The Daily Brief for Benefits Professionals
BenefitsWire
Health & Welfare Plans
July 22, 2026
— § —
11 items · ~4 min read
Top of the Brief
Electronic Disclosure by Group Health Plans Under ERISA"This proposed rule sets forth a new, additional safe harbor for group health plan administrators to use electronic media (e.g., email or web portal) to furnish documents and information to participants and beneficiaries of plans subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA)."
In this issue
Regulatory Action and Guidance (3) · Health & Welfare Plans (3) · Litigation (2) · General Benefits (3)
Regulatory Action and Guidance
3 itemsThe IRS released Revenue Procedure 2026-26, providing updated indexing adjustments for the premium tax credit applicable percentage table and the required contribution percentage for calendar year 2027. MORE >>
Source: IRS (Internal Revenue Bulletin)
"This proposed rule sets forth a new, additional safe harbor for group health plan administrators to use electronic media (e.g., email or web portal) to furnish documents and information to participants and beneficiaries of plans subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA)." MORE >>
Source: Federal Register
The FDA extended the comment period for its proposed Expedited Investigational New Drug pilot program, which aims to shorten the time from drug identification to first-in-human studies. MORE >>
Source: Federal Register
Health & Welfare Plans
3 items“Fidelity Investments projected on July 21 that people retiring in 2026 will spend an average of $185,000 on medical and healthcare costs in retirement. The annual Retiree Health Care Cost Estimate found a 65-year-old retiring this year can expect to spend up to 7.” MORE >>
Source: PLANSPONSOR
“Even when employers say, "It's OK not to be OK," employees are quietly asking themselves, "But is it really safe for me not to be OK here?" A recent poll from the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) found that stigma remains a significant barrier to workplace mental health conversations. One in three employees said sharing about their mental health could make them appear weak, while 41% said stigma and judgment make them uncomfortable discussing their struggles.” MORE >>
Source: Employee Benefit News
“United Health Care recently introduced a lifestyle spending account (LSA) for employers to offer flexibility to workers in an expanding market of health, wellness and lifestyle benefits, and to keep pace with companies increasingly exploring LSAs to meet the broadening wellness demands of their employees.” MORE >>
Source: Employee Benefit News
Litigation
2 items“The ERISA Industry Committee filed an amicus brief with the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals urging it to affirm the dismissal of a challenge to PepsiCo’s tobacco-surcharge wellness program, arguing that federal law requires employers to provide alternative compliance standards only for employees with qualifying medical conditions, not all tobacco users. The brief in Noel v. PepsiCo Inc. contends that the district court correctly dismissed plaintiff Krista Noel’s claim seeking retroactive reimbursement of tobacco surcharges after she completed a smoking cessation program.” MORE >>
Source: PLANSPONSOR
“The lawsuit follows a cease-and-desist request and argues Lilly is using “deceptive” ads to claim its GLP-1 products are broadly superior to Novo’s medicines. First published on Novo is arguing that Lilly’s advertisements for Zepbound and Mounjaro — the diabetes treatment that shares Zepbound’s active ingredient — are making purposefully deceptive comparisons. Those ads pit the highest injectable doses of Lilly’s medicines against the lower, original doses of Wegovy and Novo’s diabetes medicine Ozempic that were approved by U.S. regulators.” MORE >>
Source: Healthcare Dive
General Benefits
3 items[Litigation]
Tennessee Enacts Non-Compete Law: $70K Income Threshold and Rebuttable Presumptions on Duration“Tennessee House Bill 1034 was signed into law on May 7, 2026, and took effect July 1, 2026. The law introduces two significant changes to employment-based non-compete agreements. First, the law bars non-competes for employees earning below $70,000 annually. Second, it establishes statutory presumptions of reasonableness for non-compete duration. Under Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-1-211, non-compete agreements are prohibited for employees who earn less than $70,000 in “annualized compensation.” The statute defines the term “annualized compensation” broadly to include wages, salary, commissions, nondiscretionary bonuses, and other forms of remuneration. For hourly employees, annualized compensation is” MORE >>
Source: Foley & Lardner
[Litigation]
NLRB Advice Memo Concludes Noncompete Agreements Do Not Violate the National Labor Relations Act“In a recent advice memorandum, published on June 26, 2026, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Division of Advice departed from the former NLRB General Counsel’s 2023 position (taken during the Biden administration) that overbroad noncompete agreements may violate the Act because they purportedly chill employees from exercising their Section 7 rights. The Division of Advice was asked to opine whether noncompete agreements violated the Act, as alleged in charges filed by two former employees who began working for a competitor. The Division of Advice concluded that the noncompete agreements did not violate the Act, stating that the current “General Counsel is of the view that non-compete” MORE >>
Source: Foley & Lardner
[Regulatory Action and Guidance]
NJ Labor Department Clarifies Employers’ Obligations for Workers’ Job Protection Under Temporary Disability, Family Leave Insurance Laws“The New Jersey Department of Labor (NJDOL) clarified that based on amendments effective July 17, 2026, the New Jersey Temporary Disability Law provides eligible employees up to 26 weeks of job protection while employees are collecting Temporary Disability Insurance (TDI) benefits and up to 12 weeks of job protection while they are collecting Family Leave Insurance (FLI) benefits.” MORE >>
Source: JD Supra