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The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has released the results of its Employee Benefits Security Administration’s (EBSA) enforcement actions during fiscal year (FY) 2023. The DOL has broad authority to investigate or audit an employee benefit plan’s compliance with ERISA. EBSA handles audits of employee benefit plans for the DOL. To perform these audits, EBSA employs investigators working out of field offices, many of whom are lawyers or certified public accountants or who have advanced degrees in…

The IRS recently released updated penalty amounts for 2025 related to the employer shared responsibility (pay-or-play) rules under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). For calendar year 2025, the adjusted $2,000 penalty amount is $2,900, and the adjusted $3,000 penalty amount is $4,350. This is a decrease from the penalty amounts for the 2024 calendar year, which are $2,970 and $4,460, respectively. Under the pay-or-play rules, an applicable large employer (ALE) is only liable for a penalty if…

The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) is a federal law that sets minimum standards for employee benefit plans maintained by private-sector employers. The Department of Labor (DOL), through its Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), enforces most of ERISA’s provisions. Violating ERISA can have serious and costly consequences for employers that sponsor welfare benefit plans, either through DOL enforcement actions and penalty assessments or through participant lawsuits. If an employee benefit plan is exempt from…