As employers consider implementing a vaccine mandate to encourage employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19, we have recently discussed the merits of imposing a “vaccine surcharge” on monthly health insurance premiums for those employees who remain unvaccinated.  There were unanswered questions about specific legal issues, but now the Department of Labor (DOL), Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Treasury (collectively, the Departments) issued FAQ guidance (the “FAQ”) to confirm that employers can incentivize employees…

  In light of the lingering COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on employee productivity and health care expenses, employers are considering imposing a premium surcharge on employees participating in the company’s health plan who are not vaccinated against COVID-19. As we have discussed here, several federal laws must be taken into consideration when designing such a surcharge including the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability…

Testing for COVID-19 certainly has evolved over the past 18 months or so. As supply and allocation continue to face challenges, guidance on serological/antibody versus viral testing, testing in the workplace, informed consent, among other things have emerged to help guide coronavirus testing in the workplace. President Biden’s Path out of the Pandemic (the “Path”) seeks to drive higher levels of COVID-19 vaccination, while allowing COVID-19 testing as an option under certain…

San Francisco’s Measure L, which passed with the overwhelming support of the voters, will be effective in 2022 for businesses operating in the City of San Francisco. Measure L, titled the “Overpaid Executive Gross Receipts Tax,” imposes an additional tax on gross receipts or payroll expenses of any business in which the CEO (or highest-paid managerial employee) earns more than 100 times the median compensation of its employees. Companies with a CEO pay ratio…

According to Forbes.com, more employers are considering imposing a premium surcharge on employees participating in the company’s health plan who are not vaccinated for COVID-19. Whether positioned as rewards or penalties, wellness program incentives have become vehicles of choice for encouraging behaviors believed to be healthy and reducing health plan costs. For years, tobacco users have faced health plan premium surcharges if they failed to cease using tobacco products (and if they also failed…

The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (“ARPA”) kept many practitioners busy this spring/summer, as may be evident by our discussions here, here, here, and here. Under one of ARPA’s most impactful provisions, employees who were involuntarily terminated or had their hours reduced (and who met certain other criteria) became eligible for fully subsidized COBRA coverage from April 1, 2021, through September 30, 2021.   This led to a bit of a…

As the IRS continues to churn out guidance on various forms of COVID-19 relief, this week is no exception with the release of Notice 2021-26.  This Notice clarifies two key points relating to the tax treatment of dependent care assistance program (DCAP) benefits for 2021 and 2022. We previously wrote about the optional increased annual limit ($10,500) for 2021 DCAP plan years.  Questions remained about how to administer the increased annual limit, particularly given…