Blog Post
Published 04/13/2021
By Daniel Altchek
Alert
Published 04/12/2021
By Sarah Lockwood (Sally) Church, Dasha G. Brockmeyer
Services Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation
Group health continuation coverage under the Consolidated Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1985 (“COBRA”) permits certain group health coverage to be continued by participants and beneficiaries (“qualified beneficiaries”) when coverage is lost due to certain “qualified events,” such as termination of employment or a reduction of hours. Under Section 9501 of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (“ARPA”), an “assistance eligible individual” (“AEI”) is not required to pay the cost of COBRA coverage (“COBRA Subsidy”) for the period beginning April 1, 2021 through September 30, 2021 (“Subsidy Period...
Alert
Published 04/07/2021
By Levi R. Schy, Patrick F. Nugent, Joshua Richards, Kathryn Beaumont Murphy
Industries Higher Education
On April 6, 2021, the U.S. Department of Education’s (the “Department”) Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) provided a roadmap for carrying out President Biden’s recent Executive Order on Guaranteeing an Educational Environment Free from Discrimination on the Basis of Sex, Including Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity . [1] In a letter to students, educators, and other stakeholders, [2] OCR explained that it will engage in a comprehensive review of the Department’s existing regulations, orders, guidance, policies, and other similar agency actions including, most notably, the Department’s Title...
Alert
Published 04/07/2021
By Samantha Gross, Patricia Varona Garcia
Industries Health Care
When the COVID-19 pandemic began, no one imagined that it was here to stay for more than a year and counting! Many thought it would take at most a couple of months for the outbreak to resolve and the stay-at-home orders, social distancing, and mask mandating laws would soon disappear. However, a year later we continue to wear masks and maintain social distance. One positive aspect of the pandemic has been the opportunity to expand the use of telehealth, providing many individuals with easier access to health care services and allowing providers to care for patients in a safe environment. This...
Article
Published 04/07/2021
Industries Real Estate
Article
Published 04/07/2021
Industries Real Estate
Article
Published 04/07/2021
Industries Real Estate | Technology and Manufacturing
Alert
Published 04/05/2021
By Andrea P. Brockway, James Morsch, Amy Piccola
Industries Higher Education
Last week in the Supreme Court, the much awaited oral argument in NCAA v. Alston lived up to its billing with nearly every justice participating in the questioning, putting the lawyers for the NCAA, plaintiffs, and the Acting U.S. Solicitor General (appearing as a friend of the Court) through their paces. The issues covered ranged from the standards applicable to the antitrust challenge to the NCAA’s monetary limits on educational benefits payable to college athletes, the NCAA’s legitimate business purpose served by such limits, and the record below which led a district judge to enter an...
Article
Published 04/05/2021
Services Employment Litigation
Alert
Published 04/05/2021
By Sarah Lockwood (Sally) Church, Dasha G. Brockmeyer, Matthew M. Haar, James A. Morsch
Industries Health Care | Insurance
Services Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation
The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, enacted at the end of 2020 includes the No Surprises Act (“Act”), amending the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, and the Public Health Services Act. The Act generally takes effect on January 1, 2022 and imposes requirements on group health plans, health insurance issuers offering group or individual coverage and providers of health care services. For these purposes, a group health plan is any plan that provides medical care, other than a plan that provides excepted benefits (such as dental or vision...
Article
Published 04/02/2021
Industries Real Estate
Alert
Published 04/02/2021
Services Litigation
This month’s Friday Five covers federal guidelines for extension of ERISA claim deadlines due to the pandemic, as well as cases relating to: whether an expert witness who changes their opinion throughout the course of the claim review and appeal process should be deemed credible; the extent to which courts rely upon the Dictionary of Occupational Titles; dismissal of an LTD claim based on failure to exhaust administrative remedies, despite a plaintiff’s argument that filing an ERISA claim would have been futile; and an analysis of whether an insurer’s claim against a claimant for fraudulent...
Blog Post
Published 04/02/2021
By Colleen Fox, Ryan L. DiClemente
Blog Post
Published 03/31/2021
By Rohit Kapuria, Steven C. Reingold
Alert
Published 03/30/2021
By Bruce D. Armon, Samantha R. Gross
Industries Health Care | HIPAA / Health Information Privacy and Security
On March 24th and March 26th, the United States Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”), Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) announced it settled its respective seventeenth and eighteenth enforcement actions as part of its HIPAA Right of Access Initiative (the “Initiative”). OCR announced the Initiative to support individuals’ right to easily and timely access their health information at a reasonable cost under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”) Privacy Rule’s right of access standard. The right of access standard requires a HIPAA-covered entity to take...
Blog Post
Published 03/30/2021
By Garrett P. Buttrey, Jason Tremblay
