The Daily Brief for Benefits Professionals
BenefitsWire
Health & Welfare Plans · June 13, 2026
Expert Analysis
International Compliance and Risk-Mitigation Heat Map (2026 Update)
“In 2022, Foley’s Government Enforcement Defense & Investigations Team first produced a set of interactive international compliance and risk-mitigation heat maps designed to provide an at-a-glance resource for identifying countries around the world that pose potential issues for multinational companies that conduct business in, trade with, or source materials from them.”
Foley & Lardner
Canada: Manitoba Establishes New Parental Attachment Leave and Restricts Employer-Required Sick Notes
“This new law amends the ESC to provide up to 16 weeks of unpaid attachment leave for employees following the placement of a child in the employee's care for adoption, or the arrival of a newborn child via surrogacy. Employees in Manitoba are eligible for this leave after working for the same employer for at least seven consecutive months and must provide notice to their employer at least four weeks before the day the leave is set to begin, unless the employee's circumstances require a shorter notice period.”
Littler
UnitedHealth, FTC reach proposed settlement in insulin case
“The FTC sued the "Big Three" PBMs — which jointly control about 80% of U.S. prescriptions — in 2024 for allegedly driving up the price of insulin through uncompetitive business practices, like steering patients toward higher cost medications to scoop up higher rebates from drug manufacturers. ... Express Scripts reached a deal with the FTC in early February.”
Healthcare Dive
Regulatory Action and Guidance
New Guidance on Expanded IRC Section 4960 Excise Tax: Proposed Regulations Coming Soon
“On June 5, 2026, the Treasury Department and IRS issued IRS Notice 2026-36 (the “Notice”), announcing that proposed regulations under IRC Section 4960 are imminent.”
Groom Law Group
Request for Information; Comprehensive Review of the Essential Health Benefits Framework and Typical Employer Plan Standard
“This site displays a prototype of a “Web 2.0” version of the daily Federal Register. It is not an official legal edition of the Federal Register, and does not replace the official print version or the official electronic version on GPO’s govinfo.”
Federal Register
CMS proposes permanent framework for Medicare drug price negotiations
“The Trump administration is floating a proposal to establish a permanent framework for the Medicare drug price negotiations, as enabled by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).”
FierceHealthcare
New Colorado Law on Demographic Reporting May Signal Larger Changes
“The new Colorado law states that employers "shall provide the EEO-1 data required" even if the federal EEO-1 reporting requirement is repealed or discontinued. This provision is timely in light of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's (EEOC) proposal to eliminate EEO-1 reporting.”
Ogletree Deakins
ERISA Litigation
Cherry-Picking Exec Pleads Guilty to Obstruction
“Leech willfully and intentionally gave false and misleading testimony to the SEC in an effort to obstruct an investigation into his fraudulent scheme to favor certain clients at the expense of others," said Deputy U.S. Attorney Sean Buckley in a statement.”
PLANADVISER
Judge trims $83M from record-breaking age bias penalty imposed on Liberty Mutual
“He noted that the jury heard extensive evidence of an on-site supervisor's bias against older, long-tenured employees, as well as how the supervisor persistently treated younger workers more favorably than their older peers. Additionally, "multiple witnesses corroborated [the supervisor's] pattern and practice of age discrimination," and the jury's award of noneconomic damages for emotional distress was not "so grossly disproportionate" as to be prejudicial, the judge held.”
HR Dive