Sylvia Group clients have come to depend on our annual employee benefits compliance update, so when the COVID-19 pandemic made hosting our yearly seminar impractical, we took the event online. In a September 22 Zoom webinar, Stacy Barrow of the benefits law specialty firm Marathas Barrow Weatherhed Lent LLP provided our audience with timely and important information on topics including:
- Affordable Care Act (ACA) and High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) out-of-pocket limits for 2021
- Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and ACA Section 1557
- ACA contraceptive coverage requirements
- Upcoming wellness rules
- Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) rebates, and other carrier refunds and credits
- The Families First Coronavirus Act (FFCRA)
- The Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) law.
Those who registered for the webinar but were unable to attend received an email providing a link to an hour-long YouTube recording of the presentation, which we’re now sharing here:
In his presentation, Stacy notes two federal sources of compliance information HR professionals should reference. You can find those sources here:
- Department of Labor (DOL) FAQs on leave associated with the Families First Coronavirus Response Act
- Internal Revenue Service (IRS) FAQ’s associated with COVID-19-related tax credits for required paid leave.
If you have compliance questions and can’t find the answers in the webinar or the FAQ links, we welcome you to contact our Employee Benefits division. We’ll do our best to help you navigate the complex regulatory challenges you face.
By ROSEMARIE S. LOPES
Senior Partner, Sylvia Group
About Rosemarie S. Lopes and Sylvia Group
A Sylvia Group senior partner, Rosemarie Lopes heads Sylvia Group’s Employee Benefits division and serves as the agency’s principal life insurance expert, utilizing more than 17 years of industry experience working with businesses and individuals to design programs that fit their strategic plans and goals. Her designs for health, dental, disability, life, long-term care and travel insurance coverage help clients protect their investments and provide security for the people they care about most. Rose earned her Registered Health Underwriter (RHU®), Registered Employee Benefits Consultant (REBC®) and Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU®) designations through the American College of Financial Services. Prior to her insurance career, she served six years in the U.S. Marine Corps, earning multiple medals and commendations.
Sylvia Group empowers businesses and individuals with performance-based insurance, benefits and financial planning programs. We make our clients active participants in managing risk and containing premiums, resulting in coverage that is both customized and cost-effective. In addition to making a difference for our clients, we make a difference for our community as a whole by actively supporting and serving many of southern New England’s most reputable and effective nonprofit organizations and institutions. At the outset of 2020, Sylvia Group became an Alera Group company, combining the local, personal service for which we’re known with the scope and resources of a national firm.
