Each week, you’ll find specially curated news articles to keep you up to date on the ever-evolving world of insurance and risk management. The articles are divided out between items relevant to Property & Casualty, Employee Benefits/Human Resources, and Compliance. We’ve included brief summaries of each item as well as a link to the original articles.
PROPERTY & CASUALTY
Fewer Companies Are Paying Ransoms to Hackers, Researchers Say
“Fewer companies that are infected with ransomware are coughing up extortion payments demanded by hackers, according to new research from Chainalysis Inc. In findings published on Thursday, the blockchain forensics firm estimated that ransom payments — which are almost always paid in cryptocurrency — fell to $456.8 million in 2022 from $765.6 million in 2021, a 40% drop. “That doesn’t mean attacks are down, or at least not as much as the drastic dropoff in payments would suggest,” according to the report. “Instead, we believe that much of the decline is due to victim organizations increasingly refusing to pay ransomware attackers.”” Full Article
– Insurance Journal
EMPLOYEE BENEFITS, HUMAN RESOURCES, & COMPLIANCE
Paid Leave for Any Reason Coming to Illinois “On January 10, 2023, the Illinois legislature passed the Paid Leave for All Workers (PLFAW) Act, making Illinois just the third state in the country (after Maine and Nevada) to require private employers to provide earned paid leave to employees to be used for any reason.” Full Article – Ogletree Deakins
Reviewing the Welfare Plan Rules Under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 “New requirements for maintaining an interactive tool for providing health plan participants with provider-specific information about the amount they will need to pay for services (and other useful information) apply, beginning in 2023.” Full Article – Ballard Spahr LLP
Fast-Approaching Deadlines for ACA Reporting and Similar State Reporting “Generally, reporting that relates to health coverage in one calendar year is due early in the following calendar year. With respect to health coverage in 2022, the ACA deadlines range from February 28 to March 31, 2023, and the state deadlines range from January 31, 2023 to April 30, 2023.” Full Article – Venable LLP
Looming Deadline for Pharmacy Reporting “CMS FAQs indicate that plan sponsors can delegate CAA reporting to their vendors, and reporting does not need to be consolidated with one entity. Note that self-funded plans will still retain liability for reporting, but in the case of fully insured plans, liability can be delegated to issuers in writing.” Full Article – Winston & Strawn LLP
Year-End Appropriations Legislation Contains Group Health Plan Provisions “The legislation provides funding to assist states in their enforcement of the CAA, 2021 requirement that health plans and insurers prepare comparative analyses of any nonquantitative treatment limitations on mental health or substance use disorder coverage. The legislation also eliminates the right of self-insured non-federal government health plans to opt out of [MHPAEA] compliance.” Full Article – Thomson Reuters/EBIA
We are FAMLI … Colorado Employers Must Withhold Premiums NOW for 2024 FAMLI Benefits “Premiums are set to 0.9% of the employee’s wages, with 0.45% paid by the employer and 0.45% paid by the employee. Colorado businesses must begin collecting premiums starting on January 1, 2023. If you are subject to the FAMLI Act and are about to run your first payroll for 2023, you must coordinate with your payroll processor to ensure deductions begin immediately.” Full Article – Holland & Hart
STATE & INTERNATIONAL COMPLIANCE
In addition to the RISQ Review, RISQ Consulting also provides a resource that features changes and updates to State and International Compliance measures. We’ve included brief summaries of each item below, and also provided links to the original articles if you’d like to read further.
CALIFORNIA
AB 2449’s Mandate for Implementation of Receiving and Resolving Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Requests for Reasonable Accommodations
“In addition to changes to rules for virtual attendance of public meetings under the Ralph M. Brown Act (Brown Act), AB 2449 also imposed a mandate on local legislative bodies within California to adopt procedures for receiving and swiftly resolving requests for reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities, consistent with federal law.” Full Article
– Reed Smith
MICHIGAN
Michigan Minimum Wage and Paid Leave Update: Agency Guidance and the Mothering Justice Appeal
“In Mothering Justice, the Court of Claims held that the state legislature violated the Michigan Constitution in 2018 when it enacted, and within the same legislative session amended, two ballot initiatives, one to raise the minimum wage and the other to require employers to provide paid sick leave.” Full Article
– Jackson Lewis P.C.
WASHINGTON
Washington State Issues Final Policy on Pay Transparency in Job Postings, Setting Most Stringent Requirements in the Country
“The law provides that employers must disclose in each posting for each job opening: (1) the wage scale or salary range, and (2) a general description of all benefits and other compensation to be offered.” Full Article
– Littler Mendelson
PENNSYLVANIA
Philadelphia Commuter Transit Benefits Coming Son
“Effective December 31, 2022, the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Employer Commuter Transit Benefit Program requires covered employers to make available for all covered employees a mass transit and bicycle commuter benefits program.” Full Article
– Proskauer Rose
NORTH CAROLINA
North Carolina Noncompetes, What is Legal Consideration?
“While one-size-fits-all noncompetes, such as restricting an employee from generally working for a competitor, will not fly in North Carolina, including specific language prohibiting the employee from “performing similar work” or describing the employee’s job duties within the noncompete can strengthen its enforceability.” Full Article
– Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein
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