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Media ERISA Pros Launches ERISA Wonk Blog for ERISA Issues of Welfare Benefit PlansAtlanta, GA — September 20, 2011 —ERISA Pros launches ERISA Wonk, a leading blog focusing on ERISA issues related solely to Welfare Benefit Plans. (The definition of wonk is: 1) an expert in a specialized and narrow field; 2) an excessively assiduous and thorough student of a subject or issue; 3) a person obsessively preoccupied with the arcane details of a field. Wonk is an anagram of "know.") Subject experts from around the country will submit blog posts focusing on ERISA issues related exclusively to Welfare Benefit Plans. The posts are moderated for originality, timeliness, and relevance.
ERISA (the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974) is a set of federal laws and regulations that govern Welfare Benefit Plans and Qualified Retirement Plans. Under ERISA, employers must have a written Plan Document and are required to deliver a summary of it, a Summary Plan Description (SPD), to their Participants—regardless of how many employees participate. The SPD is the main vehicle for communicating Plan rights to Participants. Employers must also prepare and file a Form 5500 electronically for each Plan with the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and deliver a summary of it, a Summary Annual Report (SAR), to each Participant—unless they meet the strict criteria for the Small Plan Exception. Almost every employer, regardless of its size or number of employees, must comply with ERISA. A Welfare Benefit Plan is a program established by an employer to provide certain benefits to its employees. Examples of Welfare Benefit Plans covered by ERISA are medical, surgical, or hospital care or benefits, benefits in the event of sickness, accident, disability, death or unemployment, or vacation benefits, apprenticeship or other training programs, day care centers, scholarship funds, and prepaid legal services. About ERISA Pros Contact: Local: 678-443-4003 ### ERISA Pros Adds Mary F. Barkley, JD to its Professional StaffMary F. Barkley, JD joins ERISA Pros, LLC to become the third attorney on its professional staff. ERISA Pros provides ERISA compliance services, e.g., SPDs and Form 5500 preparation and electronic filing, for Welfare Benefit Plans, such as employer sponsored group life, medical, dental, and disability insurance plans. Atlanta, GA — April 14 , 2010 — ERISA Pros is pleased to announce the addition of Mary F. Barkley as the third attorney on its professional staff. Mary has practiced with a national law firm in the employee benefits field. She also worked as tax counsel for a Fortune 500 company, specializing in employee benefits, fringe benefits and payroll taxes, and state and local income tax controversy and planning. Mary was formerly a Business Law Instructor with the Certified Employee Benefits Specialist ("CEBS") program. She earned hear Juris Doctor from the University of Tennessee, with honors, in May, 1990. Mary was on the staff of the Tennessee Law Review, and won Am Jur Awards in Civil Procedure I and II. Mary is an inactive member of the Texas Bar. Her personal interests include letterboxing and geocaching with her two children. She also enjoys reading, vegetable gardening, needlework and soapmaking. About ERISA Pros: Contact: Local: 678-443-4003 ### Bookmark - Del.icio.us
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ERISA Pros’ Kearse Addresses Health UnderwritersBernard Kearse, JD, LLM, founder of ERISA Pros LLC, addressed the
Atlanta, GA — February 24, 2010 — ERISA (the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974) is a Federal law which deals with employee benefit plans, both Qualified Retirement Plans (e.g., pension and profit sharing plans) and Health & Welfare Benefit Plans (e.g., group insurance and other fringe benefit plans). The goals of ERISA are to provide uniformity and protections to employees. ERISA compliance is enforced primarily by the DOL, which imposes certain reporting (to the DOL) and disclosure (to Plan Participants) requirements on employers. Failure to comply with ERISA can result in enforcement actions, penalties, and/or employee lawsuits. ERISA enforcement produced $1.2 billion in 2008 for the Electronic filing of Form 5500 may make it easier and faster
for some employers to file, but for others, it will create confusion and
complication. It will also make it easier for the DOL to monitor compliance and
enforce penalties. Rather than relying on random audits or participant
complaints to initiate an investigation of an employer's compliance with ERISA,
the DOL will be instantly alerted if numbers on a Form 5500 are inconsistent or
if the form is incomplete or not prepared and filed at all. The DOL will also
be able to perform additional checks on the Form 5500, such as the
reasonableness and accuracy of information provided. The penalties for missing a Form 5500 deadline are onerous
– up to $1,100/day for each ERISA plan. These penalties are cumulative
and have no statute of limitations. According to Kearse, “An employer
with 100 employees that does not file a Form 5500, or files it late, risks
$1,100 per day to save less than 2cents per day per employee. We were extremely
surprised when our study indicated that as many as 55% of
employers may be out of compliance for not filing Form 5500s
for their Welfare Benefit Plans. Fortunately, the government has a voluntary
compliance program for delinquent filing that can mitigate
these significant penalties—if the employer voluntarily addresses this
problem before the DOL discovers its failure.” A low rate of compliance may be due in large part to a
misunderstanding about who is responsible for preparing and filing Form 5500s.
Most employers believe that their insurance broker, insurance carrier,
accountant, or other advisor is taking care of this. However, ERISA compliance
is solely the employer's responsibility. Yet, if an employer encounters DOL
fines or employee lawsuits arising from noncompliance, Kearse observes that
since the plans are often insured, the employer often faults its broker for not
alerting it to this potential problem. Brokers who partner with ERISA Pros and
offer its SPD and Form 5500 preparation services will be projecting a
professional, proactive, and out-of-the box interest in their clients, while
protecting their client relationships from misunderstandings such as these. At the Annual Benefits Forum, Kearse also discussed related
topics such as: which employers are subject to ERISA, which benefits are ERISA
Plans, what is a Plan Document, what information should a Summary Plan Description (SPD)
contain, how must the
SPD be delivered, who is
required to file Form 5500, and why should
an employer comply with ERISA. Of particular interest was
ERISA Pros’ proprietary Wrap-Tightsm compliance and document system. This
allows employers to prepare and adopt a single Plan Document and deliver one
SPD, rather than having to prepare them for each separate component benefit
plan. Utilizing this approach, an employer only needs to file one Form 5500,
avoiding the often significant costs of preparing separate Form 5500s for each
plan. About ERISA Pros: ### Bookmark - Del.icio.us
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Study Shows Majority of U.S. Employers Not in Compliance with ERISAAccording to a recent study by ERISA Pros, LLC, as much as 55% of U.S. employers with 100 or more employees may not be in compliance with the ERISA requirement to file an annual Form 5500 for their Health & Welfare Benefit Plans. These employers could face onerous government (DOL) penalties in the current environment of increased regulatory oversight. December 22, 2009 -- According to a recent study by ERISA Pros, LLC, the majority of U.S. employers with 100 or more employees do not comply with the ERISA requirement to file an annual Form 5500 for their Health & Welfare Benefit Plans. U.S. Census Bureau reports show that there are about 110,000 employers that employ 100 or more people. However, according to public records, some 60,000 of these employers have not filed a Form 5500 for a Welfare Benefit Plan -- a 55% rate of noncompliance.*
ERISA is a federal law that regulates employer-sponsored benefit plans, such as 401(k), group life, medical, dental, and disability insurance plans. It imposes strict requirements on employers sponsoring these plans to report certain financial information to the Department of Labor annually on Form 5500, and to disclose benefit-related information to their Plan participants in a Summary Plan Description (SPD). ERISA is enforced by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), which can penalize an employer up to $1,100 per day that its Form 5500 is filed late. This penalty is cumulative, applies separately to each benefit Plan, is not subject to a statute of limitations, and is not tax deductible to the employer. According to ERISA Pros’ founder, Bernard Kearse, “An employer sponsoring life, medical, dental, and disability insurance plan that files its Form 5500s just 30 days late could be fined $132,000. If that employer earns 8% net after tax, it would have to generate $1,650,000 in sales revenue to pay for the government’s fine.”
Beginning in 2010, employers must file all Plan Year 2009 and later Form 5500s electronically. ERISA Pros will begin offering Form 5500 preparation & electronic online filing services for Health & Welfare Benefit Plans using the Department of Labor's (DOL) EFAST2 system. Electronic filing may make it easier and faster for some employers to file, but for others, it will create confusion and complication. It will also make it easier for the DOL to monitor compliance and enforce penalties. Rather than relying on random audits or participant complaints to initiate an investigation of an employer's compliance with ERISA, the DOL will be instantly alerted if numbers on a Form 5500 are inconsistent or if the form is incomplete or not prepared and filed at all. The DOL will also be able to perform additional checks on the Form 5500, such as the reasonableness and accuracy of information provided.
About ERISA Pros:
Contact: *It is assumed that employers with 100 or more employees offer at least one Welfare Benefit Plan and are subject to ERISA Reporting and Disclosure requirements. ### ERISA Pros to Offer Seminar Series on ERISA for Group Insurance Brokers and Employee Benefit ConsultantsAtlanta, GA | November 16, 2009 -- ERISA Pros has announced it will offer a new series of exclusive lunch & learn round table seminars for employee benefit consultants and insurance brokers who sell group insurance. The first seminar, "How ERISA Will Affect Your Group Insurance Clients in 2010," will be held on December 3, 2009. The founder of ERISA Pros, Bernard Kearse, JD, LLM, will lead the informal presentation and discussion. In 2010, insurance brokers and employee benefits consultants will continue to be challenged to offer new value added services to their clients. Insurance brokers must go beyond the concept of traditional marketing to enhance existing relationships, protect their clientele from competition, and reach more high quality prospects. Offering ERISA Pros' complimentary ERISA compliance evaluation is a unique approach that adds significant value to a broker's existing array of services in a very competitive environment. Atlanta employee benefits and ERISA attorney, Bernard Kearse III, JD, LLM, founded ERISA Pros to fill the need for high quality, yet affordable, SPDs for Health & Welfare Benefit Plans only. Kearse has focused on ERISA for over 25 years and has designed, drafted, and reviewed virtually every type of employee benefit plan. Over the years, he has represented public and private sector employers, a major insurance company, acted as Employee Benefits Counsel for a Fortune 200 company, and practiced law with two national firms. According to Kearse, "ERISA compliance is solely the employer's responsibility; it is not the broker's. However, if an employer encounters DOL fines or employee lawsuits arising from noncompliance, the broker's head may roll for not alerting the employer to this potential problem. Brokers who partner with ERISA Pros and offer our SPDs and 5500 preparation service will be projecting a professional, proactive, and out-of-the box interest in their clients, while protecting their client relationships from misunderstandings." About ERISA Pros: Contact: ### ERISA Pros to Prepare Wrap SPDs & File Form 5500 Electronically for Welfare Benefit PlansERISA Pros will begin offering Form 5500 preparation & electronic online filing services for Health & Welfare Benefit Plans using the Department of Labor’s (DOL) EFAST2 system. Employers must file all Plan Year 2009 and later Form 5500 Annual Returns / Reports electronically. This new requirement will not only make it easier and faster for employers to file Form 5500, but also for the DOL to monitor compliance and enforce penalties. Employers can face DOL penalties of $1,100 per Plan for each day it files Form 5500 past the deadline. Atlanta, GA (Vocus/PRWEB ) October 7, 2009 -- ERISA Pros, LLC has announced its plans to prepare and file annual Form 5500s electronically for its customers’ Health & Welfare Benefit Plans utilizing Department of Labor (DOL) approved software through the DOL’s EFAST2 system. Under the DOL’s Final Rule on Annual Reporting and Disclosure, all Plan Year 2009 and later Form 5500 Annual Returns / Reports must be filed electronically.
There are numerous types of ERISA Health & Welfare Employee Benefit Plans and other fringe benefits, and the list continues to grow. The most common ones are employer sponsored group life, medical, dental, and disability insurance policies; however many fringe benefit plans that do not utilize insurance products, such as Severance Pay Plans, are also subject to ERISA. Almost every employer, regardless of its size or number of employees, must comply with ERISA. The only exceptions are church and government plans. One requirement of ERISA is for employers to report certain information concerning the financial condition and operations of their Plans annually to the DOL on Form 5500. Employers must also disclose a summary of their Form 5500 to their Plan Participants in a Summary Annual Report (SAR). There is a “small plan” exception to this requirement for employer sponsored Plans having fewer than 100 Participants on the first day of the Plan Year. Under certain circumstances, an unwary employer could lose its small plan exemption and be required to file a Form 5500. A more comprehensive explanation may be found at Form 5500 Annual Reporting Requirements. The DOL’s new requirement that Form 5500s be filed electronically will not only make it easier and faster for employers to file, but also for the DOL to monitor compliance and enforce penalties. Rather than relying on random audits or participant complaints to initiate an investigation of an employer’s compliance with ERISA, the DOL will be instantly alerted if numbers on a Form 5500 are inconsistent or if the form is incomplete or not prepared and filed at all. The DOL will also be able to perform additional checks on the Form 5500, such as the reasonableness of information provided. Employers can face a DOL penalty of $1,100 per day for filing its Form 5500 past the deadline and $110 per day penalty for delivering its SAR beyond its deadline. The deadline for a Plan’s Form 5500 is 7 months after the end of the Plan Year and 9 months for the SAR. According to ERISA attorney and founder of ERISA Pros, Bernard Kearse, JD, LLM, “An employer sponsoring four separate Plans (e.g., a life, medical, dental, and disability plan) that files a Form 5500 for each Plan just 30 days late could face a DOL penalty of $132,000!” ERISA Pros has prepared a short and humerous movie about DOL penalties, "The ERISA Force." In 2008, enforcement of ERISA laws resulted in $1.2 billion. Hilda Solis, the new Secretary of Labor in the Obama Administration, has stated that she is committed to protecting workers' benefits and expects to hire about 1,000 new employees, including 670 investigators. In addition to avoiding onerous penalties, an employer has many additional reasons to comply with ERISA. Many of the nation's 5+ million employers are not in compliance with ERISA because they are not aware that their group insurance policies and other Welfare Benefit Plans are subject to ERISA, just as their 401(k) plans are. In addition to a general lack of awareness, a common misperception is who is responsible for preparing and filing Form 5500s. Most employers believe their insurance broker, insurance carrier, accountant, or legal advisor is taking care of this. However, ERISA compliance is solely the employer's responsibility. Misperceptions such as these can make for very unhappy employers if the DOL knocks on their door before their insurance broker or other advisors alert them to this potential problem. ERISA Pros will partner with those advisors, helping advisors cement their relationship with clients, avert potential legal problems, and reduce competition from other advisors who provide ERISA compliance services. ERISA Pros plans to distinguish itself by providing proactive and ongoing compliance. Its experienced professionals will personally obtain the information to prepare documents for its client--rather than giving a blank template to an employer, which would likely be incomplete, completed incorrectly, or perhaps never completed. Additionally, ERISA Pros will contact its customers annually to assess whether their SPDs are still in compliance, and, if not, prepare the necessary documents to help get them back into compliance. ERISA Pros' proprietary Wrap-Tightsm SPD allows all of an employer's ERISA Plans to be consolidated into a single Plan. A wrap SPD saves an employer the time and expense of preparing an SPD and a Form 5500 for each separate Plan. About ERISA Pros:
Contact: # # # ERISA Pros Launches Wrap SPD, Form 5500 Preparation, & Compliance Services for Welfare Benefit PlansERISA Pros launches compliance services for Health & Welfare Benefit Plans. The company's products and services feature its proprietary Wrap-Tightsm Plan Documents, SPDs (Summary Plan Description), SMMs (Summary of Material Modification), and SARs (Summary Annual Report), Form 5500 Preparation, and compliance consulting. Atlanta, Georgia (PRWEB) August 20, 2009 — ERISA Pros released its proprietary Wrap-Tightsm Plan Documents, SPDs (Summary Plan Description), Form 5500 Preparation, and Compliance Services for Health & Welfare Benefit Plans. Atlanta attorney, Bernard Kearse JD, LLM, founded ERISA Pros to fill the need for high quality, yet affordable ERISA SPDs dedicated to the Welfare Benefit Plans, such as employer sponsored group life, medical, dental, and disability insurance plans. According to Kearse, "Many of the nation's 5+ million employers are not in compliance because they are not aware that their group insurance policies and other Welfare Benefit Plans are subject to ERISA, just as their 401(k) plans are." Almost every employer, regardless of its size or number of employees, must comply with ERISA. The only exceptions are church and government plans. Most employee benefit plans are subject to ERISA's requirements--whether they are insured or self-insured. There are very few exceptions to ERISA's applicability. In addition to a general lack of awareness, the rate of compliance is low due to several common misconceptions. One common misperception held by even experienced insurance brokers, consultants, Human Resources and Benefits personnel, accountants, and attorneys is that an insurance company's group insurance policy or Certificate of Insurance is an SPD. However, Certificates of Insurance are not SPDs because they rarely contain all of the required ERISA language. An employer must prepare an ERISA "wrapper." Together, the wrapper and the Certificate of Insurance constitute an SPD. Another common misperception is who is responsible for preparing, filing, and delivering SPDs and Form 5500s. Most employers believe their insurance broker, insurance carrier, accountant, or perhaps even their lawyer is taking care of this. However, ERISA compliance is solely the employer's responsibility. Employers can face a Department of Labor penalty of up to $1,100 per day for not being in compliance. In 2008, enforcement of ERISA laws resulted in $1.2 billion. Hilda Solis, the new Secretary of Labor in the Obama Administration, is committed to protecting workers' benefits. This year, the DOL expects to hire about 1,000 new employees, including 670 investigators. An employer must be in compliance before a problem arises. By the time the DOL knocks on its door or an employee lawsuit surfaces, it is too late. Failure to comply with ERISA can result in an unnecessary, time consuming, and expensive DOL ERISA penalty and employee lawsuit. ERISA is a complicated and confusing area of the law. ERISA Pros produced a humorous short movie, "The ERISA Force," to demonstrate the consequences of an unannounced DOL audit on an employer. The movie can be viewed on the company's website. Until now, employers had to either engage an attorney to draft a custom SPD or fill in a template. A custom drafted SPD is typically quite expensive, and a template is often not in full compliance with ERISA. Either way, an employer's documents can become out of compliance without periodic monitoring because of changes in an employer's benefits or in the law. ERISA Pros plans to distinguish itself through proactive, ongoing compliance. Its experienced professionals will personally obtain the information to prepare documents for its client--rather than giving a blank template to an employer, which would likely be incomplete, completed incorrectly, or never completed. ERISA Pros' proprietary Wrap-Tightsm SPD consolidates all of an employer's ERISA Plans into a single Plan. Employers utilizing this approach save the time and expense of preparing an SPD and a Form 5500 for each Plan. ERISA Pros will contact its customers annually to assess whether their SPDs are still in compliance. About ERISA Pros: Contact: # # #
© 2012 ERISA Pros, LLC, All rights reserved. Information on ERISA Pros' website, its newsletter, “News & Views,” and its blog, “ERISA Wonk,” is published as a general informational source. Information and articles are general in nature and are not intended to constitute legal or tax advice in any particular matter. Blog posts and comments reflect the personal views of their respective authors - not those of ERISA Pros. Transmission of this information does not create an attorney-client relationship. ERISA Pros, LLC is not a law firm and is not giving legal or tax advice. It does not warrant and is not responsible for errors or omissions in the content on its website or in its newsletters. ERISA is a complicated and confusing law. Summary Plan Descriptions (SPDs), Wrap Plan Documents, and Form 5500s require review and updating by qualified ERISA compliance professionals.
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