Menu

Tag: ERISA

Oct 13, 2017

Executive Order Could Weaken ACA, Create Association Health Plans

Association Health Plan: Doctor

President Trump Takes Steps When Senate Won’t President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order that potentially weakens the Affordable Care Act (ACA). As quoted by the White House Press Office “The time has come to give Americans the freedom to purchase health insurance across state lines, which will create a truly competitive national marketplace that will bring costs way down and provide far better care.” Association Health Plans The Order is intended to allow employers to join together to form “association health plans” that can cross state lines. The Order also calls for expanded availability for lower cost, short-term policies, and increased use of… Read more

Jun 1, 2017

English Only Version of Notices is OK Under COBRA

A terminated employee sued his former employer alleging that the COBRA election notice provided by the employer (in its role as group health plan administrator) was not “written in a manner calculated to be understood by the average plan participant” as required by COBRA in Valdivieso v. Cushman & Wakefield, Inc., 2017 WL 2191053 (M.D. Fla. 2017). English was the second language for this native Spanish-speaking former employee. In addition to certain other allegations related to specifics of the COBRA Notice, he alleged that the notice should have been provided in Spanish. The court allowed his other claims related to the… Read more

Jan 7, 2014

The Eleventh Circuit Clarifies The Liability For A Bankrupt Company’s Pension Benefits

In Durango-Georgia Paper Co. v. H. G. Estate, LLC, Case No. 11-15079 (decided January 7, 2014), the Eleventh Circuit addressed what it defined as a question of first impression: “whether under ERISA the trustee of a corporation that is a contributing sponsor and is in bankruptcy can maintain an action for the benefit of the bankruptcy estate and the estate’s unsecured creditors against the corporation’s former owner … for liabilities arising from the termination of a pension plan.” Opinion, p. 5. The Court held that the answer is “no.” The Employment Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”), among other… Read more