The Internal Revenue Service today (April 20, 2017) released an advanced copy of guidance under the Protecting Americans for Tax Hikes Act of 2015 (PATH Act) regarding amendment to (i) expensing section 179 property, (ii) the additional first year depreciation deduction under section 168(k), and (iii) the qualified Indian reservation property depreciation provision under section 168(j).
Revenue Procedure 2017-33 will be in IRB 2017-19 on May 8. The advanced copy is available here.
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The $12 million FinCEN civil money penalty (CMP) imposed against CG Technology, L.P., doing business as Cantor Gaming, reminds gaming and other U.S. regulated businesses of the importance of maintaining and administering appropriate policies and practices to comply with the anti-money laundering (AML) and other provisions of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA).
The $12 million CMP was imposed by FinCEN “for egregious and systemic violations of the AML provisions of the BSA. According to FinCEN, FinCEN’s analysis of reports filed under the BSA and information obtained from a 2010 examination by the Internal Revenue Service’s Small Business/Self-Employed Division (IRS SB/SE), as well as a 2014 follow up audit by FinCEN, support this action. Additional supporting information concerning illegal gambling and money laundering surfaced stemming from a criminal investigation and indictment of 25 individuals, known as the “Jersey Boys,” conducted by the U.S Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.
FinCEN’s assessment is concurrent with the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Eastern District of New York and District of Nevada’s announcement of a non-prosecution agreement with Cantor Gaming. In that settlement, Cantor Gaming resolved possible criminal charges, agreeing to a forfeiture of $6 million and a criminal fine of $10.5 million. Six million dollars of the criminal fine and forfeiture will be credited to partially satisfy FinCEN’s $12 million civil money penalty.
Pursuant to the settlement, Cantor Gaming admitted that it willfully violated the BSA and its implementing regulations. These violations are described in an accompanying Statement of Facts. Cantor Gaming facilitated high risk and high dollar wagering on sporting events representing over 30% of all sports wagers in Nevada. At the same time, it failed to have an appropriate AML program in place. Cantor Gaming failed to have sufficient internal controls and mandatory independent audits; it failed to have sufficient AML training for its officers and employees; and it failed to use all available information to detect and report suspicious transactions. In addition to these extensive, years-long program violations, Cantor Gaming failed to properly and timely report currency transactions. Cantor Gaming also failed to file required suspicious activity reports (SARs) on several transactions, including transactions by customers who were involved in blatantly suspicious activity, those who were involved in criminal activity, and those who had no legitimate source of funds. And finally, Cantor Gaming committed thousands of recordkeeping violations, including by failing to keep required records on its highest-volume patron who placed more than $300 million in wagers between 2010 and 2013.
Part of FinCEN’s action also stemmed from a criminal investigation relating to Cantor Gaming’s involvement with the “Jersey Boys,” an illegal gambling operation that employed “runners,” or individuals who opened wagering accounts and placed bets with Cantor Gaming’s sports books. These runners were paid for illegally placing bets on behalf of others, including out-of-state bettors. Cantor Gaming’s Vice President, Michael Colbert, facilitated this illegal activity, and was indicted for his involvement with the Jersey Boys operation. Colbert was aware of the arrangement with the Jersey Boys runners, and facilitated its operation. Colbert was charged in the Eastern District of New York with a felony count of participating in an illegal gambling conspiracy and pled guilty on August 21, 2013.
Both FinCEN’s Assessment and the Non-Prosecution Agreement filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Offices were accompanied by Cantor Gaming’s commitment to perform a series of required Remedial Measures to ensure forward-looking compliance. Cantor Gaming will also conduct a look-back review of transactions conducted between 2010 and 2013 to ensure that suspicious transactions and attempted transactions were properly reported.
The CMP and related settlements should serve as a reminder to other U.S. businesses to verify the adequacy of their own organization’s compliance with the AML and other requirements of the BSA and other related laws. Businesses and their leaders not only should adopt well-documented policies requiring compliance with the BSA as well as administer well documented processes and procedures for training workforce, monitoring compliance, investigating and appropriately responding to government inquiries, charges or other situations that might suggest compliance concerns or deficiencies, and providing periodic and other reporting to senior management and the Board concerning these compliance efforts.
About The Author
The author of this update, Cynthia Marcotte Stamer is a management attorney Board Certified in Labor & Employment Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, author, lecturer and management and policy thought leader whose more than 28 years’ of leading edge work helping organizations and their management lead, manage operations, risk, performance and compliance have resulted in her recognition by Martindale-Hubble as a “AV-Rated Premier” (top 1%) attorney and a “Top” Attorney in Labor and Employment Law, Employee Benefits Law, Healthcare Law and Business and Commercial Law.
Highly valued for her rare ability to combine and use her detailed legal and operational knowledge and experience with talents for creative problem-solving and consensus building to find pragmatic client-centric solutions, Ms. Stamer is recognized nationally and internationally for her work helping organizations and their management use the law and process to manage people, process, compliance, operations and risk.
Ms. Stamer supports her clients as determined by the needs of her clients both on a real time, “on demand” basis as well as on longer term basis to deal with daily performance management and operations, emerging crises, strategic planning, process improvement and change management, investigations, defending litigation, audits, investigations or other enforcement challenges, government affairs and public policy. As a continuous part of this work, Ms. Stamer advises, represents, coaches and defends public and private, domestic and international businesses, governments, employee benefit plans and their fiduciaries, and other organizations and their leaders about credentialing, engagement, contracting and other policy and program development and documentation, performance management, compensation and benefits, occupational injury and safety, and other risk and performance management of employees and other service providers, vendors and suppliers, customers and others; Federal Sentencing Guideline and other compliance, corporate governance, and internal controls; business disruption and continuity, disaster preparedness and response, occupational injury, corporate compliance, government investigation and other critical event planning, investigation and response; director, officer, and other leadership development, succession and liability management; trade secret, data security and breach, and other confidentiality and privacy policies, practices, events and processes; government and other contracting; business disruption and continuity, record retention and other documentation and reporting, and a host of other concerns. She also conducts, or assists and counsels clients to plan, conduct, review and redress findings from legal or corporate policy breaches, whistleblower or other complaints or reports, internal investigations, mock audits, government, customer, vendor, accounting firm, credentialing and other audits or investigations; employment and other services, compensation, employee benefits, investigations, officer, director and fiduciary liability, insurance and other workforce and operational aspects of mergers, acquisitions, restructurings, bankruptcies and other corporate events; cybercrime, identity theft, FACTA, HIPAA, tax, personal financial information, personal health information, trade secret and other data misappropriation or other breaches and threats to data, information, systems and processes, and other risk or compliance events; to evaluate, implement, and enforce D&O, E&O, General Liability, Fiduciary Liability, risk pools, captive insurance, indemnity, and other liability and risk retention and mitigation arrangements; as well as represents and defends organizations, employee benefit plans, and their leaders in government and private investigations and audits, regulatory actions, litigation and other enforcement actions.
A primary drafter of the Bolvian social security privatization law with extensive domestic and foreign regulatory and public affairs experience and widely recognized for her extensive involvement with U.S. health care, pension and social security and workforce policies, Ms. Stamer also has extensive government relations and public policy experience. She has been and remains deeply involved in helping to influence the Affordable Care Act and other health care, pension, social security, workforce, insurance and other policies critical to the workforce, benefits, and compensation practices and other key aspects of a broad range of businesses and their operations. She both helps her clients respond to and resolve emerging regulations and laws, government investigations and enforcement actions and helps them shape the rules through dealings with Congress and other legislatures, regulators and government officials domestically and internationally. A former lead consultant to the Government of Bolivia on its Social Security reform law and most recognized for her leadership on U.S. health and pension, wage and hour, tax, education and immigration policy reform, Ms. Stamer works with U.S. and foreign businesses, governments, trade associations, and others on workforce, social security and severance, health care, immigration, privacy and data security, tax, ethics and other laws and regulations. Founder and Executive Director of the Coalition for Responsible Healthcare Policy and its PROJECT COPE: the Coalition on Patient Empowerment and a Fellow in the American Bar Foundation and State Bar of Texas. She also works as a policy advisor and advocate to health plans, their sponsors, administrators, insurers and many other business, professional and civic organizations.
Author of the thousands of publications and workshops these and other employment, employee benefits, health care, insurance, workforce and other management matters,
Ms. Stamer also is a highly sought out speaker and industry thought leader known for empowering audiences and readers. Ms. Stamer’s insights on employee benefits, insurance, health care and workforce matters in Atlantic Information Services, The Bureau of National Affairs (BNA), InsuranceThoughtLeaders.com, Benefits Magazine, Employee Benefit News, Texas CEO Magazine, HealthLeaders, Modern Healthcare, Business Insurance, Employee Benefits News, World At Work, Benefits Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, the Dallas Morning News, the Dallas Business Journal, the Houston Business Journal, and many other publications. She also has served as an Editorial Advisory Board Member for human resources, employee benefit and other management focused publications of BNA, HR.com, Employee Benefit News, InsuranceThoughtLeadership.com and many other prominent publications. Ms. Stamer also regularly serves on the faculty and planning committees for symposia of LexisNexis, the American Bar Association, ALIABA, the Society of Employee Benefits Administrators, the American Law Institute, ISSA, HIMMs, and many other prominent educational and training organizations and conducts training and speaks on these and other management, compliance and public policy concerns.
Ms. Stamer also is active in the leadership of a broad range of other professional and civic organizations. For instance, Ms. Stamer presently serves or previously servied, among other things, on an American Bar Association (ABA) Joint Committee on Employee Benefits Council representative; Vice President of the North Texas Healthcare Compliance Professionals Association; Chair of the ABA RPTE Employee Benefits & Other Compensation Committee, its Defined Contribution Committee Co-Chair, its Fiduciary Responsibility Welfare Benefit Plans Committee Chair and Co-Chair, on its Substantive Groups & Committee and as its Practice Management Vice Chair; Past Chair of the ABA Health Law Section Managed Care & Insurance Interest Group and a member of its Healthcare Coordinating Council; Vice Chair of the ABA TIPS Employee Benefit Committee; Coordinator and a Vice-Chair of the Gulf Coast TEGE Council TE Division; on the Executive Committee, BACPAC Committee, State Board of Directors, Regional Chair, Dallas Chapter Chair and Health Care Task Force of the Texas Association of Business; President of the Dallas Business Group; Vice President of the North Texas Healthcare Compliance Professionals Association, founding Board Member and President of the Alliance for Healthcare Excellence, as a Board Member and Board Compliance Committee Chair for the National Kidney Foundation of North Texas; the Board President of the early childhood development intervention agency, The Richardson Development Center for Children; Chair of the Dallas Bar Association Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Committee; Dallas Legislative Affairs Chair, Region IV Chair and National Consultants Board Member of the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM), a member of the Board of Directors of the Southwest Benefits Association; a Board Member of the Dallas World Affairs Council, on the Advisory Boards of InsuranceThoughtLeadership.com, HR.com, Employee Benefit News, and many other publications; on the faculty of the University of Dallas and a multitude of other seminar and symposium faculties, and in many other organizations..
For more information about this topic or Ms. Stamer, contact Ms. Stamer via email here or via telephone to (469) 767-8872 or see www.cynthiastamer.com
About Solutions Law Press, Inc.™
Solutions Law Press, Inc.™ provides human resources and employee benefit and other business risk management, legal compliance, management effectiveness and other coaching, tools and other resources, training and education on leadership, governance, human resources, employee benefits, data security and privacy, insurance, health care and other key compliance, risk management, internal controls and operational concerns. If you find this of interest, you also may be interested reviewing other Solutions Law Press, Inc.™ resources here such as:
If you or someone else you know would like to receive future updates about developments on these and other concerns, please be sure that we have your current contact information including your preferred e-mail by creating or updating your profile here.
©2016 Cynthia Marcotte Stamer. Non-exclusive right to republish granted to Solutions Law Press. All other rights reserved.
Corporations and their leaders to add reviewing prospectus and investor cyber security and data breach disclosures to their data breach and cyber security risk management and response to do lists help guard against post event shareholder claims and regulator investigations.
Data breaches and other cyber events create substantial securities and other investment related risks for most businesses because these events commonly trigger business and financial losses, investigation and defense costs, penalties and other liabilities and costs that fuel shareholder disclosure obligations and shareholder lawsuits.
Securities and Exchange Commision Chair Mary Jo White in May, 2016 has characterized cyber security as the biggest risk facing the financial system See here. Concern about cyber security risks to investors, SEC guidance has called for regulated entities to make disclosures about these risks to investors since as early as 2011. See CF Disclosure Guidance: Topic No. 2 – Cybersecurity. Given this guidance, it should come as no surprise that the SEC has imposed substantial fines against entities following a breach. See e.g. R.T. Jones reaches settlement with SEC in data breach case; Morgan Stanley Fined $1 Million for Client Data Breach.
Beyond these regulatory actions, shareholder or other investor suits also commonly follow a breach or other cyber security events See, e.g. Shareholder sues Wyndham board members over data breaches; Target Data Breach Shareholder Lawsuit; Shareholders Sue Choicepoint.
In light of these well-documented risks, corporate and other entities and their leaders to add reviewing prospectus and investor cyber security and data breach disclosures to their data breach and cyber security risk management and response to do lists help guard against post event shareholder claims and regulator investigations.
About The Author
The author of this update, Cynthia Marcotte Stamer is a management attorney Board Certified in Labor & Employment Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, author, lecturer and management and policy thought leader whose more than 28 years’ of leading edge work helping organizations and their management lead, manage operations, risk, performance and compliance have resulted in her recognition by Martindale-Hubble as a “AV-Rated Premier” (top 1%) attorney and a “Top” Attorney in Labor and Employment Law, Employee Benefits Law, Healthcare Law and Business and Commercial Law.
Highly valued for her rare ability to combine and use her detailed legal and operational knowledge and experience with talents for creative problem-solving and consensus building to find pragmatic client-centric solutions, Ms. Stamer is recognized nationally and internationally for her work helping organizations and their management use the law and process to manage people, process, compliance, operations and risk.
Ms. Stamer supports her clients as determined by the needs of her clients both on a real time, “on demand” basis as well as on longer term basis to deal with daily performance management and operations, emerging crises, strategic planning, process improvement and change management, investigations, defending litigation, audits, investigations or other enforcement challenges, government affairs and public policy. As a continuous part of this work, Ms. Stamer advises, represents, coaches and defends public and private, domestic and international businesses, governments, employee benefit plans and their fiduciaries, and other organizations and their leaders about credentialing, engagement, contracting and other policy and program development and documentation, performance management, compensation and benefits, occupational injury and safety, and other risk and performance management of employees and other service providers, vendors and suppliers, customers and others; Federal Sentencing Guideline and other compliance, corporate governance, and internal controls; business disruption and continuity, disaster preparedness and response, occupational injury, corporate compliance, government investigation and other critical event planning, investigation and response; director, officer, and other leadership development, succession and liability management; trade secret, data security and breach, and other confidentiality and privacy policies, practices, events and processes; government and other contracting; business disruption and continuity, record retention and other documentation and reporting, and a host of other concerns. She also conducts, or assists and counsels clients to plan, conduct, review and redress findings from legal or corporate policy breaches, whistleblower or other complaints or reports, internal investigations, mock audits, government, customer, vendor, accounting firm, credentialing and other audits or investigations; employment and other services, compensation, employee benefits, investigations, officer, director and fiduciary liability, insurance and other workforce and operational aspects of mergers, acquisitions, restructurings, bankruptcies and other corporate events; cybercrime, identity theft, FACTA, HIPAA, tax, personal financial information, personal health information, trade secret and other data misappropriation or other breaches and threats to data, information, systems and processes, and other risk or compliance events; to evaluate, implement, and enforce D&O, E&O, General Liability, Fiduciary Liability, risk pools, captive insurance, indemnity, and other liability and risk retention and mitigation arrangements; as well as represents and defends organizations, employee benefit plans, and their leaders in government and private investigations and audits, regulatory actions, litigation and other enforcement actions.
A primary drafter of the Bolvian social security privatization law with extensive domestic and foreign regulatory and public affairs experience and widely recognized for her extensive involvement with U.S. health care, pension and social security and workforce policies, Ms. Stamer also has extensive government relations and public policy experience. She has been and remains deeply involved in helping to influence the Affordable Care Act and other health care, pension, social security, workforce, insurance and other policies critical to the workforce, benefits, and compensation practices and other key aspects of a broad range of businesses and their operations. She both helps her clients respond to and resolve emerging regulations and laws, government investigations and enforcement actions and helps them shape the rules through dealings with Congress and other legislatures, regulators and government officials domestically and internationally. A former lead consultant to the Government of Bolivia on its Social Security reform law and most recognized for her leadership on U.S. health and pension, wage and hour, tax, education and immigration policy reform, Ms. Stamer works with U.S. and foreign businesses, governments, trade associations, and others on workforce, social security and severance, health care, immigration, privacy and data security, tax, ethics and other laws and regulations. Founder and Executive Director of the Coalition for Responsible Healthcare Policy and its PROJECT COPE: the Coalition on Patient Empowerment and a Fellow in the American Bar Foundation and State Bar of Texas. She also works as a policy advisor and advocate to health plans, their sponsors, administrators, insurers and many other business, professional and civic organizations.
Author of the thousands of publications and workshops these and other employment, employee benefits, health care, insurance, workforce and other management matters,
Ms. Stamer also is a highly sought out speaker and industry thought leader known for empowering audiences and readers. Ms. Stamer’s insights on employee benefits, insurance, health care and workforce matters in Atlantic Information Services, The Bureau of National Affairs (BNA), InsuranceThoughtLeaders.com, Benefits Magazine, Employee Benefit News, Texas CEO Magazine, HealthLeaders, Modern Healthcare, Business Insurance, Employee Benefits News, World At Work, Benefits Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, the Dallas Morning News, the Dallas Business Journal, the Houston Business Journal, and many other publications. She also has served as an Editorial Advisory Board Member for human resources, employee benefit and other management focused publications of BNA, HR.com, Employee Benefit News, InsuranceThoughtLeadership.com and many other prominent publications. Ms. Stamer also regularly serves on the faculty and planning committees for symposia of LexisNexis, the American Bar Association, ALIABA, the Society of Employee Benefits Administrators, the American Law Institute, ISSA, HIMMs, and many other prominent educational and training organizations and conducts training and speaks on these and other management, compliance and public policy concerns.
Ms. Stamer also is active in the leadership of a broad range of other professional and civic organizations. For instance, Ms. Stamer presently serves or previously servied, among other things, on an American Bar Association (ABA) Joint Committee on Employee Benefits Council representative; Vice President of the North Texas Healthcare Compliance Professionals Association; Chair of the ABA RPTE Employee Benefits & Other Compensation Committee, its Defined Contribution Committee Co-Chair, its Fiduciary Responsibility Welfare Benefit Plans Committee Chair and Co-Chair, on its Substantive Groups & Committee and as its Practice Management Vice Chair; Past Chair of the ABA Health Law Section Managed Care & Insurance Interest Group and a member of its Healthcare Coordinating Council; Vice Chair of the ABA TIPS Employee Benefit Committee; Coordinator and a Vice-Chair of the Gulf Coast TEGE Council TE Division; on the Executive Committee, BACPAC Committee, State Board of Directors, Regional Chair, Dallas Chapter Chair and Health Care Task Force of the Texas Association of Business; President of the Dallas Business Group; Vice President of the North Texas Healthcare Compliance Professionals Association, founding Board Member and President of the Alliance for Healthcare Excellence, as a Board Member and Board Compliance Committee Chair for the National Kidney Foundation of North Texas; the Board President of the early childhood development intervention agency, The Richardson Development Center for Children; Chair of the Dallas Bar Association Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Committee; Dallas Legislative Affairs Chair, Region IV Chair and National Consultants Board Member of the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM), a member of the Board of Directors of the Southwest Benefits Association; a Board Member of the Dallas World Affairs Council, on the Advisory Boards of InsuranceThoughtLeadership.com, HR.com, Employee Benefit News, and many other publications; on the faculty of the University of Dallas and a multitude of other seminar and symposium faculties, and in many other organizations..
For more information about this topic or Ms. Stamer, contact Ms. Stamer via email here or via telephone to (469) 767-8872 or see www.cynthiastamer.com
About Solutions Law Press, Inc.™
Solutions Law Press, Inc.™ provides human resources and employee benefit and other business risk management, legal compliance, management effectiveness and other coaching, tools and other resources, training and education on leadership, governance, human resources, employee benefits, data security and privacy, insurance, health care and other key compliance, risk management, internal controls and operational concerns. If you find this of interest, you also may be interested reviewing other Solutions Law Press, Inc.™ resources here such as:
If you or someone else you know would like to receive future updates about developments on these and other concerns, please be sure that we have your current contact information including your preferred e-mail by creating or updating your profile here.
©2016 Cynthia Marcotte Stamer. Non-exclusive right to republish granted to Solutions Law Press. All other rights reserved.
New SEC executive pay transparency IRS tax rules are the latest in a series of evolving executive pay and deferred compensation rules mean employers and executives can’t afford to assume their or their consultants’ or executives’ historical executive compensation, severance, bonus or stock plan experience or practices still pass muster. Avoid potentially expensive mistakes that could trigger unexpected tax or other penalties and liabilities for the executives or the companies by checking with qualified counsel to confirm your existing and contemplated arrangements still meet the rules and have the expected tax, don’t trigger tax, reporting or notice obligations you may otherwise miss, or other unexpected liabilities or consequences.Changes present many potential traps for companies and the executives if not properly understood and handled. These can include:
At minimum, companies and their need to expect and set aside more time and money to consider and handle these compensation concerns when negotiating executive employment arrangements, administering and approving arrangements, when approaching and conducting corporate, lending, fundraising and other transactions and on an ongoing basis.
Executives also should recognize these changes make even more important that they get competent advice from qualified counsel familiar with these rules when negotiating employment, bonus and other special compensation, severance and other termination or other agreements or dealings impacting executive or other special compensation, as well as competent tax review and advice at the time of these events as well as ensure these arrangements are properly understood and considered when doing financial planning, annual tax planning and preparation or other related events.
For Legal or Consulting Advice, Legal Representation, Training Or More Information
If you need help reviewing your group health plan or responding to these new or other workforce, benefits and compensation, performance and risk management, compliance, enforcement or management concerns, help updating or defending your workforce or employee benefit policies or practices, or other related assistance, the author of this update, attorney Cynthia Marcotte Stamer may be able to help.
Recognized as a “Top” attorney in employee benefits, labor and employment and health care law extensively involved in health and other employee benefit and human resources policy and program design and administration representation and advocacy throughout her career, Cynthia Marcotte Stamer is a practicing attorney and Managing Shareholder of Cynthia Marcotte Stamer, P.C., a member of Stamer│Chadwick│Soefje PLLC, author, pubic speaker, management policy advocate and industry thought leader with more than 27 years’ experience practicing at the forefront of employee benefits and human resources law.
A Fellow in the American College of Employee Benefit Counsel, past Chair and current Welfare Benefit Committee Co-Chair of the American Bar Association (ABA) RPTE Section Employee Benefits Group, Vice Chair of the ABA Tort & Insurance Practice Section Employee Benefits Committee, former Chair of the ABA Health Law Section Managed Care & Insurance Interest Group, an ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits Council Representative and Board Certified in Labor & Employment Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, Ms. Stamer is recognized nationally and internationally for her practical and creative insights and leadership on health and other employee benefit, human resources and insurance matters and policy.
Ms. Stamer helps management manage. Ms. Stamer’s legal and management consulting work throughout her 27 plus year career has focused on helping organizations and their management use the law and process to manage people, process, compliance, operations and risk. Highly valued for her rare ability to find pragmatic client-centric solutions by combining her detailed legal and operational knowledge and experience with her talent for creative problem-solving, Ms. Stamer helps public and private, domestic and international businesses, governments, and other organizations and their leaders manage their employees, vendors and suppliers, and other workforce members, customers and other’ performance, compliance, compensation and benefits, operations, risks and liabilities, as well as to prevent, stabilize and cleanup workforce and other legal and operational crises large and small that arise in the course of operations.
Ms. Stamer works with businesses and their management, employee benefit plans, governments and other organizations deal with all aspects of human resources and workforce management operations and compliance. She supports her clients both on a real time, “on demand” basis and with longer term basis to deal with daily performance management and operations, emerging crises, strategic planning, process improvement and change management, investigations, defending litigation, audits, investigations or other enforcement challenges, government affairs and public policy. Well known for her extensive work with health care, insurance and other highly regulated entities on corporate compliance, internal controls and risk management, her clients range from highly regulated entities like employers, contractors and their employee benefit plans, their sponsors, management, administrators, insurers, fiduciaries and advisors, technology and data service providers, health care, managed care and insurance, financial services, government contractors and government entities, as well as retail, manufacturing, construction, consulting and a host of other domestic and international businesses of all types and sizes. Common engagements include internal and external workforce hiring, management, training, performance management, compliance and administration, discipline and termination, and other aspects of workforce management including employment and outsourced services contracting and enforcement, sentencing guidelines and other compliance plan, policy and program development, administration, and defense, performance management, wage and hour and other compensation and benefits, reengineering and other change management, internal controls, compliance and risk management, communications and training, worker classification, tax and payroll, investigations, crisis preparedness and response, government relations, safety, government contracting and audits, litigation and other enforcement, and other concerns.
Ms. Stamer uses her deep and highly specialized health, insurance, labor and employment and other knowledge and experience to help employers and other employee benefit plan sponsors; health, pension and other employee benefit plans, their fiduciaries, administrators and service providers, insurers, and others design legally compliant, effective compensation, health and other welfare benefit and insurance, severance, pension and deferred compensation, private exchanges, cafeteria plan and other employee benefit, fringe benefit, salary and hourly compensation, bonus and other incentive compensation and related programs, products and arrangements. She is particularly recognized for her leading edge work, thought leadership and knowledgeable advice and representation on the design, documentation, administration, regulation and defense of a diverse range of self-insured and insured health and welfare benefit plans including private exchange and other health benefit choices, health care reimbursement and other “defined contribution” limited benefit, 24-hour and other occupational and non-occupational injury and accident, ex-patriate and medical tourism, onsite medical, wellness and other medical plans and insurance benefit programs as well as a diverse range of other qualified and nonqualified retirement and deferred compensation, severance and other employee benefits and compensation, insurance and savings plans, programs, products, services and activities. As a key element of this work, Ms. Stamer works closely with employer and other plan sponsors, insurance and financial services companies, plan fiduciaries, administrators, and vendors and others to design, administer and defend effective legally defensible employee benefits and compensation practices, programs, products and technology. She also continuously helps employers, insurers, administrative and other service providers, their officers, directors and others to manage fiduciary and other risks of sponsorship or involvement with these and other benefit and compensation arrangements and to defend and mitigate liability and other risks from benefit and liability claims including fiduciary, benefit and other claims, audits, and litigation brought by the Labor Department, IRS, HHS, participants and beneficiaries, service providers, and others. She also assists debtors, creditors, bankruptcy trustees and others assess, manage and resolve labor and employment, employee benefits and insurance, payroll and other compensation related concerns arising from reductions in force or other terminations, mergers, acquisitions, bankruptcies and other business transactions including extensive experience with multiple, high-profile large scale bankruptcies resulting in ERISA, tax, corporate and securities and other litigation or enforcement actions.
Ms. Stamer also is deeply involved in helping to influence the Affordable Care Act and other health care, pension, social security, workforce, insurance and other policies critical to the workforce, benefits, and compensation practices and other key aspects of a broad range of businesses and their operations. She both helps her clients respond to and resolve emerging regulations and laws, government investigations and enforcement actions and helps them shape the rules through dealings with Congress and other legislatures, regulators and government officials domestically and internationally. A former lead consultant to the Government of Bolivia on its Social Security reform law and most recognized for her leadership on U.S. health and pension, wage and hour, tax, education and immigration policy reform, Ms. Stamer works with U.S. and foreign businesses, governments, trade associations, and others on workforce, social security and severance, health care, immigration, privacy and data security, tax, ethics and other laws and regulations. Founder and Executive Director of the Coalition for Responsible Healthcare Policy and its PROJECT COPE: the Coalition on Patient Empowerment and a Fellow in the American Bar Foundation and State Bar of Texas, Ms. Stamer annually leads the Joint Committee on Employee Benefits (JCEB) HHS Office of Civil Rights agency meeting and other JCEB agency meetings. She also works as a policy advisor and advocate to many business, professional and civic organizations.
Author of the thousands of publications and workshops these and other employment, employee benefits, health care, insurance, workforce and other management matters, Ms. Stamer also is a highly sought out speaker and industry thought leader known for empowering audiences and readers. Ms. Stamer’s insights on employee benefits, insurance, health care and workforce matters in Atlantic Information Services, The Bureau of National Affairs (BNA), InsuranceThoughtLeaders.com, Benefits Magazine, Employee Benefit News, Texas CEO Magazine, HealthLeaders, Modern Healthcare, Business Insurance, Employee Benefits News, World At Work, Benefits Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, the Dallas Morning News, the Dallas Business Journal, the Houston Business Journal, and many other publications. She also has served as an Editorial Advisory Board Member for human resources, employee benefit and other management focused publications of BNA, HR.com, Employee Benefit News, InsuranceThoughtLeadership.com and many other prominent publications. Ms. Stamer also regularly serves on the faculty and planning committees for symposia of LexisNexis, the American Bar Association, ALIABA, the Society of Employee Benefits Administrators, the American Law Institute, ISSA, HIMMs, and many other prominent educational and training organizations and conducts training and speaks on these and other management, compliance and public policy concerns.
Ms. Stamer also is active in the leadership of a broad range of other professional and civic organizations. For instance, Ms. Stamer presently serves on an American Bar Association (ABA) Joint Committee on Employee Benefits Council representative; Vice President of the North Texas Healthcare Compliance Professionals Association; Immediate Past Chair of the ABA RPTE Employee Benefits & Other Compensation Committee, its current Welfare Benefit Plans Committee Co-Chair, on its Substantive Groups & Committee and its incoming Defined Contribution Plan Committee Chair and Practice Management Vice Chair; Past Chair of the ABA Health Law Section Managed Care & Insurance Interest Group and a current member of its Healthcare Coordinating Council; current Vice Chair of the ABA TIPS Employee Benefit Committee; the former Coordinator and a Vice-Chair of the Gulf Coast TEGE Council TE Division; on the Advisory Boards of InsuranceThoughtLeadership.com, HR.com, Employee Benefit News, and many other publications. She also previously served as a founding Board Member and President of the Alliance for Healthcare Excellence, as a Board Member and Board Compliance Committee Chair for the National Kidney Foundation of North Texas; the Board President of the early childhood development intervention agency, The Richardson Development Center for Children; Chair of the Dallas Bar Association Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Committee; a member of the Board of Directors of the Southwest Benefits Association. For additional information about Ms. Stamer, see http://www.cynthiastamer.com or the Stamer│Chadwick │Soefje PLLC website or contact Ms. Stamer via email to here or via telephone to (469) 767-8872.
About Solutions Law Press, Inc.™
Solutions Law Press, Inc.™ provides human resources and employee benefit and other business risk management, legal compliance, management effectiveness and other coaching, tools and other resources, training and education on leadership, governance, human resources, employee benefits, data security and privacy, insurance, health care and other key compliance, risk management, internal controls and operational concerns. If you find this of interest, you also be interested reviewing some of our other Solutions Law Press, Inc.™ resources at http://www.solutionslawpress.com such as:
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Obama Administration Proposal Would Extend FLSA Minimum Wage & Overtime Requirements To 5 Million+ Workers
Prompt Business Action Needed To Mitigate Post-King Employer Health Benefit Costs & Liabilities
More Work For Employers, Benefit Plans Following SCOTUS Same-Sex Marriage Ruling
Businesses Must Confirm & Clean Up Health Plan ACA & Other Compliance Following Supreme Court’s King v. Burwell Decision
Obama Administration Devoting $1.25 Million To Find Ways To Encourage States To Force Employers To Give Paid Leave
If you or someone else you know would like to receive future updates about developments on these and other concerns, please be sure that we have your current contact information including your preferred e-mail by creating or updating your profile her
©2015 Cynthia Marcotte Stamer. Non-exclusive right to republish granted to Solutions Law Press, Inc.™. All other rights reserved.
Business leaders should take immediate steps to tighten the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) compliance and risk management of their organizations to reduce their personal exposure, as well as their businesses’ exposure to wage and hour, overtime or other FLSA liabilities.
Business leaders searching for ways to take their businesses from good to great should critically evaluate their workforce recruitment, management, compensation and benefit practices are properly designed to support business success or inappropriately detract from performance.
When designing and administering the human resources and other workforce processes for any business, human resources managers and consultants and the business leaders they support should stop thinking of and administering human resources as the “people” department and start thinking and running the department as the “performance management” department.
In recent decades, the practices of referring to the human resources department as the “People Department” has risen in popularity. While the change in nomenclature on first blush might seek fairly harmless, its emergence corresponds with the growing acceptance of a repurposing of the primary purpose of the human resources department in many companies away from supporting the workforce performance needs of management to an employee advocacy purpose.
The primary responsibility of management is to define the business goals and manage its people and other details to accomplish the goal. Businesses leaders determined to succeed usually take steps to promote achieve desired well-defined goals by adopting detailed implementation plans that depend upon properly qualified workers reliably delivering the required performances their business needs to succeed.
As businesses technically only act through the performances of their people, everything that goes right or wrong or better or worse in a company ultimately depends on what its people do, when and how. Human resource and associated workforce performance both are key drivers of business performance and costs as well as major contributors to liabilities and expense. even the most promising businesses experiences difficulty succeeding unless its people reliably perform as needed to implement the business plan. While businesses can struggle or fail if management chooses a poor business path, even the most promising businesses will experience difficulty achieving success if it can’t get its people to reliably implement the business plan. Therefore, effective workforce management critically impacts every company’s performance and ultimately, its success.
As with any other company resource used in its operations, management must manage workforce resources to meet the needs of the business. Management and its people must understand that the “people department” exists to drive business performance not to maximize employee satisfaction. When recruiting, hiring and promoting workers, business leaders should and must objectively define the tangible education, experience, skills, compensation and other employment terms to fit management expectations of the business needs. However hiring someone who has the capability of doing the job is only part of the equation. Getting the employee to actually do the job as desired for the compensation and other benefits of employment offered by the business is where management comes in to play.
While it’s great when the business needs align with the needs of its people, the management has a duty to put the success of the business ahead of employee satisfaction when these needs do not align. While management can admire the success realized by the management by survey human resource consulting businesses in promoting the idea that management will be unable to hire sufficient employees unless it restructures its business operations and workforce expectations to match survey responses of Gen-X and Millennial workers, the business failures and setbacks of the automobile, steel, airlines and numerous other businesses clearly document the perils to the business and its workers that the business failures and setbacks of the automobile, steel, airlines and numerous other businesses when management pander to compensation or other expectations of workers at the expense of responsible management. Therefore, while management generally should consider the market competitiveness of the company’s employment, compensation, benefits and culture, the implications on the company’s ability to recruit, retain and motivate the workforce talent and performances needed to best operate the business with the least management effort, expense and liability ultimately must determine whether and to what extent to accommodate a particular worker or group of worker’s demands or expectations about hours of work, compensation, benefits and other job satisfaction issues on business performance.
Once management defines the position, its required qualifications and performance requirements, compensation, benefits and other terms based on the business needs of the company, management helps qualified candidates perform their best by clearly defining and communicating management expectations. Management should make clear what the job is, how performance will be judged and the compensation and other benefits and opportunities of the job.
Thus, while surveys and other invitations for members of the team to provide input and feedback can provide valuable insights to management where the performance needs of the business might be advanced by such input, management generally should use care not to send mixed messages by inviting input by workers on matters which management already has determined the course of action required to meet the business needs. Similarly, while management can and should design and administer workforce policies and management to include appropriate flexibility to allow employees flexibility in the performance of their assigned duties, compensation, or other terms of employment within the parameters established by management, unless legally required, management generally should be cautious about accommodating workers’ requests for special treatment or accommodation of the employee’s preferences or needs do not fit the business performance needs determined by management. Likewise, teaming does not mean the team doesn’t have a head coach. While input from employees has a valuable role in businesses, failing to clearly define the parameters and expectations within which employees are expected to perform, inviting input on decisions management already decided, or tolerating diversity in performance where the business needs uniformity undermines the effectiveness of the business and the performance of the worker by confusing or misdirecting the workers.
While occasionally the unique skills and talents of a particular worker may be so valuable that the business needs justify accommodating his demands for prima donna treatment, management should carefully weigh the costs of accommodation of these preferences. Unfortunately, management frequently wastes significant time, money and legal fees apparently qualified candidates that lack perhaps the most important qualification for the position: a desire and enthusiasm for the job management offered rather than another mythical position with duties, titles, responsibilities, compensation or other perks that the candidate wishes he could obtain. In many cases, accommodation of one demand or foible leads to additional demands from the accommodated worker while either alienating or inviting other demands for special treatment for other workers on the team.
Ultimately, the workforce of a business is a team whose success depends on how well the players execute the game plan set by management. Regardless of how great the player’s credentials look on paper, his value to the company’s team depends upon how well his performance fulfills and furthers the performance of the team. The best candidates and employees are competent if not talented workers that have the skill and find fulfillment performing the duties contemplated by management under the leadership of its management for the pay and other offered perks as an opportunity too good to miss. A business that hires and retains workers that readily and enthusiastically perform in accordance with the business strategy and performance expectations established by management generally require less management.
For Advice, Representation, Training Or More Information
If you need help responding to these performance and risk management, compliance, enforcement or management concerns, updating or defending your management, corporate governance, compliance, risk management, workforce or other policies, practices, or actions, board or other training, or other assistance or information, contact the author of this update, management attorney Cynthia Marcotte Stamer.
Managing Shareholder of Cynthia Marcotte Stamer, P.C., a member of Stamer│Chadwick │Soefje PLLC, Ms. Stamer’s more than 27 years’ of leading edge work helping management lead and manage risk, operations and compliance as an practicing attorney, author, lecturer and industry and policy thought leader have resulted in her recognition as a “Top” attorney in employee benefits, labor and employment and health care law.
Board certified in labor and employment law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, a Fellow in the American College of Employee Benefit Counsel, past Chair and current Welfare Benefit Committee Co-Chair of the American Bar Association (ABA) RPTE Section Employee Benefits Group, Vice Chair of the ABA Tort & Insurance Practice Section Employee Benefits Committee, former Chair of the ABA Health Law Section Managed Care & Insurance Interest Group, an ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits Council Representative and Board Certified in Labor & Employment Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, Ms. Stamer is recognized nationally and internationally for her work helping organizations and their management use the law and process to manage people, process, compliance, operations and risk.
Highly valued for her rare ability to find pragmatic client-centric solutions by combining her detailed legal and operational knowledge and experience with her talent for creative problem-solving, Ms. Stamer works with businesses and their management, employee benefit plans, governments and other organizations to deal with all aspects of human resources and workforce management operations and compliance.
As determined by the needs of her clients, Ms. Stamer supports her clients both on a real time, “on demand” basis as well as on longer term basis to deal with daily performance management and operations, emerging crises, strategic planning, process improvement and change management, investigations, defending litigation, audits, investigations or other enforcement challenges, government affairs and public policy. Ms. Stamer advises, represents, coaches and defends public and private, domestic and international businesses, governments, employee benefit plans and their fiduciaries, and other organizations and their leaders about credentialing, engagement, contracting and other policy and program development and documentation, performance management, compensation and benefits, occupational injury and safety, and other risk and performance management of employees and other service providers, vendors and suppliers, customers and others; Federal Sentencing Guideline and other compliance, corporate governance, and internal controls; business disruption and continuity, disaster preparedness and response, occupational injury, corporate compliance, government investigation and other critical event planning, investigation and response; director, officer, and other leadership development, succession and liability management; trade secret, data security and breach, and other confidentiality and privacy policies, practices, events and processes; government and other contracting; business disruption and continuity, record retention and other documentation and reporting, and a host of other concerns. She also conducts, or assists and counsels clients to plan, conduct, review and redress findings from legal or corporate policy breaches, whistleblower or other complaints or reports, internal investigations, mock audits, government, customer, vendor, accounting firm, credentialing and other audits or investigations; employment and other services, compensation, employee benefits, investigations, officer, director and fiduciary liability, insurance and other workforce and operational aspects of mergers, acquisitions, restructurings, bankruptcies and other corporate events; cybercrime, identity theft, FACTA, HIPAA, tax, personal financial information, personal health information, trade secret and other data misappropriation or other breaches and threats to data, information, systems and processes, and other risk or compliance events; to evaluate, implement, and enforce D&O, E&O, General Liability, Fiduciary Liability, risk pools, captive insurance, indemnity, and other liability and risk retention and mitigation arrangements; as well as represents and defends organizations, employee benefit plans, and their leaders in government and private investigations and audits, regulatory actions, litigation and other enforcement actions.
A primary drafter of the Bolvian social security privatization law with extensive domestic and foreign regulatory and public affairs experience and widely recognized for her extensive involvement with U.S. health care, pension and social security and workforce policies, Ms. Stamer also has extensive government relations and public policy experience. She has been and remains deeply involved in helping to influence the Affordable Care Act and other health care, pension, social security, workforce, insurance and other policies critical to the workforce, benefits, and compensation practices and other key aspects of a broad range of businesses and their operations. She both helps her clients respond to and resolve emerging regulations and laws, government investigations and enforcement actions and helps them shape the rules through dealings with Congress and other legislatures, regulators and government officials domestically and internationally. A former lead consultant to the Government of Bolivia on its Social Security reform law and most recognized for her leadership on U.S. health and pension, wage and hour, tax, education and immigration policy reform, Ms. Stamer works with U.S. and foreign businesses, governments, trade associations, and others on workforce, social security and severance, health care, immigration, privacy and data security, tax, ethics and other laws and regulations. Founder and Executive Director of the Coalition for Responsible Healthcare Policy and its PROJECT COPE: the Coalition on Patient Empowerment and a Fellow in the American Bar Foundation and State Bar of Texas. She also works as a policy advisor and advocate to health plans, their sponsors, administrators, insurers and many other business, professional and civic organizations.
Author of the thousands of publications and workshops these and other employment, employee benefits, health care, insurance, workforce and other management matters, Ms. Stamer also is a highly sought out speaker and industry thought leader known for empowering audiences and readers. Ms. Stamer’s insights on employee benefits, insurance, health care and workforce matters in Atlantic Information Services, The Bureau of National Affairs (BNA), InsuranceThoughtLeaders.com, Benefits Magazine, Employee Benefit News, Texas CEO Magazine, HealthLeaders, Modern Healthcare, Business Insurance, Employee Benefits News, World At Work, Benefits Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, the Dallas Morning News, the Dallas Business Journal, the Houston Business Journal, and many other publications. She also has served as an Editorial Advisory Board Member for human resources, employee benefit and other management focused publications of BNA, HR.com, Employee Benefit News, InsuranceThoughtLeadership.com and many other prominent publications. Ms. Stamer also regularly serves on the faculty and planning committees for symposia of LexisNexis, the American Bar Association, ALIABA, the Society of Employee Benefits Administrators, the American Law Institute, ISSA, HIMMs, and many other prominent educational and training organizations and conducts training and speaks on these and other management, compliance and public policy concerns.
Ms. Stamer also is active in the leadership of a broad range of other professional and civic organizations. For instance, Ms. Stamer presently serves on an American Bar Association (ABA) Joint Committee on Employee Benefits Council representative; Vice President of the North Texas Healthcare Compliance Professionals Association; Immediate Past Chair of the ABA RPTE Employee Benefits & Other Compensation Committee, its current Welfare Benefit Plans Committee Co-Chair, on its Substantive Groups & Committee and its incoming Defined Contribution Plan Committee Chair and Practice Management Vice Chair; Past Chair of the ABA Health Law Section Managed Care & Insurance Interest Group and a current member of its Healthcare Coordinating Council; current Vice Chair of the ABA TIPS Employee Benefit Committee; the former Coordinator and a Vice-Chair of the Gulf Coast TEGE Council TE Division; on the Advisory Boards of InsuranceThoughtLeadership.com, HR.com, Employee Benefit News, and many other publications. She also previously served as a founding Board Member and President of the Alliance for Healthcare Excellence, as a Board Member and Board Compliance Committee Chair for the National Kidney Foundation of North Texas; the Board President of the early childhood development intervention agency, The Richardson Development Center for Children; Chair of the Dallas Bar Association Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Committee; a member of the Board of Directors of the Southwest Benefits Association.
If you are interested in exploring other steps that your business or other organization or its leaders can take to use the law and other processes to minimize or resolve legal or operational risks or other help assessing or managing your workforce, operations or for additional information about Ms. Stamer, contact Ms. Stamer via email here or via telephone to (469) 767-8872 or see www.cynthiastamer.com
About Solutions Law Press, Inc.™
Solutions Law Press, Inc.™ provides human resources and employee benefit and other business risk management, legal compliance, management effectiveness and other coaching, tools and other resources, training and education on leadership, governance, human resources, employee benefits, data security and privacy, insurance, health care and other key compliance, risk management, internal controls and operational concerns. If you find this of interest, you also may be interested reviewing other Solutions Law Press, Inc.™ resources here such as:
If you or someone else you know would like to receive future updates about developments on these and other concerns, please be sure that we have your current contact information including your preferred e-mail by creating or updating your profile here.
©2015 Cynthia Marcotte Stamer. Non-exclusive right to republish granted to Solutions Law Press. All other rights reserved.
Businesses and their leaders struggling to managing the ever-changing and constantly growing regulatory and other legal risks inherent in operating a business in today’s litigation and enforcement-charged environment often miss invaluable opportunities by failing to take certain basic steps that strengthen their liability defenses and the effectiveness of their risk management and compliance efforts.
While each organization and leader needs to carefully tailor its organizational risk management and compliance programs to meet the unique needs and challenges of its operations, all risk management and compliance efforts generally should incorporate and operate on at least each of the following 10 tips:
While organizations and leaders that take these steps still face liability if their organization or one of its employees or agents breaches a legal duty, proper use of these steps generally can help minimize the risk of legal missteps and helps position the organizations and their leaders to mitigate resulting legal liabilities in the event things go wrong.
For Advice, Representation, Training Or More Information
If you need help responding to these performance and risk management, compliance, enforcement or management concerns, updating or defending your management, corporate governance, compliance, risk management, workforce or other policies, practices, or actions, board or other training, or other assistance or information, contact the author of this update, management attorney Cynthia Marcotte Stamer.
Managing Shareholder of Cynthia Marcotte Stamer, P.C., a member of Stamer│Chadwick │Soefje PLLC, Ms. Stamer’s more than 27 years’ of leading edge work helping management lead and manage risk, operations and compliance as an practicing attorney, author, lecturer and industry and policy thought leader have resulted in her recognition as a “Top” attorney in employee benefits, labor and employment and health care law.
Board certified in labor and employment law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, a Fellow in the American College of Employee Benefit Counsel, past Chair and current Welfare Benefit Committee Co-Chair of the American Bar Association (ABA) RPTE Section Employee Benefits Group, Vice Chair of the ABA Tort & Insurance Practice Section Employee Benefits Committee, former Chair of the ABA Health Law Section Managed Care & Insurance Interest Group, an ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits Council Representative and Board Certified in Labor & Employment Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, Ms. Stamer is recognized nationally and internationally for her work helping organizations and their management use the law and process to manage people, process, compliance, operations and risk.
Highly valued for her rare ability to find pragmatic client-centric solutions by combining her detailed legal and operational knowledge and experience with her talent for creative problem-solving, Ms. Stamer works with businesses and their management, employee benefit plans, governments and other organizations to deal with all aspects of human resources and workforce management operations and compliance.
As determined by the needs of her clients, Ms. Stamer supports her clients both on a real time, “on demand” basis as well as on longer term basis to deal with daily performance management and operations, emerging crises, strategic planning, process improvement and change management, investigations, defending litigation, audits, investigations or other enforcement challenges, government affairs and public policy. Ms. Stamer advises, represents, coaches and defends public and private, domestic and international businesses, governments, employee benefit plans and their fiduciaries, and other organizations and their leaders about credentialing, engagement, contracting and other policy and program development and documentation, performance management, compensation and benefits, occupational injury and safety, and other risk and performance management of employees and other service providers, vendors and suppliers, customers and others; Federal Sentencing Guideline and other compliance, corporate governance, and internal controls; business disruption and continuity, disaster preparedness and response, occupational injury, corporate compliance, government investigation and other critical event planning, investigation and response; director, officer, and other leadership development, succession and liability management; trade secret, data security and breach, and other confidentiality and privacy policies, practices, events and processes; government and other contracting; business disruption and continuity, record retention and other documentation and reporting, and a host of other concerns. She also conducts, or assists and counsels clients to plan, conduct, review and redress findings from legal or corporate policy breaches, whistleblower or other complaints or reports, internal investigations, mock audits, government, customer, vendor, accounting firm, credentialing and other audits or investigations; employment and other services, compensation, employee benefits, investigations, officer, director and fiduciary liability, insurance and other workforce and operational aspects of mergers, acquisitions, restructurings, bankruptcies and other corporate events; cybercrime, identity theft, FACTA, HIPAA, tax, personal financial information, personal health information, trade secret and other data misappropriation or other breaches and threats to data, information, systems and processes, and other risk or compliance events; to evaluate, implement, and enforce D&O, E&O, General Liability, Fiduciary Liability, risk pools, captive insurance, indemnity, and other liability and risk retention and mitigation arrangements; as well as represents and defends organizations, employee benefit plans, and their leaders in government and private investigations and audits, regulatory actions, litigation and other enforcement actions.
A primary drafter of the Bolvian social security privatization law with extensive domestic and foreign regulatory and public affairs experience and widely recognized for her extensive involvement with U.S. health care, pension and social security and workforce policies, Ms. Stamer also has extensive government relations and public policy experience. She has been and remains deeply involved in helping to influence the Affordable Care Act and other health care, pension, social security, workforce, insurance and other policies critical to the workforce, benefits, and compensation practices and other key aspects of a broad range of businesses and their operations. She both helps her clients respond to and resolve emerging regulations and laws, government investigations and enforcement actions and helps them shape the rules through dealings with Congress and other legislatures, regulators and government officials domestically and internationally. A former lead consultant to the Government of Bolivia on its Social Security reform law and most recognized for her leadership on U.S. health and pension, wage and hour, tax, education and immigration policy reform, Ms. Stamer works with U.S. and foreign businesses, governments, trade associations, and others on workforce, social security and severance, health care, immigration, privacy and data security, tax, ethics and other laws and regulations. Founder and Executive Director of the Coalition for Responsible Healthcare Policy and its PROJECT COPE: the Coalition on Patient Empowerment and a Fellow in the American Bar Foundation and State Bar of Texas. She also works as a policy advisor and advocate to health plans, their sponsors, administrators, insurers and many other business, professional and civic organizations.
Author of the thousands of publications and workshops these and other employment, employee benefits, health care, insurance, workforce and other management matters, Ms. Stamer also is a highly sought out speaker and industry thought leader known for empowering audiences and readers. Ms. Stamer’s insights on employee benefits, insurance, health care and workforce matters in Atlantic Information Services, The Bureau of National Affairs (BNA), InsuranceThoughtLeaders.com, Benefits Magazine, Employee Benefit News, Texas CEO Magazine, HealthLeaders, Modern Healthcare, Business Insurance, Employee Benefits News, World At Work, Benefits Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, the Dallas Morning News, the Dallas Business Journal, the Houston Business Journal, and many other publications. She also has served as an Editorial Advisory Board Member for human resources, employee benefit and other management focused publications of BNA, HR.com, Employee Benefit News, InsuranceThoughtLeadership.com and many other prominent publications. Ms. Stamer also regularly serves on the faculty and planning committees for symposia of LexisNexis, the American Bar Association, ALIABA, the Society of Employee Benefits Administrators, the American Law Institute, ISSA, HIMMs, and many other prominent educational and training organizations and conducts training and speaks on these and other management, compliance and public policy concerns.
Ms. Stamer also is active in the leadership of a broad range of other professional and civic organizations. For instance, Ms. Stamer presently serves on an American Bar Association (ABA) Joint Committee on Employee Benefits Council representative; Vice President of the North Texas Healthcare Compliance Professionals Association; Immediate Past Chair of the ABA RPTE Employee Benefits & Other Compensation Committee, its current Welfare Benefit Plans Committee Co-Chair, on its Substantive Groups & Committee and its incoming Defined Contribution Plan Committee Chair and Practice Management Vice Chair; Past Chair of the ABA Health Law Section Managed Care & Insurance Interest Group and a current member of its Healthcare Coordinating Council; current Vice Chair of the ABA TIPS Employee Benefit Committee; the former Coordinator and a Vice-Chair of the Gulf Coast TEGE Council TE Division; on the Advisory Boards of InsuranceThoughtLeadership.com, HR.com, Employee Benefit News, and many other publications. She also previously served as a founding Board Member and President of the Alliance for Healthcare Excellence, as a Board Member and Board Compliance Committee Chair for the National Kidney Foundation of North Texas; the Board President of the early childhood development intervention agency, The Richardson Development Center for Children; Chair of the Dallas Bar Association Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Committee; a member of the Board of Directors of the Southwest Benefits Association.
If you are interested in exploring other steps that your business or other organization or its leaders can take to use the law and other processes to minimize or resolve legal or operational risks or other help assessing or managing your workforce, operations or for additional information about Ms. Stamer, contact Ms. Stamer via email here or via telephone to (469) 767-8872 or see www.cynthiastamer.com
About Solutions Law Press, Inc.™
Solutions Law Press, Inc.™ provides human resources and employee benefit and other business risk management, legal compliance, management effectiveness and other coaching, tools and other resources, training and education on leadership, governance, human resources, employee benefits, data security and privacy, insurance, health care and other key compliance, risk management, internal controls and operational concerns. If you find this of interest, you also may be interested reviewing other Solutions Law Press, Inc.™ resources here such as:
If you or someone else you know would like to receive future updates about developments on these and other concerns, please be sure that we have your current contact information including your preferred e-mail by creating or updating your profile here.
©2015 Cynthia Marcotte Stamer. Non-exclusive right to republish granted to Solutions Law Press. All other rights reserved.
Health plan sponsorship carries big costs and big liability risks if not properly handled. Many businesses already face potentially huge excise taxes because their health plans violated health care reform or other federal mandates. Paying these bills will be particularly frustrating for employers who relied to their detriment on their brokers, consultants or other vendors to design, draft or administer the plan, only to find that it is the employer, as sponsor or the named “plan administrator,” “named fiduciary,” or sponsor that pays the bill.
Partnerships and their accountants and financial advisors should check out the following advanced copies of the Partnership tax final rule and proposed rule released today by the Internal Revenue Service, both of which are scheduled for official punlication in the Federal Register on August 3m 2015:
For Help or More Information
If you need more information about developments or other management of workforce, compliance or other risk management or operations, concerns please contact the author of this update, Cynthia Marcotte Stamer.
A Fellow in the American College of Employee Benefit Council, immediate past Chair of the American Bar Association (ABA) RPTE Employee Benefits & Other Compensation Group and current Co-Chair of its Welfare Benefit Committee, Vice-Chair of the ABA TIPS Employee Benefits Committee, a council member of the ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits, and past Chair of the ABA Health Law Section Managed Care & Insurance Interest Group, Ms. Stamer is recognized, internationally, nationally and locally for her work as a board certified labor and employment attorney widely known for her extensive and creative knowledge and experience helping businesses and government manage people, process and risk.
Ms. Stamer continuously advises and assists employers, bankruptcy trustees, investors, creditors and others to address a wide range of performance management and operational concerns. She also assists these and other organizations to design, reengineer, administer and defend their business, workforce, employee benefit plan and other operations and practice to deal wtih evolving legal, financial and other operational requirements. Her work includes more than 25 years of helping these and other clients prevent and solve problems and achieve other business goals and objectives.
A primary drafter of the Bolivian Social Security pension privatization law, Ms. Stamer also works extensively with management, service provider and other clients to shape, monitor and respond to legislative and regulatory developments and to deal with Congressional and state legislators, regulators, and enforcement officials on regulatory, investigatory or enforcement concerns.
Recognized in Who’s Who In American Professionals and both an American Bar Association (ABA) and a State Bar of Texas Fellow, Ms. Stamer serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of Employee Benefits News, the editor and publisher of Solutions Law Press HR & Benefits Update and other Solutions Law Press Publications, and active in a multitude of other employee benefits, human resources and other professional and civic organizations. She also is a widely published author and highly regarded speaker on these matters. Her insights on these and other matters appear in the Bureau of National Affairs, Spencer Publications, the Wall Street Journal, the Dallas Business Journal, the Houston Business Journal, Modern and many other national and local publications. You can learn more about Ms. Stamer and her experience, review some of her other training, speaking, publications and other resources, and register to receive future updates about developments on these and other concerns from Ms. Stamer here.
About Solutions Law Press, Inc.™
Solutions Law Press, Inc.™ provides business risk management, legal compliance, management effectiveness and other resources, training and education on human resources, employee benefits, compensation, data security and privacy, health care, insurance, and other key compliance, risk management, internal controls and other key operational concerns. If you find this of interest, you also be interested in exploring other Solutions Law Press, Inc. ™ tools, products, training and other resources here.
Other Helpful Resources & Other Information
If you found these updates of interest, you also be interested in one or more of the following other recent articles published in this electronic Solutions Law publications available for review here including:
If you or someone else you know would like to receive future updates about developments on these and other concerns, please be sure that we have your current contact information – including your preferred e-mail by creating or updating your profile at here.
For important information about this communication click here. THE FOLLOWING DISCLAIMER IS INCLUDED TO COMPLY WITH AND IN RESPONSE TO U.S. TREASURY DEPARTMENT CIRCULAR 230 REGULATIONS. ANY STATEMENTS CONTAINED HEREIN ARE NOT INTENDED OR WRITTEN BY THE WRITER TO BE USED, AND NOTHING CONTAINED HEREIN CAN BE USED BY YOU OR ANY OTHER PERSON, FOR THE PURPOSE OF (1) AVOIDING PENALTIES THAT MAY BE IMPOSED UNDER FEDERAL TAX LAW, OR (2) PROMOTING, MARKETING OR RECOMMENDING TO ANOTHER PARTY ANY TAX-RELATED TRANSACTION OR MATTER ADDRESSED HEREIN.
©2015 Cynthia Marcotte Stamer. Non-Exclusive License To Republish Granted To Solutions Law Press, Inc. All Other Rights Reserved.
Employers prepare for your impending ACA judgment day when filing your 2014 corporate tax return …
With the Obama Administration construing the United States Supreme Court’s King v. Burwell decision as a green light for its full implementation and enforcement of the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act (ACA), U.S. businesses should brace for both increases in health benefit costs and liabilities over the next year as well as take prompt action to identify and mitigate potential excise tax and other exposures from any unaddressed compliance deficiencies in their 2014 or 2015 health plans as soon as possible and no later than the due date for filing their 2014 business tax return.
As health benefit costs continue their upward trend, many businesses and their leaders plan to look for new options to manage costs and liabilities following the King decision. In most cases, businesses assume they can delay these actions until the beginning of their upcoming health plan year, not realizing their company’s potential liability exposures from existing and past…
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Texas employers lead the list of employers that should act to tighten their employment discrimination compliance and risk management to prepare for heightened likelihood of charges, litigation and other enforcement.
Texas employers remain the most frequent target of discrimination charges, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) statistics show.
With EEOC and other agencies as well as private litigants growing more aggressive in bringing claims and judgements, sanctions, investigation and defense costs rising, all employers should evaluate the adequacy of current policies and practices, tighten documentation, weigh the need for employment practices liability coverage and take other steps to minimize exposures to these claims and prepare to defend against allegations of discrimination. With Texas leading the charge list, Texaa employers particularly should be sensitive to their potential exposure.
For Representation, Training & Other Resources
If you need assistance monitoring or addressing human resources, internal controls, employee benefits or compensation risks, compliance, enforcement…
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The breaking news here today of a data breach at Premera Blue Cross following on the heals of the recent announcements of large-scale data breaches at Anthem, is another reminder that employers and other health plan sponsors, fiduciaries, insurers specifically, and U.S. businesses need to take immediate steps to assess and tighten up their privacy, data security and data breach compliance and risk management. Health plans and their employers, administrators, insurers, and other vendors and service providers need to take immediate steps to conduct documented investigations, provide mandated breach notifications and take other actions that the Privacy, Security & Breach Notification Rules imposed by the Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act and other potentially applicable laws. Depending on the scope of data affected and their involvement with the affected plans, employer or other plan sponsors, fiduciaries, administrators and service providers also may be subject additional responsibilities under the fiduciary responsibility requirements of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), the Internal Revenue Code, and a host of other laws. Insurance industry or other vendors providing services to these plans also may face specific responsibilities under applicable insurance, health care, federal or state identity theft, privacy or data security, or other federal or state laws.
The need for prompt assessment and action is not necessarily limited to health plans and organizations sponsoring, administering or doing business with the plans involved in the Premera or Anthem breaches. The report of these and other health plan breaches, as well recent reports of identity theft and other fraud impacting federal tax returns and other large data breach reports involving retailers and other prominent businesses are spurring recognition of the large risks and need for greater scrutiny and accountability to business collection, use, and protection of sensitive personal and other data.
Of course, as in the case of health plan, the risk is exploding largely in response to the continued evolution of electronic payment and other business operating systems coupled with the emergence of data harvesting and other capabilities fuel a host of new mandates, opportunities and risks for virtually every U.S. business. Cyber criminals seem to always be one step ahead of business and government in leveraging these emerging opportunities for their criminal purposes.
With everyone from the Internal Revenue Service and other federal and state government agencies to private business partners pushing to leverage the efficiencies and other opportunity of electronic transactions and data, businesses in the US and around the world increasing are encouraged if not required to conduct more and more transactions containing business and individual tax information, personal financial information, personal health information, confidential business and personal information electronically. Meanwhile big data and other business and marketing gurus also encourage business to leverage their own opportunities to use data collected for these business mandates and expanding technology also to collect, use and repurpose customer, prospect or other business information collected in the course of business to benefit their business’ marketing, transactional and other opportunities.
As these practices have taken hold and expanded over the past decade, data breaches and other cyber crime events, the legal requirements and risks of collection and use of data also are growing. Privacy, identity theft and other cyber crime and other concerns have led federal and state lawmakers to enact an ever-growing list of notice, consent, disclosure, security and other laws and regulations including but not limited to the Fair & Accurate Credit Transaction Act (FACTA),the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, the Privacy & Security Rules of the Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act, state identity theft, data security and data breach and other electronic privacy and security laws and an ever-growing plethora of others.
As the cyber crime epidemic continues to grow and notorious breeches and schemes involving the Internal Revenue Service, Veterans Administration, retail giants like Target, Home Depot, and others, insurance giants like Anthem, and others, government and private enforcement is rising and the judgments, penalties and other costs soaring even as federal and state regulators are looking at the need for expanded rules and penalties. See Cybercrime Enforcement Statistics; DOJ Enforcement Priorities & Statistics. In response to widening data privacy and security concerns from incidents like the recent reports of breaches at Anthem and elsewhere have prompted Congress and State regulators to hold hearings to consider the need for added reforms, see, McCaul to Hold Hearing on President’s Cybersecurity and the Federal Trade Commission has just announced plans to host a workshop on Nov. 16, 2015, to look at the privacy issues around the tracking of consumers’ activities across their different devices for advertising and marketing purposes.
While these and other legal and enforcement developments promise new liabilities and expenses, the business losses and customer and business partner implications experienced by Target, Anthem and other businesses already impacted illustrate the severe business consequences that inevitably result if a business appears to have failed to take customer privacy or other data security concerns seriously.
The now notorious Target hacking data breach event is illustrative. Target reported in late 2013 that credit and debit card thieves stole the name, address, email address and phone number from the credit and debit card records of around 70 million Target shoppers between November 27 and December 15, 2013. After announcing the breach, Target reported a 46% drop in profits in the fourth quarter of 2013, compared with the year before despite having announced plans to invest $100 million upgrading their payment terminals to support Chip-and-PIN enabled cards and millions of dollars more in rectification efforts. See The Target Breach, By the Numbers. Subsequently, Target’s losses have continued to mount even as it now faces lawsuits and other enforcement actions as a result of the breach. See Banks’ Lawsuits Against Target for Losses Related to Hacking Can Continue. Meanwhile, the enforcement and other fallout continues to evolve.
In the face of these developments, businesses need to be diligent about the adequacy and defensibility of their current data collection, use and security practices while remaining ever vigilant for new requirements, as well as weaknesses in their own practices. Businesses need to build their defenses in anticipation of these events both to withstand government and private litigation and enforcement, and the judgment of public opinion.
For Help With Risk Management, Compliance & Other Management Concerns
If you need assistance in auditing or assessing, updating or defending your organization’s compliance, risk management or other internal controls practices or actions, please contact the author of this update, attorney Cynthia Marcotte Stamer here or at (469) 767-8872.
Board Certified in Labor & Employment Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization,recognized as a “Top 100” lawyer in labor and employment, employee benefits and health care law, management attorney and consultant Ms. Stamer is nationally and internationally recognized for more than 20 years of work on data security and privacy, and other internal controls and management. Scribe for the ABA JCEB Annual Agency Meeting with the Office of Civil Rights, a faculty and steering committee for the Southern California ISSA-HIMSS Health Care Privacy Program, Ms. Stamer is nationally recognized for her work, publications, public speaking and education and other leadership on privacy and data security and other risk management and compliance.
A management attorney who works with businesses and government to manage and redress people, process and risk, Ms. Stamer has worked extensively on data and other privacy risk management and compliance, Throughout her career, she has conducted investigations and advised, and assisted health care, insurance, retail and a broad range of other public and private organizations with privacy and data security audit and risk management, contracting, investigation, defense and remediation throughout her more than 25 year career.
Past Chair of The Chair of the American Bar Association (ABA) RPTE Employee Benefits & Other Compensation Committee, a Council Representative on the ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits, Government Affairs Committee Legislative Chair for the Dallas Human Resources Management Association, and past Chair of the ABA Health Law Section Managed Care & Insurance Interest Group, Ms. Stamer works, publishes and speaks extensively on cyber crime and other privacy, management, reengineering, investigations, human resources and workforce, employee benefits, compensation, internal controls and risk management, federal sentencing guideline and other enforcement resolution actions, and related matters. She also is recognized for her publications, industry leadership, workshops and presentations on these and other human resources concerns and regularly speaks and conducts training on these matters.Her insights on these and other matters appear in the Bureau of National Affairs, Spencer Publications, the Wall Street Journal, the Dallas Business Journal, the Houston Business Journal, and many other national and local publications. For additional information about Ms. Stamer and her experience or to access other publications by Ms. Stamer see here or contact Ms. Stamer directly.
About Solutions Law Press
Solutions Law Press™ provides business risk management, legal compliance, management effectiveness and other resources, training and education on human resources, employee benefits, data security and privacy, insurance, health care and other key compliance, risk management, internal controls and operational concerns. If you find this of interest, you also be interested reviewing some of our other Solutions Law Press resources at www.solutionslawpress.com.
If you or someone else you know would like to receive future updates about developments on these and other concerns, please be sure that we have your current contact information – including your preferred e-mail – by creating or updating your profile at here or e-mailing this information here.
©2015 Cynthia Marcotte Stamer. Non-exclusive right to republish granted to Solutions Law Press. All other rights reserved.
The Internal Revenue Service is publish a clarifying correction to fix potentially misleading information in its final regulations for reporting and withholding of foreign income by foreign financial institutions for 2014.
As corrected, the correction with provide, “With respect to the 2014 calendar year, a participating FFI must report under paragraph (d)(3) or (5) of this section on all accounts that are identified and documented under paragraph (c) of this section as U.S. accounts or accounts held by owner-documented FFIs as of December 31, 2014, (or as of the date an account is closed if the account is closed prior to December 31, 2014) if such account was outstanding on or after the effective date of the participating FFI’s FFI agreement.”
For Help or More Information
If you need help with human resources, risk management or operations, or other business and performance management concerns please contact the author of this update, Cynthia Marcotte Stamer.
A Fellow in the American College of Employee Benefit Council, immediate past Chair of the American Bar Association (ABA) RPTE Employee Benefits & Other Compensation Group and current Co-Chair of its Welfare Benefit Committee, Vice-Chair of the ABA TIPS Employee Benefits Committee, a council member of the ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits, and past Chair of the ABA Health Law Section Managed Care & Insurance Interest Group, Ms. Stamer is recognized, internationally, nationally and locally for her work as a board certified labor and employment attorney widely known for her extensive and creative knowledge and experience helping businesses and government manage people, process and risk.
Ms. Stamer continuously advises and assists employers, bankruptcy trustees, investors, creditors and others to address a wide range of performance management and operational concerns. She also assists these and other organizations to design, reengineer, administer and defend their business, workforce, employee benefit plan and other operations and practice to deal wtih evolving legal, financial and other operational requirements. Her work includes more than 25 years of helping these and other clients prevent and solve problems and achieve other business goals and objectives.
A primary drafter of the Bolivian Social Security pension privatization law, Ms. Stamer also works extensively with management, service provider and other clients to shape, monitor and respond to legislative and regulatory developments and to deal with Congressional and state legislators, regulators, and enforcement officials on regulatory, investigatory or enforcement concerns.
Recognized in Who’s Who In American Professionals and both an American Bar Association (ABA) and a State Bar of Texas Fellow, Ms. Stamer serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of Employee Benefits News, the editor and publisher of Solutions Law Press HR & Benefits Update and other Solutions Law Press Publications, and active in a multitude of other employee benefits, human resources and other professional and civic organizations. She also is a widely published author and highly regarded speaker on these matters. Her insights on these and other matters appear in the Bureau of National Affairs, Spencer Publications, the Wall Street Journal, the Dallas Business Journal, the Houston Business Journal, Modern and many other national and local publications. You can learn more about Ms. Stamer and her experience, review some of her other training, speaking, publications and other resources, and register to receive future updates about developments on these and other concerns from Ms. Stamer here.
About Solutions Law Press, Inc.™
Solutions Law Press, Inc.™ provides business risk management, legal compliance, management effectiveness and other resources, training and education on human resources, employee benefits, compensation, data security and privacy, health care, insurance, and other key compliance, risk management, internal controls and other key operational concerns. If you find this of interest, you also be interested in exploring other Solutions Law Press, Inc. ™ tools, products, training and other resources here.
Other Helpful Resources & Other Information
If you found these updates of interest, you also be interested in one or more of the following other recent articles published in this electronic Solutions Law publications available for review here including:
If you or someone else you know would like to receive future updates about developments on these and other concerns, please be sure that we have your current contact information – including your preferred e-mail by creating or updating your profile at here.
For important information about this communication click here. THE FOLLOWING DISCLAIMER IS INCLUDED TO COMPLY WITH AND IN RESPONSE TO U.S. TREASURY DEPARTMENT CIRCULAR 230 REGULATIONS. ANY STATEMENTS CONTAINED HEREIN ARE NOT INTENDED OR WRITTEN BY THE WRITER TO BE USED, AND NOTHING CONTAINED HEREIN CAN BE USED BY YOU OR ANY OTHER PERSON, FOR THE PURPOSE OF (1) AVOIDING PENALTIES THAT MAY BE IMPOSED UNDER FEDERAL TAX LAW, OR (2) PROMOTING, MARKETING OR RECOMMENDING TO ANOTHER PARTY ANY TAX-RELATED TRANSACTION OR MATTER ADDRESSED HEREIN.
©2013 Cynthia Marcotte Stamer, P.C. Non-Exclusive License To Republish Granted To Solutions Law Press, Inc. All Other Rights Reserved.
Mian, Inc., doing business as Tower Package Store, a money services business (MSB) is learning an expensive of the risks of failing to report cash transactions and other anti-money laundering (AML) requirements of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). It’s paying a $45,000 civil monetary penalty for repeatedly violating the currency transaction reporting requirements of the BSA.
The BSA requires MSBs to implement an effective written AML program. Among other things, these requirements include an obligation a requirement to file a report of any currency transaction exceeding $10,000 within 15 days.
According to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), Mian repeatedly committed significant and willful violations of the BSA program and reporting requirements and continued to do so even after being put on notice by their examiner, Internal Revenue Service’s Small Business/Self-Employed (IRS SB/SE) Division, of deficiencies in meeting its reporting obligations. FinCEN says Mian provided check cashing services without fulfilling its obligations to report and maintain records on relevant transactions. Mian’s inadequate AML procedures did not ensure the timely and accurate filing of currency transaction reports (CTRs), which it was required to file within 15 days of any currency transaction exceeding $10,000. From December 2010 through November 2011, Mian failed to file CTRs on approximately 40 percent of transactions that required filing. During this time, the CTRs that Mian actually filed were late and inaccurate. Mian’s failure to comply with its CTR obligations persisted even after it was notified by IRS SB/SE of its CTR deficiencies. From December 2011 through November 2013, Mian failed to file timely CTRs on 91 percent of transactions that required filing.
Additionally, FinCEN also says Mian has further failed to meet its deadlines to renew its registration as an MSB.
As part of the settlement resulting in the civil monetary penalty, Mian admits it violated the BSA’s program, reporting and registration requirements, and has consented to FinCEN’s assessment of a civil money penalty of $45,000. For more information, see here.
MSBs and other businesses subject to the BSA should heed the lesson highlighted by the Milan civil money penalty and confirm their account opening and transaction practices comply with the BSA rules and that all reports are timely filed.
For Help With Risk Management, Compliance & Other Management Concerns
If you need assistance in auditing or assessing, updating or defending your organization’s compliance, risk management or other internal controls practices or actions, please contact the author of this update, attorney Cynthia Marcotte Stamer here or at (469)767-8872.
Board Certified in Labor & Employment Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, management attorney and consultant Ms. Stamer is nationally and internationally recognized for more than 24 years of work helping employers and other management; employee benefit plans and their sponsors, administrators, fiduciaries; employee leasing, recruiting, staffing and other professional employment organizations; and others design, administer and defend innovative workforce, compensation, employee benefit and management policies and practices. Her experience includes extensive work helping employers implement, audit, manage and defend union-management relations, wage and hour, discrimination and other labor and employment laws, privacy and data security, internal investigation and discipline and other workforce and internal controls policies, procedures and actions. The Chair of the American Bar Association (ABA) RPTE Employee Benefits & Other Compensation Committee, a Council Representative on the ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits, Government Affairs Committee Legislative Chair for the Dallas Human Resources Management Association, and past Chair of the ABA Health Law Section Managed Care & Insurance Interest Group, Ms. Stamer works, publishes and speaks extensively on management, reengineering, investigations, human resources and workforce, employee benefits, compensation, internal controls and risk management, federal sentencing guideline and other enforcement resolution actions, and related matters. She also is recognized for her publications, industry leadership, workshops and presentations on these and other human resources concerns and regularly speaks and conducts training on these matters.Her insights on these and other matters appear in the Bureau of National Affairs, Spencer Publications, the Wall Street Journal, the Dallas Business Journal, the Houston Business Journal, and many other national and local publications. For additional information about Ms. Stamer and her experience or to access other publications by Ms. Stamer see hereor contact Ms. Stamer directly.
About Solutions Law Press
Solutions Law Press™ provides business risk management, legal compliance, management effectiveness and other resources, training and education on human resources, employee benefits, data security and privacy, insurance, health care and other key compliance, risk management, internal controls and operational concerns. If you find this of interest, you also be interested reviewing some of our other Solutions Law Press resources at www.solutionslawpress.com.
If you or someone else you know would like to receive future updates about developments on these and other concerns, please be sure that we have your current contact information – including your preferred e-mail – by creating or updating your profile at here or e-mailing this information here.
©2012 Cynthia Marcotte Stamer. Non-exclusive right to republish granted to Solutions Law Press. All other rights reserved.
The FFI List Search and Download Tool located on the FATCA Website is now available. Use the Search and Download Tool to find out if a Foreign Financial Institution (FFI) has registered. Download an entire list of Financial Institutions or search for a specific Financial Institution.
For Help With Risk Management, Compliance & Other Management Concerns
If you need assistance in auditing or assessing, updating or defending your organization’s compliance, risk management or other internal controls practices or actions, please contact the author of this update, attorney Cynthia Marcotte Stamer here or at (469)767-8872.
Board Certified in Labor & Employment Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, management attorney and consultant Ms. Stamer is nationally and internationally recognized for more than 24 years of work helping employers and other management; employee benefit plans and their sponsors, administrators, fiduciaries; employee leasing, recruiting, staffing and other professional employment organizations; and others design, administer and defend innovative workforce, compensation, employee benefit and management policies and practices. Her experience includes extensive work helping employers implement, audit, manage and defend union-management relations, wage and hour, discrimination and other labor and employment laws, privacy and data security, internal investigation and discipline and other workforce and internal controls policies, procedures and actions. The Chair of the American Bar Association (ABA) RPTE Employee Benefits & Other Compensation Committee, a Council Representative on the ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits, Government Affairs Committee Legislative Chair for the Dallas Human Resources Management Association, and past Chair of the ABA Health Law Section Managed Care & Insurance Interest Group, Ms. Stamer works, publishes and speaks extensively on management, reengineering, investigations, human resources and workforce, employee benefits, compensation, internal controls and risk management, federal sentencing guideline and other enforcement resolution actions, and related matters. She also is recognized for her publications, industry leadership, workshops and presentations on these and other human resources concerns and regularly speaks and conducts training on these matters.Her insights on these and other matters appear in the Bureau of National Affairs, Spencer Publications, the Wall Street Journal, the Dallas Business Journal, the Houston Business Journal, and many other national and local publications. For additional information about Ms. Stamer and her experience or to access other publications by Ms. Stamer see hereor contact Ms. Stamer directly.
About Solutions Law Press
Solutions Law Press™ provides business risk management, legal compliance, management effectiveness and other resources, training and education on human resources, employee benefits, data security and privacy, insurance, health care and other key compliance, risk management, internal controls and operational concerns. If you find this of interest, you also be interested reviewing some of our other Solutions Law Press resources at www.solutionslawpress.com.
If you or someone else you know would like to receive future updates about developments on these and other concerns, please be sure that we have your current contact information – including your preferred e-mail – by creating or updating your profile at here or e-mailing this information here.
©2012 Cynthia Marcotte Stamer. Non-exclusive right to republish granted to Solutions Law Press. All other rights reserved.
Taxpayers abroad qualifying for an automatic two-month extension must file their 2013 federal income tax returns by Monday, June 16, according to the Internal Revenue Service.
The June 16 deadline applies to U.S. citizens and resident aliens living overseas, or serving in the military outside the U.S. on the regular April 15 due date. Eligible taxpayers get one additional day because the normal June 15 extended due date falls on Sunday this year. To use the two-month extension, taxpayers must attach a statement to their tax return explaining which of these two situations applies. See U.S. Citizens and Resident Aliens Abroad for more information.
Federal law requires U.S. citizens and resident aliens to report any worldwide income, including income from foreign trusts and foreign bank and securities accounts on their federal income tax return. Separately, U.S. persons with foreign accounts whose aggregate value exceeded $10,000 at any time during 2013 must file electronically with the Treasury Department a Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) Form 114, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR).
Form 114 replaces TD F 90-22.1, the FBAR form used in the past. It is due to the Treasury Department by Monday, June 30, must be filed electronically, and is only available online through the BSA E-Filing System website. This due date cannot be extended and tax extensions do not extend the FBAR filing due date. For details on FBAR requirements, see Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR).
To help those with the obligation to report their foreign accounts comply with the FBAR filing requirement, the IRS will hold a free one-hour webinar on Wednesday, June 4, starting at 2 p.m. Eastern time. Those interested in participating in the webinar must register for this event. More information is available on IRS.gov.
Taxpayers abroad can now use IRS Free File to prepare and electronically file their returns for free. This means both U.S. citizens and resident aliens living abroad with adjusted gross incomes (AGI) of $58,000 or less can use brand-name software to prepare their returns and then e-file them for free. A second option, Free File Fillable Forms, the electronic version of IRS paper forms, has no income limit and is best suited to people who are comfortable preparing their own tax return. Check out the e-file link on IRS.gov to find out more about these and other electronic filing options. E-file and Free File will be available until Oct. 15, 2014.
Taxpayers who cannot meet the June 16 deadline can get an automatic extension until Oct. 15, 2014. This is an extension of time to file, not an extension of time to pay. Interest, currently at the rate of three percent per year compounded daily, applies to any payment made after April 15, 2014. In some cases, a late payment penalty, usually 0.5 percent per month, applies to payments made after June 16, 2014.
Taxpayers abroad, regardless of income, can use Free File to request a tax-filing extension. Alternatively, eligible taxpayers can download and file Form 4868, available on IRS.gov.
In some cases, an additional extension beyond Oct. 15 may be available. Details are in Publication 54, Tax Guide for U.S. Citizens and Resident Aliens Abroad. In addition, members of the military and others serving in Afghanistan and other combat zone localities normally have until at least 180 days after they leave the combat zone to file their returns and pay any taxes due. For details, see Extension of Deadlines in Publication 3, Armed Forces Tax Guide.
Any U.S. taxpayer here or abroad with tax questions can use the online IRS Tax Map and the International Tax Topic Index to get answers. These online tools assemble or group IRS forms, publications and web pages by subject and provide users with a single entry point to find tax information.
For Help With Risk Management, Compliance & Other Management Concerns
If you need assistance in auditing or assessing, updating or defending your organization’s compliance, risk management or other internal controls practices or actions, please contact the author of this update, attorney Cynthia Marcotte Stamer here or at (469)767-8872.
Board Certified in Labor & Employment Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, management attorney and consultant Ms. Stamer is nationally and internationally recognized for more than 24 years of work helping employers and other management; employee benefit plans and their sponsors, administrators, fiduciaries; employee leasing, recruiting, staffing and other professional employment organizations; and others design, administer and defend innovative workforce, compensation, employee benefit and management policies and practices. Her experience includes extensive work helping employers implement, audit, manage and defend union-management relations, wage and hour, discrimination and other labor and employment laws, privacy and data security, internal investigation and discipline and other workforce and internal controls policies, procedures and actions. The Chair of the American Bar Association (ABA) RPTE Employee Benefits & Other Compensation Committee, a Council Representative on the ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits, Government Affairs Committee Legislative Chair for the Dallas Human Resources Management Association, and past Chair of the ABA Health Law Section Managed Care & Insurance Interest Group, Ms. Stamer works, publishes and speaks extensively on management, reengineering, investigations, human resources and workforce, employee benefits, compensation, internal controls and risk management, federal sentencing guideline and other enforcement resolution actions, and related matters. She also is recognized for her publications, industry leadership, workshops and presentations on these and other human resources concerns and regularly speaks and conducts training on these matters.Her insights on these and other matters appear in the Bureau of National Affairs, Spencer Publications, the Wall Street Journal, the Dallas Business Journal, the Houston Business Journal, and many other national and local publications. For additional information about Ms. Stamer and her experience or to access other publications by Ms. Stamer see hereor contact Ms. Stamer directly.
About Solutions Law Press
Solutions Law Press™ provides business risk management, legal compliance, management effectiveness and other resources, training and education on human resources, employee benefits, data security and privacy, insurance, health care and other key compliance, risk management, internal controls and operational concerns. If you find this of interest, you also be interested reviewing some of our other Solutions Law Press resources at www.solutionslawpress.com.
If you or someone else you know would like to receive future updates about developments on these and other concerns, please be sure that we have your current contact information – including your preferred e-mail – by creating or updating your profile at here or e-mailing this information here.
©2012 Cynthia Marcotte Stamer. Non-exclusive right to republish granted to Solutions Law Press. All other rights reserved.
The Spring 2014 Statistics of Income Bulletin just released by the Internal Revenue Service shows almost 5 million taxpayers filed returns with adjusted gross incomes of $200,000 or more in 2011, up over 9 percent from 2010. This reflects about 3 percent of all returns filed for the tax year.
The Statistics of Income (SOI) Division produces the SOI Bulletin on a quarterly basis. Articles included in the publication provide the most recent data available from various tax and information returns filed by U.S. taxpayers. This issue of the SOI Bulletin also includes articles on the following topics:
The Statistics of Income Bulletin is available for download at IRS.gov/taxstats. Printed copies of the Statistics of Income Bulletin are available from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, P.O. Box 371954, Pittsburgh, PA 15250-7954. The annual subscription rate is $67 ($93.80 foreign); single issues cost $44 ($61.60 foreign).
For more information about these data, write to the Internal Revenue Service (RAS:S), Director, Statistics of Income, 1111 Constitution Ave. NW, (K-Room 4160), Washington, DC 20224-0002.
For Help or More Information
If you need help with human resources and internal controls, compliance and risk management, or other business and performance management concerns please contact the author of this update, Cynthia Marcotte Stamer.
A Board Certified Labor and Employment attorney, Fellow in the American Bar Association, Texas Bar Association and American College of Employee Benefit Council, Ms. Stamer is recognized, internationally, nationally and locally for her work for her extensive and creative knowledge and experience helping businesses and government manage people, process and risk.
Ms. Stamer continuously advises and assists employers, bankruptcy trustees, investors, creditors, government agencies and others to address a wide range of performance management and operational concerns. She also assists these and other organizations to investigate and address compliance, liability and operational crises and ongoing issues, as well as to design, reengineer, administer and defend their business, workforce, employee benefit plan and other operations and practice to deal wtih evolving legal, financial and other operational requirements. Her work includes more than 25 years of helping these and other clients prevent and solve problems and achieve other business goals and objectives.
A primary drafter of the Bolivian Social Security pension privatization law, Ms. Stamer also works extensively with management, service provider and other clients to shape, monitor and respond to legislative and regulatory developments and to deal with Congressional and state legislators, regulators, and enforcement officials on regulatory, investigatory or enforcement concerns.
Recognized in Who’s Who In American Professionals, Ms. Stamer’s experience includes 25 years extensive involvement helping businesses, employee benefit plans and their fiduciaries and others prevent, investigate and redress fraud and other misconduct concerns impacting their operations, funds and investments and other essential functions and liabilities.
Ms. Stamer serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of HR.com, Insurance Thought Leaders, Employee Benefits News, and in the leadership of many other other professional and civic organizations. She also is a widely published author and highly regarded speaker on these matters. Her insights on these and other matters appear in the Bureau of National Affairs, Spencer Publications, the Wall Street Journal, the Dallas Business Journal, the Houston Business Journal, Modern and many other national and local publications. You can learn more about Ms. Stamer and her experience, review some of her other training, speaking, publications and other resources, and register to receive future updates about developments on these and other concerns from Ms. Stamer here.
About Solutions Law Press, Inc.™
Solutions Law Press, Inc.™ provides business risk management, legal compliance, management effectiveness and other resources, training and education on human resources, employee benefits, compensation, data security and privacy, health care, insurance, and other key compliance, risk management, internal controls and other key operational concerns. If you find this of interest, you also be interested in exploring other Solutions Law Press, Inc. ™ tools, products, training and other resources here.
Other Helpful Resources & Other Information
If you found these updates of interest, you also be interested in one or more of the following other recent articles published in this electronic Solutions Law publications available for review here including:
If you or someone else you know would like to receive future updates about developments on these and other concerns, please be sure that we have your current contact information – including your preferred e-mail by creating or updating your profile at here.
For important information about this communication click here. THE FOLLOWING DISCLAIMER IS INCLUDED TO COMPLY WITH AND IN RESPONSE TO U.S. TREASURY DEPARTMENT CIRCULAR 230 REGULATIONS. ANY STATEMENTS CONTAINED HEREIN ARE NOT INTENDED OR WRITTEN BY THE WRITER TO BE USED, AND NOTHING CONTAINED HEREIN CAN BE USED BY YOU OR ANY OTHER PERSON, FOR THE PURPOSE OF (1) AVOIDING PENALTIES THAT MAY BE IMPOSED UNDER FEDERAL TAX LAW, OR (2) PROMOTING, MARKETING OR RECOMMENDING TO ANOTHER PARTY ANY TAX-RELATED TRANSACTION OR MATTER ADDRESSED HEREIN.
©2013 Cynthia Marcotte Stamer, P.C. Non-Exclusive License To Republish Granted To Solutions Law Press, Inc. All Other Rights Reserved.
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) today fined J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. $461 million for willfully violating the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) by failing to report suspicious transactions arising out of Bernard L. Madoff’s decades-long, multi-billion dollar fraudulent investment scheme. In consenting to the civil money penalty, JPMorgan admitted to the facts set forth by FinCEN and that its conduct violated the Bank Secrecy Act.
FinCEN’s anti-money laundering regulations require financial institutions to report transactions to FinCEN that the financial institution “knows, suspects, or has reason to suspect” are suspicious. Among other things, a transaction is “suspicious” if it involves funds derived from illegal activities, or is conducted to disguise the funds derived from illegal activities, and the financial institution knows of no reasonable explanation for the transaction. FinCEN then makes these suspicious activity reports available to law enforcement and regulators, such as the Securities and Exchange Commission, to pursue appropriate enforcement action.
In 2007, JPMorgan had concerns that BLM could be engaged in fraud that culminated in the identification of several “red flags” by 2008. These red flags included: (1) BLM’s investment performance appeared too good to be true; (2) BLM’s trading techniques and investment activity lacked expected transparency; (3) BLM used a small, unknown auditor; and (4) BLM repeatedly refused to provide full information to JPMorgan as part of its due diligence reviews. In the Fall of 2008, JPMorgan took steps to protect its own business interests yet failed to notify FinCEN of the same suspicious, potentially fraudulent, activities and failed to file any Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) with FinCEN as required by the BSA.
In October 2008, JPMorgan filed a SAR-equivalent with FinCEN’s counterpart in the United Kingdom, the Serious Organised Crime Agency, identifying their concerns about potential fraud. JPMorgan did not file a SAR with FinCEN until after Mr. Madoff’s arrest in December 2008. During the intervening time, JPMorgan redeemed approximately $275 million of its own investments from the BLM feeder funds, which in turn drew the funds out of BLM’s JPMorgan accounts in the United States. Mr. Madoff also drained billions of dollars out of BLM’s JPMorgan accounts during this time period. When Mr. Madoff was arrested on December 11, 2008, JPMorgan booked a loss of approximately $40 million, substantially less than it would have lost but for its transactions in the Fall of 2008.
Workingwith the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), FinCEN has determined that the penalty for this misconduct will be $461 million, based on the suspicious transactions that flowed through Mr. Madoff’s primary account at JPMorgan during 2008. The OCC will collect a $350 million fine. SDNY will collect $1.7 billion through asset forfeiture and has stated that the funds collected will be contributed to the recovery fund for Mr. Madoff’s victims. To ensure the maximum amount of money for the victims, FinCEN deemed its penalty satisfied by JPMorgan’s payment to SDNY. In total, JPMorgan has agreed to a combined collection amount of $2.05 billion.
FinCEN’s Enforcement Division, established in June 2013 is charged with seeking to protect the U.S. financial system from being exploited by illicit actors. Its efforts focus on compromised financial institutions and their officers, managers, and employees; compromised jurisdictions; and third party money launderers. The division has a broad array of enforcement authorities to target both domestic and foreign actors affecting the U.S. financial system.
Today’s civil monetary penalty is one of a growing list of sanctions and enforcement actions arising out of the massive investment scandle carried out by Madoff.
For Help or More Information
If you need help with human resources and internal controls, compliance and risk management, or other business and performance management concerns please contact the author of this update, Cynthia Marcotte Stamer.
A Board Certified Labor and Employment attorney, Fellow in the American Bar Association, Texas Bar Association and American College of Employee Benefit Council, Ms. Stamer is recognized, internationally, nationally and locally for her work for her extensive and creative knowledge and experience helping businesses and government manage people, process and risk.
Ms. Stamer continuously advises and assists employers, bankruptcy trustees, investors, creditors, government agencies and others to address a wide range of performance management and operational concerns. She also assists these and other organizations to investigate and address compliance, liability and operational crises and ongoing issues, as well as to design, reengineer, administer and defend their business, workforce, employee benefit plan and other operations and practice to deal wtih evolving legal, financial and other operational requirements. Her work includes more than 25 years of helping these and other clients prevent and solve problems and achieve other business goals and objectives.
A primary drafter of the Bolivian Social Security pension privatization law, Ms. Stamer also works extensively with management, service provider and other clients to shape, monitor and respond to legislative and regulatory developments and to deal with Congressional and state legislators, regulators, and enforcement officials on regulatory, investigatory or enforcement concerns.
Recognized in Who’s Who In American Professionals, Ms. Stamer’s experience includes 25 years extensive involvement helping businesses, employee benefit plans and their fiduciaries and others prevent, investigate and redress fraud and other misconduct concerns impacting their operations, funds and investments and other essential functions and liabilities.
Ms. Stamer serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of HR.com, Insurance Thought Leaders, Employee Benefits News, and in the leadership of many other other professional and civic organizations. She also is a widely published author and highly regarded speaker on these matters. Her insights on these and other matters appear in the Bureau of National Affairs, Spencer Publications, the Wall Street Journal, the Dallas Business Journal, the Houston Business Journal, Modern and many other national and local publications. You can learn more about Ms. Stamer and her experience, review some of her other training, speaking, publications and other resources, and register to receive future updates about developments on these and other concerns from Ms. Stamer here.
About Solutions Law Press, Inc.™
Solutions Law Press, Inc.™ provides business risk management, legal compliance, management effectiveness and other resources, training and education on human resources, employee benefits, compensation, data security and privacy, health care, insurance, and other key compliance, risk management, internal controls and other key operational concerns. If you find this of interest, you also be interested in exploring other Solutions Law Press, Inc. ™ tools, products, training and other resources here.
Other Helpful Resources & Other Information
If you found these updates of interest, you also be interested in one or more of the following other recent articles published in this electronic Solutions Law publications available for review here including:
If you or someone else you know would like to receive future updates about developments on these and other concerns, please be sure that we have your current contact information – including your preferred e-mail by creating or updating your profile at here.
For important information about this communication click here. THE FOLLOWING DISCLAIMER IS INCLUDED TO COMPLY WITH AND IN RESPONSE TO U.S. TREASURY DEPARTMENT CIRCULAR 230 REGULATIONS. ANY STATEMENTS CONTAINED HEREIN ARE NOT INTENDED OR WRITTEN BY THE WRITER TO BE USED, AND NOTHING CONTAINED HEREIN CAN BE USED BY YOU OR ANY OTHER PERSON, FOR THE PURPOSE OF (1) AVOIDING PENALTIES THAT MAY BE IMPOSED UNDER FEDERAL TAX LAW, OR (2) PROMOTING, MARKETING OR RECOMMENDING TO ANOTHER PARTY ANY TAX-RELATED TRANSACTION OR MATTER ADDRESSED HEREIN.
©2013 Cynthia Marcotte Stamer, P.C. Non-Exclusive License To Republish Granted To Solutions Law Press, Inc. All Other Rights Reserved.
Tax-exempt organizations that fail to file required returns on a timely basis risk losing their tax exemption under Section 6033(j) of the Internal Revenue Code (Code).
Revenue Procedure 2014-11 provides potential opportunities for reinstatement through timely and appropriate action. It sets forth the procedures for reinstating the tax-exempt status of organizations that have had their tax-exempt status automatically revoked under Code Section 6033(j) for failure to file required annual returns or notices for three consecutive years.
Revenue Procedure 2014-11 will appear in IRB 2014-3 dated January 13, 2014.
For Help or More Information
If you need help with human resources, risk management or operations, or other business and performance management concerns please contact the author of this update, Cynthia Marcotte Stamer.
A Fellow in the American College of Employee Benefit Council, immediate past Chair of the American Bar Association (ABA) RPTE Employee Benefits & Other Compensation Group and current Co-Chair of its Welfare Benefit Committee, Vice-Chair of the ABA TIPS Employee Benefits Committee, a council member of the ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits, and past Chair of the ABA Health Law Section Managed Care & Insurance Interest Group, Ms. Stamer is recognized, internationally, nationally and locally for her work as a board certified labor and employment attorney widely known for her extensive and creative knowledge and experience helping businesses and government manage people, process and risk.
Ms. Stamer continuously advises and assists employers, bankruptcy trustees, investors, creditors and others to address a wide range of performance management and operational concerns. She also assists these and other organizations to design, reengineer, administer and defend their business, workforce, employee benefit plan and other operations and practice to deal wtih evolving legal, financial and other operational requirements. Her work includes more than 25 years of helping these and other clients prevent and solve problems and achieve other business goals and objectives.
A primary drafter of the Bolivian Social Security pension privatization law, Ms. Stamer also works extensively with management, service provider and other clients to shape, monitor and respond to legislative and regulatory developments and to deal with Congressional and state legislators, regulators, and enforcement officials on regulatory, investigatory or enforcement concerns.
Recognized in Who’s Who In American Professionals and both an American Bar Association (ABA) and a State Bar of Texas Fellow, Ms. Stamer serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of Employee Benefits News, the editor and publisher of Solutions Law Press HR & Benefits Update and other Solutions Law Press Publications, and active in a multitude of other employee benefits, human resources and other professional and civic organizations. She also is a widely published author and highly regarded speaker on these matters. Her insights on these and other matters appear in the Bureau of National Affairs, Spencer Publications, the Wall Street Journal, the Dallas Business Journal, the Houston Business Journal, Modern and many other national and local publications. You can learn more about Ms. Stamer and her experience, review some of her other training, speaking, publications and other resources, and register to receive future updates about developments on these and other concerns from Ms. Stamer here.
About Solutions Law Press, Inc.™
Solutions Law Press, Inc.™ provides business risk management, legal compliance, management effectiveness and other resources, training and education on human resources, employee benefits, compensation, data security and privacy, health care, insurance, and other key compliance, risk management, internal controls and other key operational concerns. If you find this of interest, you also be interested in exploring other Solutions Law Press, Inc. ™ tools, products, training and other resources here.
Other Helpful Resources & Other Information
If you found these updates of interest, you also be interested in one or more of the following other recent articles published in this electronic Solutions Law publications available for review here including:
If you or someone else you know would like to receive future updates about developments on these and other concerns, please be sure that we have your current contact information – including your preferred e-mail by creating or updating your profile at here.
For important information about this communication click here. THE FOLLOWING DISCLAIMER IS INCLUDED TO COMPLY WITH AND IN RESPONSE TO U.S. TREASURY DEPARTMENT CIRCULAR 230 REGULATIONS. ANY STATEMENTS CONTAINED HEREIN ARE NOT INTENDED OR WRITTEN BY THE WRITER TO BE USED, AND NOTHING CONTAINED HEREIN CAN BE USED BY YOU OR ANY OTHER PERSON, FOR THE PURPOSE OF (1) AVOIDING PENALTIES THAT MAY BE IMPOSED UNDER FEDERAL TAX LAW, OR (2) PROMOTING, MARKETING OR RECOMMENDING TO ANOTHER PARTY ANY TAX-RELATED TRANSACTION OR MATTER ADDRESSED HEREIN.
©2013 Cynthia Marcotte Stamer, P.C. Non-Exclusive License To Republish Granted To Solutions Law Press, Inc. All Other Rights Reserved.
Financial institutions creating accounts and entering registration information on the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) FATCA registration website about certain steps that they will need to take on or after January 1, 2014 — as originally announced in IRS Notice 2013-43.
The entry of registration information is required by the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) Since March 2010, FATCA has targeted tax non-compliance by U.S. taxpayers with foreign accounts. Primarily it seeks to accomplish this by focusing on requiring reporting by U.S. taxpayers about certain foreign financial accounts and offshore assets by foreign financial institutions in financial accounts held by U.S. taxpayers or foreign entities in which U.S. taxpayers hold a substantial ownership interest.
The objective of FATCA is the reporting of foreign financial assets; withholding is the cost of not reporting.
Announcement 2014-1 reminds financial institutions to act to meet the requirements and also provides general information concerning anticipated publication dates of final qualified intermediary (QI), withholding foreign partnership (WP), and withholding foreign trust agreements (WT).
Announcement 2014-1 will be published in Internal Revenue Bulletin 2014-1 on Jan. 6, 2013.
For Help or More Information
If you need help with human resources, risk management or operations, or other business and performance management concerns please contact the author of this update, Cynthia Marcotte Stamer.
A Fellow in the American College of Employee Benefit Council, immediate past Chair of the American Bar Association (ABA) RPTE Employee Benefits & Other Compensation Group and current Co-Chair of its Welfare Benefit Committee, Vice-Chair of the ABA TIPS Employee Benefits Committee, a council member of the ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits, and past Chair of the ABA Health Law Section Managed Care & Insurance Interest Group, Ms. Stamer is recognized, internationally, nationally and locally for her work as a board certified labor and employment attorney widely known for her extensive and creative knowledge and experience helping businesses and government manage people, process and risk.
Ms. Stamer continuously advises and assists employers, bankruptcy trustees, investors, creditors and others to address a wide range of performance management and operational concerns. She also assists these and other organizations to design, reengineer, administer and defend their business, workforce, employee benefit plan and other operations and practice to deal wtih evolving legal, financial and other operational requirements. Her work includes more than 25 years of helping these and other clients prevent and solve problems and achieve other business goals and objectives.
A primary drafter of the Bolivian Social Security pension privatization law, Ms. Stamer also works extensively with management, service provider and other clients to shape, monitor and respond to legislative and regulatory developments and to deal with Congressional and state legislators, regulators, and enforcement officials on regulatory, investigatory or enforcement concerns.
Recognized in Who’s Who In American Professionals and both an American Bar Association (ABA) and a State Bar of Texas Fellow, Ms. Stamer serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of Employee Benefits News, the editor and publisher of Solutions Law Press HR & Benefits Update and other Solutions Law Press Publications, and active in a multitude of other employee benefits, human resources and other professional and civic organizations. She also is a widely published author and highly regarded speaker on these matters. Her insights on these and other matters appear in the Bureau of National Affairs, Spencer Publications, the Wall Street Journal, the Dallas Business Journal, the Houston Business Journal, Modern and many other national and local publications. You can learn more about Ms. Stamer and her experience, review some of her other training, speaking, publications and other resources, and register to receive future updates about developments on these and other concerns from Ms. Stamer here.
About Solutions Law Press, Inc.™
Solutions Law Press, Inc.™ provides business risk management, legal compliance, management effectiveness and other resources, training and education on human resources, employee benefits, compensation, data security and privacy, health care, insurance, and other key compliance, risk management, internal controls and other key operational concerns. If you find this of interest, you also be interested in exploring other Solutions Law Press, Inc. ™ tools, products, training and other resources here.
Other Helpful Resources & Other Information
If you found these updates of interest, you also be interested in one or more of the following other recent articles published in this electronic Solutions Law publications available for review here including:
If you or someone else you know would like to receive future updates about developments on these and other concerns, please be sure that we have your current contact information – including your preferred e-mail by creating or updating your profile at here.
For important information about this communication click here. THE FOLLOWING DISCLAIMER IS INCLUDED TO COMPLY WITH AND IN RESPONSE TO U.S. TREASURY DEPARTMENT CIRCULAR 230 REGULATIONS. ANY STATEMENTS CONTAINED HEREIN ARE NOT INTENDED OR WRITTEN BY THE WRITER TO BE USED, AND NOTHING CONTAINED HEREIN CAN BE USED BY YOU OR ANY OTHER PERSON, FOR THE PURPOSE OF (1) AVOIDING PENALTIES THAT MAY BE IMPOSED UNDER FEDERAL TAX LAW, OR (2) PROMOTING, MARKETING OR RECOMMENDING TO ANOTHER PARTY ANY TAX-RELATED TRANSACTION OR MATTER ADDRESSED HEREIN.
©2013 Cynthia Marcotte Stamer, P.C. Non-Exclusive License To Republish Granted To Solutions Law Press, Inc. All Other Rights Reserved.
Business leaders concerned about the cost of Obama Care’s pay or play penalties may want to consider supporting legislation pending in Congress that would raise the number of hours a worker must work to qualify as a “full-time employee” from 30 to 40 hours per week.
Businesses and workers concerned that the definition of “full-time” employment as 30 hours per week in the “pay-or-play” penalties of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (commonly referred to by the public as “Obamacare”) is hurting American workers may want to share their input on recently introduced legislation that would raise the number of hours an employee must work to qualify as “full-time” for purposes of the pay-or-pay penalty from 30 to 40 hours per week with members of the key Congressional Committees that will decide whether this legislation advances when Congress returns from its Summer vacation.
Growing concern about the costs and other implications of Obamacare are fueling renewed debate in Congress about the pay-or-play and other provisions of Obamacare. Only 57 days before enrollment in coverage slated to be available as an alternative to employer coverage beginning January 1, 2014 through new federally mandated health insurance exchanges is prompting renewed debate…
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New litigation against the former trustee and former investment service provider of four pension plans reminds employer or other employee benefit plan sponsors, business owners or management, investment advisors and others serving as fiduciaries or advisors of employee benefit plans of the need to ensure that employee benefit plans are only used for the benefit of participants and beneficiaries, and prudently and properly invested and administered. Businesses sponsoring plans and their leaders, as well as others serving as fiduciaries or investment advisors are cautioned that mishandling of plan assets or investments can create significant liability both for those who improperly handle plan responsibilities and the employer or other plan sponsor, business owner or management, and others who are involved in their selection, oversight and retention. Consequently, parties should ensure act prudently to ensure plan assets are only invested prudently and for the sole benefit of the plan and its members…
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The June 4, 2013 announcement of the Employee Benefit Security Administration (EBSA) provides a timely reminder to businesses sponsoring employee benefit plans, their owners and management, plan fiduciaries, banks, administrative service providers and other plan vendors, employee benefit plan and bankruptcy trustees, corporate receivers, creditors, and others looking to expedite the windup of abandoned 401(k), profit-sharing and other individual account pension plans of the challenges that can result when employee benefit plan responsibilities are mishandled when companies fail or experience other significant events, as well as the availability of tools to help mitigate or prevent these challenges through responsible proactive action.
Hidden Employee Benefit Exposures For Unwary Abound For Parties In Business Insolvency Or Other Transactions
A complex maze of ERISA, tax and other rulesmake, administration and termination of employee benefit plans a complicated matter. When the company sponsoring a plan experiences a significant workforce or other restructuring, becomes distressed, goes…
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A settlement announced May 16, 2013 reminds U.S. housing and other businesses of their growing exposure to disability discrimination claims.
Justice Department Nails Architects & Engineers For Disability Discrimination
On May 16, 2013, the Justice Department announced a $865,000 settlement with a group of nine architects and civil engineers involved in the design and construction of multifamily housing complexes in Mississippi, Louisiana and Tennessee.
The settlement resolves a lawsuit where the Justice Department charged that nine multifamily housing complexes with more than 800 units covered by the Fair Housing Act’s and Americans With Disabilities Act’s accessibility requirements were designed and built without required accessible features.
The Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in housing based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability and familial status. Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act requires, among other things, that public accommodations comply with specific requirements related to architectural standards to ensure accessible public and common use areas.
Under the settlement with Stephen G. Hill, Pickering Firm Inc. a/k/a Pickering Inc.; Larry Singleton d/b/a Singleton Hollomon Architects, H D Lang And Associates Inc.; Richard A. Barron, Architect, Shows, Dearman & Waits Inc.; Canizaro Cawthon Davis f/k/a Canizaro Trigiani Architects; Evans-Graves Engineers Inc. and J.V. Burkes & Associates Inc. the group of nine architects and civil engineers will pay a total of $865,000 to make the complexes for which they were responsible accessible to persons with disabilities. They will also pay $60,000 to compensate aggrieved persons harmed by the inaccessible housing alleged in the government’s lawsuit. The settlement also requires these defendants to undergo training on the Fair Housing Act and to provide periodic reports to the government.
A lawsuit against the the developer, builder or former owners of these properties, who are alleged to have violated not only the Fair Housing Act, but also the Americans with Disabilities Act, as not settled and continues.
The Justice Department’s announcement of the settlement warns others against engaging in similar discrimination. “Persons with disabilities are entitled to equal access to housing under the Fair Housing Act,” said Eric Halperin, Senior Counsel and Special Counsel for Fair Lending in the Civil Rights Division. “This settlement makes clear that the department takes seriously the accessibility requirements for multifamily housing.”
Disability Discrimination Enforcement Rising Against Housing & Other U.S. Businesses
Today’s settlement is the latest in a growing series of settlements and judgments obtained by the Justice Department against housing and other businesses for disability discrimination resulting from the heightened enforcement emphasis placed upon disability discrimination laws by the Obama Administration. Businesses and other organizations should heed the warnings these and other prosecutions provide and exercise special care to prepare to defend their actions against potential disability or other Civil Rights discrimination challenges.
All organizations, whether public or private need to ensure both that their organizations, their policies, and people in form and in action understand and comply with current disability and other nondiscrimination laws. When reviewing these responsibilities, many state and local governments and private businesses may need to update their understanding of current requirements. The scope and applicability of disability and various other federal nondiscrimination and other laws have been expanded or modified in recent years by statutory, regulatory or enforcement changes.
For Help Or More Information
If you need assistance in auditing or assessing, updating or defending your organization’s compliance, risk manage or other internal controls practices or actions, please contact the author of this update, attorney Cynthia Marcotte Stamer here or at (469) 767-8872.
Board Certified in Labor & Employment Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, management attorney and consultant Ms. Stamer is nationally and internationally recognized for more than 24 years of work helping employers and other management; employee benefit plans and their sponsors, administrators, fiduciaries; employee leasing, recruiting, staffing and other professional employment organizations; and others design, administer and defend innovative workforce, compensation, employee benefit and management policies and practices. Her experience includes extensive work helping employers implement, audit, manage and defend union-management relations, wage and hour, discrimination and other labor and employment laws, privacy and data security, internal investigation and discipline and other workforce and internal controls policies, procedures and actions. The Chair of the American Bar Association (ABA) RPTE Employee Benefits & Other Compensation Committee, a Council Representative on the ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits, Government Affairs Committee Legislative Chair for the Dallas Human Resources Management Association, and past Chair of the ABA Health Law Section Managed Care & Insurance Interest Group, Ms. Stamer works, publishes and speaks extensively on management, reengineering, investigations, human resources and workforce, employee benefits, compensation, internal controls and risk management, federal sentencing guideline and other enforcement resolution actions, and related matters. She also is recognized for her publications, industry leadership, workshops and presentations on these and other human resources concerns and regularly speaks and conducts training on these matters. Her insights on these and other matters appear in the Bureau of National Affairs, Spencer Publications, the Wall Street Journal, the Dallas Business Journal, the Houston Business Journal, and many other national and local publications. For additional information about Ms. Stamer and her experience or to access other publications by Ms. Stamer see here or contact Ms. Stamer directly.
About Solutions Law Press
Solutions Law Press™ provides business risk management, legal compliance, management effectiveness and other resources, training and education on human resources, employee benefits, data security and privacy, insurance, health care and other key compliance, risk management, internal controls and operational concerns. If you find this of interest, you also be interested reviewing some of our other Solutions Law Press resources at www.solutionslawpress.com.
If you or someone else you know would like to receive future updates about developments on these and other concerns, please be sure that we have your current contact information – including your preferred e-mail – by creating or updating your profile at here or e-mailing this information here.
©2011 Cynthia Marcotte Stamer. Non-exclusive right to republish granted to Solutions Law Press. All other rights reserved.
Fiduciaries, administrators, sponsors, advisors, trustees and others with involvement or responsibility for Employee Stock Option Plans (ESOPs) should review these rules and ensure that appropriate steps are taken to update their plan terms and practices to comply with new rules scheduled to be published in the Internal Revenue Bulletin on May 13, 2013 by the Internal Revenue Service on investment diversification.
Maintaining legally compliant and defensible arrangements for investing company stock in employee stock and other defined contribution employee benefit and deferred compensation plans continues to become increasingly complicated in the face of the expanding range of rules adopted by Congress and federal regulators looking to protect participants against stock drop and other actual or perceived abuse.
Among these tightening requirements are new rules announced in Notice 2013-17, which address the circumstances in which an ESOP that satisfied the diversification requirements of § 401(a)(28)(B)(i) by allowing distribution of a portion of a participant’s account has become subject to the diversification requirements of § 401(a)(35). Notice 2013-17 will be published in Internal Revenue Bulletin 2013-20 on May 13, 2013.
The new diversification rules are reflective of a host of new and proposed rules and enforcement positions that Congress and federal regulators have or are contemplating to address perceived abuses or risks arising from the investment or retention of company stock in employee benefit plans. Some of this new regulation arises from decline in retirement plan asset value that results from declines in stock value when the economy or a particular business suffers economic setbacks. Along with these economic concerns, other regulation seeks to safeguard participants and plans against Enron, Madoff or other activities by plan sponsors, investment advisors, executives or others that Congress or regulators perceive inappropriately put retirement and savings of workers at risk.
In response to Notice 2013-17 and other new rules, fiduciaries, administrators, sponsors, advisors, trustees and others with involvement or responsibility for ESOP should review these rules and ensure that appropriate steps are taken to update their plan terms and practices to comply with this new guidance. In conjunction with this review, most also will find advisable to review the adequacy of their existing policies and plan terms about their program’s investments in company and other stock in light of evolving fiduciary responsibility and other investment rules and enforcement guidance of the Internal Revenue Service as well as the Department of Labor Employee Benefit Security Administration and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
If you have any questions or need help reviewing and updating your ESOP or other employee benefit plans, or with any other workforce management, employee benefits or compensation matters, please do not hesitate to contact the author of this update, Board Certified Labor and Employment Attorney and Management Consultant Cynthia Marcotte Stamer at 469.767.8872.
About The Author
Management attorney and consultant Cynthia Marcotte Stamer helps businesses, governments and associations solve problems, develop and implement strategies to manage people, processes, and regulatory exposures to meet their business and operational goals and manage legal, operational and other risks. Board certified in labor and employment law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, with more than 25 years human resource, employee benefits and management experience, Ms. Stamer helps businesses manage their people-related risks and the performance of their internal and external workforce though appropriate human resources, employee benefit, worker’s compensation, insurance, outsourcing and risk management strategies domestically and internationally. Recognized in the International Who’s Who of Professionals and bearing the Martindale Hubble AV-Rating, Ms. Stamer also is a highly regarded author and speaker, who regularly conducts management and other training on a wide range of labor and employment, employee benefit, human resources, internal controls and other related risk management matters. Her writings frequently are published by the American Bar Association (ABA), Aspen Publishers, Bureau of National Affairs, the American Health Lawyers Association, SHRM, World At Work, Government Institutes, Inc., Atlantic Information Services, Employee Benefit News, and many others. For a listing of some of these publications and programs, see here. Her insights on human resources risk management matters also have been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, various publications of The Bureau of National Affairs and Aspen Publishing, the Dallas Morning News, Spencer Publications, Health Leaders, Business Insurance, the Dallas and Houston Business Journals and a host of other publications. Chair of the ABA RPTE Employee Benefit and Other Compensation Committee, a council member of the ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits, and the Legislative Chair of the Dallas Human Resources Management Association Government Affairs Committee, she also serves in leadership positions in many human resources, corporate compliance, and other professional and civic organizations. For more details about Ms. Stamer’s experience and other credentials, contact Ms. Stamer, information about workshops and other training, selected publications and other human resources related information, see here or contact Ms. Stamer via telephone at 469.767.8872 or via e-mail here.
Other Helpful Resources & Other Information
If you found these updates of interest, you also be interested in one or more of the following other recent articles published in this electronic Solutions Law publication available for review here including:
If you or someone else you know would like to receive future updates about developments on these and other concerns, please be sure that we have your current contact information – including your preferred e-mail- by creating or updating your profile at here.
For important information concerning this communication click here. If you do not wish to receive these updates in the future, send an e-mail with the word “Remove” in the Subject to support@solutionslawyer.net.
©2012 Cynthia Marcotte Stamer. Non-exclusive right to republish granted to Solutions Law Press, Inc. All other rights reserved.
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