On July 31, 2026, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the addition of 43 companies based in China to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) Entity List, bringing the total number of entities on the UFLPA Entity List to 187
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First-Ever HIPAA Enforcement Against Self-Funded Health Plans: What Employers Need to Know
On April 23, 2026, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) announced settlements with four health entities following investigations into ransomware breaches that exposed unsecured electronic protected health information (“ePHI”). While ransomware enforcement
Artificial Intelligence in Employee Benefits: Litigation, Tools, and Emerging Regulation
Artificial intelligence (“AI”) tools are increasingly being deployed across the employee benefits landscape: from claims administration and customer service to investment analysis and participant engagement. While these technologies promise efficiency and cost savings, recent litigation and regulatory activity underscore that
USTR Implements Tariffs in Section 301 Forced Labor Investigations
On July 23, 2026, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced in a Notice of Action its final action in the Section 301 investigation of 60 economies for “their failure to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on
What the Latest Federal IDR Process Data Means for Self-Insured Group Health Plans
The Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and the Treasury (Departments) recently released the Federal Independent Dispute Resolution (IDR) public use files (PUF) and supplemental tables for the third and fourth quarters of 2025, and the numbers should get
Trump Administration Imposes Section 338 Tariffs on Certain Imports from Canada
On July 20, 2026, President Donald Trump issued three Proclamations pursuant to Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930 imposing 50% tariffs on imports of certain Canadian goods. The Proclamations, “Imposing Additional Duties to Offset Canadian Discrimination Against
CIT Orders CBP to Process IEEPA Tariff Refunds for Phase 3 “Finally Liquidated” Entries
On July 17, 2026, U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) Senior Judge Richard Eaton, issued an order, which was made available today, directing U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to “reliquidate, without regard to IEEPA [the International Emergency Economic
What is Reasonable? Lessons in Pension Plan Actuarial Equivalence from Three Recent Cases
In less than three months, two federal courts of appeals have held that ERISA’s actuarial-equivalence requirement mandates reasonable actuarial assumptions, rather than assumptions that simply produce mathematically equivalent optional forms of benefits to the default form of payment. In Reichert
USTR Imposes 25% Section 301 Tariff on Certain Imports from Brazil
On July 15, 2026, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced that, pursuant to Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, it was imposing a 25% tariff on certain imports of Brazilian goods. The announcement came at
USTR Directs ITC to Launch Section 201 Investigation into Lamb Meat Imports
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (“USTR”) asked the U.S. International Trade Commission (“ITC”) on July 13, 2026, to launch a Section 201 global safeguard investigation into lamb meat imports after domestic sheep producers filed a petition last year