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
Transactional risk insurance remains a critical factor in M&A – report
“Transactional risk insurance remains a critical factor in de-risking deals, according to a new report from Marsh Specialty. The report, Transactional risk insurance 2022: year in review, discusses the continued rise of transactional risk insurance as a mainstream feature of M&A deals globally. While transactional risk insurance was viewed as an esoteric product two decades ago, today it’s a mainstream strategy for protecting buyers and sellers from the risks inherent in M&A transactions, the report said.” Full Article
– Insurance Business Magazine
EMPLOYEE BENEFITS, HUMAN RESOURCES, & COMPLIANCE
IRS Provides an “Electric Shock” by Lowering Mandatory Electronic Filing Threshold “Many plan sponsors, employers, and other filers not currently subject to mandatory electronic filing will be ensnared by the new regulations and be required to file returns electronically.” Full Article – Groom Law Group
Surprise-Billing Law Loophole: When ‘Out-of-Network’ Doesn’t Quite Mean Out-of-Network “What’s the difference between a hospital that’s ‘in-network’ and one that’s a ‘participating provider’? In this case, by contracting with Regence as an out-of-network but also participating provider, Swedish straddled the line between being in and out-of-network.” Full Article – Kaiser Health News
Departments Issue Guidance Requiring First Annual “Gag” “While explicit, direct violations of the prohibition on gag clauses may not be difficult to determine, provisions that have the effect of restricting the disclosure of information or data in violation of the gag clause prohibitions may not be obvious.” Full Article – The Wagner Law Group
Attestation by December 31, 2023
It Doesn’t Have to be That Way: Negotiating Good Service Provider Agreements is More Important Than Ever “It is time to get serious (and maybe even more serious) about privacy and security. Employers who have employees located in California in particular should be looking at these rules to ensure that their benefit plan service providers are in compliance with these requirements.” Full Article – Holland & Hart LLP
What the End of the COVID-19 Pandemic Means for Employee Benefit Plan Deadlines and Coverage “The calculation of normal deadlines will resume on July 10, 2023, for individuals whose Relief Event date was after July 10, 2022. Employers would also be well served to review COBRA notices previously issued to determine if an updated notice or communication is merited in light of the impending end of the relief.” Full Article – Jackson Lewis P.C.
Text of IRS Rev. Proc. 2023-17: Adjusted Applicable Dollar Amounts Under Section 4980H, for Calculation of 2024 Employer Shared Responsibility Payments (PDF) “This revenue procedure provides indexing adjustments for the applicable dollar amounts under Section 4980H(c)(1) and (b)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code. These indexed amounts are used to calculate the employer shared responsibility payments (ESRP) under Section 4980H(a) and (b)(1), respectively.” Full Article – Groom Law Group
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.
Illinois Supreme Court Rules BIPA Claims Accrue With Each Scan “On February 17, the Illinois Supreme Court issued its long-awaited decision in Cothron v. White Castle, holding that a claim under Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) is triggered upon each biometric scan, rather than just the first.” Full Article – Troutman PepperILLINOIS
Seattle Becomes the First U.S. Jurisdiction to Prohibit Caste Discrimination “On February 21, 2023, the City of Seattle, Washington became the first U.S. city – or any U.S. jurisdiction for that matter – to add caste to its list1 of categories protected against discrimination.” Full Article – Littler MendelsonWASHINGTON
Massachusetts May Be Next in Line to Enact Pay Transparency Laws “The proposed law focuses on a broad range of employee and wage data, including the number of employees by race, ethnicity, and gender that fall within certain job categories or roles, and their corresponding wage information.” Full Article – Nelson Mullins Riley & ScarboroughMASSACHUSETTS
New Jersey Enacts First-of-Its-Kind Temporary Workers’ Bill of Rights “Under the law, employers must pay temporary workers no less than the average rate of pay and cost of benefits provided to company employees in similar positions who perform the same or substantially similar work. It also gives temporary workers rights to certain information on the terms and conditions of their engagement and imposes significant obligations on staffing agencies and their clients.” Full Article – Morgan Lewis & BockiusNEW JERSEY
CA Win for Employers: Ninth Circuit Holds That California AB 51 Prohibiting Mandatory Arbitration is Preempted by the Federal Arbitration Act ““As of February 15, 2023, employers in California may once again require mandatory arbitration as the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) preempts Assembly Bill 51 (AB 51), a law that prohibited “forced arbitration” as a condition of employment.” Full Article – McDermott Will & EmeryCALIFORNIA
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