On March 27, 2020, President Trump signed the largest economic stimulus bill in US history: the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”). The CARES Act provides resources to support our health care system in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, cash and other forms of relief for individual citizen; loans and other assistance to small businesses; and assistance for certain hard-hit industries. Many of the changes affect or have implications for employee benefit programs and other aspects of employee compensation. In our blog entry from March 27, we provided a high level summary of the legislation as it affects executive compensation, retirement and health and welfare plans, and employment taxes. In the first of a series posted on Mayer Brown’s COVID-19 blog, we look at the provisions affecting health and welfare plans in more depth.
