administrator (TPA) did not absolve the employer of COBRA notice liability. The plaintiff, Pamela Howard, sued her former employer Ivy Creek of Tallapoosa (Ivy Creek) and Ivy Creek’s COBRA TPA, UMR Inc., alleging failure to provide a COBRA election notice. Howard brought a second claim against Ivy Creek under ERISA for failure to provide requested plan documents.

On October 18, 2022, the IRS issued Revenue Procedure 2022-38, providing certain cost-of-living adjustments for a wide variety of tax-related items, including health FSA contribution limits, transportation and parking benefits, qualified small employer health reimbursement arrangements (QSEHRAs), the small business tax credit and other adjustments for tax year 2023. Those changes are outlined below.

The IRS recently released the final Forms 1094-B/C and 1095-B/C and the drafts of general instructions for Forms 1094-B/C and 1095-B/C for the 2022 reporting year.

On October 17, 2022, the IRS released the updated Fringe Benefits Guide (Publication 5137) to assist federal, state, and local government employers in determining the correct tax treatment of employee fringe benefits, including using the appropriate withholding and reporting procedures. This publication covers:

On October 13, 2022, the DOL released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would guide employers in classifying workers as employees or independent contractors under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The FLSA governs minimum wage and overtime requirements that apply to employees but not independent contractors.

On October 5, 2022, in Earl v. Jewel Food Stores, the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois ruled an employer failed to document a good faith attempt to provide the required COBRA election notice to a terminated employee.

On August 15, 2022, the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held in <em>Roberts v. Gestamp West Virginia, LLC</em>, that a jury must decide whether an employee’s Facebook message to his supervisor satisfied the notice requirements under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).

On September 16, 2022, the Office of Personnel Management, IRS, EBSA and HHS (the agencies) released a request for information regarding the transfer of data from providers and facilities to plans, issuers and carriers; other policy approaches; and the economic impacts of implementing these requirements. The request is part of a rulemaking process for the advanced explanation of benefits (AEOB) and good faith estimate (GFE) requirements of the No Surprises Act (NSA).