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5500 Preparer's Manual for 2012 Plan Years
The premier resource in the field of Form 5500 preparation, 5500 Preparer's Manual will help you handle the required annual Form 5500 filings for both pension benefits and welfare benefit plans.
From Spencer's Benefits Reports: The Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor’s Employment Standards Administration (ESA) has issued proposed regulations that would revise certain existing rules regarding the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). The proposed rules appeared in the February 11 Federal Register.
Among the proposed changes are restructured and reorganized sections, including consolidating into one section all guidance on pregnancy and childbirth leave and the guidance on employers’ notice obligations.
Other major revisions that the DOL proposes would do the following:
Provisional designation of FMLA leave: the rules would be restructured to recognize that employers might not be able to designate leave as FMLA-covered leave until the employee provides additional information.
Employee FMLA eligibility notice: the employer would be given five business days (up from two) to provide a notice after an employee either requests leave or the employer acquires knowledge that the employee’s leave might be for an FMLA-qualifying reason.
Notice requirements: requirements would be specified for public posting of the general notice, including electronic “posting.” The DOL proposes that one document containing identical information be both posted and distributed. In addition, if the general notice is not contained in an employee handbook, it would have to be distributed annually, regardless of specific employee requests for leave.
Penalty for failure to post general notice: the civil money penalty would be increased for violations of the posting from $100 to $110.
Joint employers: the proposed regulations would clarify that professional employer organizations (PEOs) that contract with client employers merely to perform administrative functions are not joint employers with their clients, provided that they do not hire or fire workers.
Qualifying period of service: the proposed regulations would provide that although the 12 months of employment required for an employee to qualify for FMLA leave need not be consecutive, employment prior to a continuous break in service of five years or more need not be counted toward the service requirement.
Employee meets the 12-month employment requirement during non-FMLA leave: when an employee is on leave at the time he or she meets the 12-month eligibility requirement, the period of leave prior to meeting the statutory requirement would be clarified to be non-FMLA leave and the period of leave after the statutory requirement is met is FMLA leave.
“Worksite” definition: modify the definition to state that after an employee who is jointly employed is stationed at a fixed worksite for a period of at least one year, the employee’s worksite for purposes of employee eligibility is the actual physical place where the employee works.
Serious health condition definition, continuing treatment: the current definition of “serious health condition” would be retained but the regulations would add “physician’s assistant” as a qualified health care provider, and specify that the two visits to a health care provider required for “continuing treatment” must occur within 30 days of the beginning of the period of incapacity unless extenuating circumstances exist.
Intermittent or reduced-schedule leave for the employee’s seriously ill child: if intermittent or reduced-schedule leave is medically necessary for a serious health condition of a mother or a newborn child, including an adopted or foster child, the regulations would specify that no employer agreement is necessary for the employee to take such leave. Furthermore, the DOL would add a provision to emphasize that both spouses may each take their full 12 weeks of FMLA leave to care for the employee’s seriously ill child.
Holiday during leave, plant closure: if an employee is using FMLA leave in increments of less than one week, a holiday would not count against the employee’s FMLA entitlement unless the employee otherwise was scheduled and expected to work during the holiday. The same is true during a period when the employer’s business closes for a period of time such as one or two weeks.
Employee substituting accrued paid time off for unpaid FMLA leave: the proposed regulations would provide that such a substitution is subject to the terms and conditions of an employer’s paid leave policies, including, paid vacation, personal leave, family leave, paid time off, or sick leave.
Light-duty assignment: employees would retain their right to reinstatement for a full 12 weeks of leave despite time spent in a light-duty position.
Settlement of past claims: permit employees and employers to voluntarily agree to settle past FMLA claims without having to first obtain the permission or approval of the DOL or a court.
The revisions are based on the DOL’s experience in administering the FMLA, two DOL studies conducted in 1996 and 2001, U.S. Supreme Court and lower court rulings, and public comments that the agency received in response to a request for information issued on Dec. 1, 2006. The DOL also received feedback from stakeholders, including employee and employer groups and medical providers on the medical certification process for FMLA serious illness leave requests.
The proposed regulations also request public comment on issues to be addressed in final regulations regarding military family leave.
Effective Jan. 28, 2008, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 amended the FMLA to provide leave to eligible employees of covered employers to care for injured service members and because of any “qualifying exigency” arising out of a covered family member being called to or being on active duty. The provisions of this new military FMLA leave due to a “qualifying exigency” are not effective until the DOL issues regulations defining “qualifying exigencies.” Therefore, the DOL emphasizes the urgency of issuing the required regulations. The DOL seeks comments on whether it would be appropriate to develop a list of predeployment, deployment, and postdeployment qualifying exigencies. The agency also states that it believes that the military FMLA leave should not be for serious medical reasons, as those are already covered under the FMLA.
Comments, identified by RIN 1215-AB35, must be submitted by April 11 via the Internet to http://www.regulations.gov, or to Richard M. Brennan, senior regulatory officer, Wage and Hour Division, ESA, U.S. Department of Labor, Room S-3502, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20210. For further information, contact Mr. Brennan at (202) 693-0066.
For more information on this and related topics, consult the CCH Pension Plan Guide, CCH Employee Benefits Management, and Spencer's Benefits Reports.
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