When the Government Goes Out of Business
April 11, 2019 | Scott M. LepakThe North Suburban Hospital District, a political subdivision representing the citizens of Blaine, Fridley, Hilltop, Mounds View and Spring Lake Park, quietly and gracefully ended its long existence on April 10, 2019. The Hospital District was formed in 1960 for the primary purpose of building and initially operating Unity Hospital in Fridley. At the time it was formed and for the next 50 plus years, the Hospital District provided its citizens with a locally focused and stand-alone hospital providing a broad range of services. In meeting its obligation to the citizens of the five cities, the Hospital District contracted with service providers who operated the hospital. In recent years, the Hospital District weaned Unity from relying on tax dollars and did not levy taxes on its citizens. With the advancement and consolidation of health care in the metro area, the Hospital District board determined that it accomplished its mission. Unity is a facility that has been significantly updated. The area is now served by two hospitals as well as multiple clinics providing a broad array of services. Health care is a regional rather than local issue and is less centralized. An individual can now go into their local clinic and receive care that was only provided in hospitals as recently as a decade…
Read MoreSignificant Changes to Retirement Plans Proposed
April 3, 2019 | Barna, Guzy & Steffen, Ltd.As of April 2, 2019, there are two bills rapidly moving through Congress with bipartisan support. The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (“SECURE”) passed the House and the Senate has proposed the Retirement Enhancement Security Act of 2019 (“RESA”). The bills are very similar and because there is bipartisan support it is likely that something will be passed soon. Some of the proposed changes are as follows: 1. Encourage employees to participate in automatic contributions in 401(k) plans and require employers to provide estimates of how much an employee’s account would provide employees if it were invested in an annuity. 2. Make it easier for small employers to join other employers in multiple-employer plans. 3. Easing nondiscrimination rules for frozen defined benefit plans. 4. Adding a safe harbor for selecting lifetime income providers in defined contribution plans. 5. Increase the automatic enrollment safe harbor cap from 10{a0c01d20c42349884e67ff80c137866b0a9fe47aaae8f8a86a605a369ae487c3} to 15{a0c01d20c42349884e67ff80c137866b0a9fe47aaae8f8a86a605a369ae487c3}. 6. Require employers to allow long time, part time employees to participate in their 401(k) plans. 7. SECURE would change the required minimum distribution age that distributions must begin from age 70 ½ to 72 years old. RESA does not include this provision.
Read MoreFMLA Boot Camp
March 18, 2019 | Tyler W. EubankThe Basics The Family Medical Leave Act, or FMLA, allows employees to take 12–26 months of unpaid leave for their own or a family member’s medical reasons. The FMLA generally applies to employers who have 50 or more employees. An employee covered by the FMLA must have been employed for at least a year and has worked at least 1,250 hours during preceding 12-month period. Intermittent FMLA and Reduced Leave Schedules Taking FMLA for a medical procedure or illness is one matter, it is another when that illness comes and goes unexpectedly. This is where intermittent FMLA and reduced leave schedules come into play. Intermittent FMLA allows employees to take FMLA in periodic blocks of time. For example, a pregnant mother may take days off in order to attend prenatal doctor appointments. Likewise, a migraine sufferer may use intermittent FMLA for migraine flare-ups. A reduced leave schedule allows an employee to reduce the number of hours the employee works in a day or a week. This is generally allowed for an employee recovering from an illness who is not yet able to work their full schedule. Certification The preceding likely has you begging the questions: What illnesses are covered and how do I know that the illnesses are real? The FMLA only applies…
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