Affordable Care Act
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or colloquially as “Obamacare,” was signed into law in March of 2010 with the goal of increasing the quality and affordability of health insurance for millions of Americans.
While the Act’s employer shared responsibility payments will not apply until 2015, and in some cases, not until 2016, there are provisions and safe harbors to consider and decisions that can be made now that may help businesses, employees and a business’s bottom line. Further, there are many unintended consequences arising out of the ACA that business owners, both large and small, need to consider when administering health care arrangements.
We are carefully following the developments associated with the roll-out of ACA and are providing counsel to business owners and other professionals, helping them to address compliance issues, evaluate exposure to penalties and other tax issues as well as planning strategically for the future.
Affordable Care Act Articles
Can Jimmy John’s Sandwich Employees With an Enforceable Non-Compete Agreement?
A recent article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch focused on a lawsuit involving sandwich maker Jimmy John's and a two-year, non-compete agreement barring a former assistant manager from working for a sandwich-making rival within three miles of a Jimmy John's store. The...
Were Trade Secrets Lurking in the Safe-Deposit Box?
In a fact pattern that resembles the Clue board game, the Missouri Supreme Court had to decide whether a former employee locking his former employer's customer list in a safe-deposit box constituted the unlawful misappropriation of a trade secret. Under the Missouri...
Affordable Care Act 2015 Update
During 2014, we saw a variety of additional guidance issued by the Department of the Treasury and Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") as well as the U.S. Department of Labor ("DOL") regarding the Affordable Care Act ("ACA") or Obamacare, impacting businesses both large...
DOL Reaffirms and Adds to Recent IRS Guidance Regarding Employer Payment Plans — Effectively Shutting Down Any Payments by Employers for Individual Health Insurance Premiums
Does your business or employer pay for, or reimburse employees for, individual health insurance coverage? Did you know that as a result of the Affordable Care Act, such arrangements were prohibited beginning Jan. 1, 2014? On Nov. 6, 2014, the U.S. Department of Labor...
