Session
Employee Benefits – Where The Rules Come From, And What They Mean
We've all seen Schoolhouse Rock! So, we know how a bill becomes a law. But in the world of employee benefits, it's what happens at the administrative agency level that matters most. Agency regulations, subregulatory guidance, standards of interpretation, and practical realities are what keep benefits practitioners on their toes. We explore what that means for the ACA, ERISA, COBRA, and other laws and what that actually means for you.
Key Objectives
1. Understand the sources of law that create an employee benefits rule -- with a focus on agency interpretations of popular benefits rules (under the ACA, ERISA, COBRA, and other laws). 2. Understand how principles of interpretation and common practices matter, and how an employer often creates its own "private law" that rules the day. 3. Focus on core areas such as employer shared responsibility rules, more recent federal reporting obligations, plan interpretation, employment contracts and other contractual promises of benefits, and rules for account-based plans (such as HRAs and FSAs).
HRCI Credits:
1.00 Business HRCI Recertification credits available.
This program has been approved for 1.00 recertification credit hours through the Human Resource Certification Institute (HRCI). Please be sure to note the program ID number on your recertification application form. For more information about certification or recertification, please visit the HRCI website at www.hrci.org.
The use of this seal is not an endorsement by the HR Certification Institute of the quality of the program. It means that this program has met the HR Certification Institute's criteria to be pre-approved for recertification credit.
SHRM Credits:
1.00 SHRM Recertification credits available.
ELLA is recognized by SHRM to offer Professional Development Credits (PDCs) for SHRM-CP® or SHRM-SCP®. This program is valid for 1.00 PDCs for the SHRM-CP or SHRM-SCP. For more information about certification or recertification, please visit shrmcertification.org.
Andrew Malahowski
Area Senior Vice President, Compliance Counsel at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.
Andrew Malahowski joined Gallagher’s Dallas, Texas office in 2014. Andrew was previously a partner with an employment and benefits law firm in Chicago, Illinois, where he represented both public and private sector employers in a broad range of employee benefits matters. Over a 20-year legal career, his counseling experience includes the design and administration of employee benefit plans, and he has counseled clients with respect to compliance obligations under ERISA, PPACA, COBRA, HIPAA, and various other employee benefits laws and regulations. Andrew is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and the University of Notre Dame Law School.