Non Profit Report - September 2013
Affordable Care Act Requirements for Employers: Although Mandate Delayed, Action Still Required
By: Theodore P. Stein, Esq.
The impending need for compliance with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 has been a source of great concern for employers. Recently, the U.S. government announced a one-year delay in the implementation of one of the statute’s central provisions, the employer mandate. Despite that extension, the law still requires that employers take action this year in order to remain compliant. This article examines one of the critical provisions of the law which remains in place notwithstanding the delay of the employer mandate.
On July 2, 2013, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced that it was postponing the effective date of the employer mandate under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (“ACA”) from January 1, 2014 to January 1, 2015. The ACA requires annual information reporting by applicable employers (those with 50 or more full-time employees or equivalents) and imposes penalties on employers who fail to provide full-time employees with minimum essential coverage or if an employer’s plan is not affordable and fails to provide minimum value. When the Obama Administration announced last month that it would postpone the effective date of the employer mandate and its reporting and penalty provisions, businesses and nonprofits gave a sigh of relief.
But virtually all businesses and nonprofits (including small businesses) still have to provide a notice to employees advising them of the existence of a statewide health insurance marketplace. Beginning January 1, 2014, individuals and employees of small businesses will have access to health insurance coverage through a new state-by-state private health insurance market, now known as the Health Insurance Marketplace. Open enrollment via the Marketplace begins October 1 with new enrollees to be covered on January 1, 2014.
The ACA requires employers to send a notice to current employees by October 1 and to employees employed on or after October 1 within 14 days of hire. The Department of Labor has released model notices that can be used to satisfy this requirement. These model notices, one for employers who offer a health insurance plan and another for employers who do not, are available on the U.S. Department of Labor website.
Employers also should focus now on developing an optimal strategy for what health insurance benefits to offer in light of the ACA and related interpretive guidance, the health insurance marketplace, and the employer mandate.
Takeaway for employers: Even though employers can avoid the bulk of Obamacare requirements because they have been postponed a year, there is one important task that affected employers still must comply with this fall.
For further information, contact Theodore P. Stein, Esquire, in the Bethesda office, tstein@wtplaw.com, (301) 804-3617, or Steven E. Bers, Esquire, in the Baltimore office, sbers@wtplaw.com, (410) 347-8724.
Meetings Contracts
By:Eileen Morgan Johnson, Esq.
This article was originally published in Association Trends.
Every association holds meetings, whether a small board meeting or a convention for thousands. Association executives responsible for meeting planning should be aware of some of the latest trends in negotiating hotel and convention contracts to protect their associations.
Airlines aren't the only ones who are overbooking. To guard against room vacancies, some hotels have begun to overbook. You can protect your meeting attendees from being walked (sent to another hotel) by including strict terms in your contract that your meeting attendees are to be accommodated ahead of any other hotel guests and if they are walked, that the hotel will pay for their accommodations at another hotel, provide free transportation between the two hotels and your meeting site, and provide them with the first available rooms should they want to move back.
Parasites come in all forms including companies that try to avoid paying exhibit fees for convention floor space by renting a suite in a conference hotel and making their location known to your meeting attendees. To avoid this, include in your hotel contract that the booking of all hospitality suites and meeting rooms on your meeting dates are to be cleared with your association first.
Force majeure clauses were broadened after 9/11 but some hotels are retrenching and only allow the association to cancel if the hotel is unable to provide services. This does not include other traditional force majeure events such as natural disasters, transportation failures, or strikes or the more modern termination due to a terrorist attack. Associations should develop their own force majeure clause that covers all possible reasons for their meeting to be canceled including the inability of meeting attendees to travel to the meeting site. Don’t forget to arrange for event cancellation insurance. This is some of the least expensive but most important insurance coverage that your association can have in place.
Green meetings are a growing trend. Most meetings contracts do not address recycling by meeting participants or sites, use of biodegradable materials for food service, local sourcing of food and beverage items or other “green” meeting initiatives but you can add these to your contract.
To put your association ahead of the game, develop a standard hotel and convention center contract addendum that includes all of the terms you usually try to negotiate to your association's favor. Then use it every time you negotiate a meetings contract.