Alden J. Bianchi
Member / Chair, Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Practice
+1.617.348.3057
Alden is a highly regarded employee benefits and executive compensation lawyer.
Alden is the Practice Group Leader of the firm’s Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Practice. He advises corporate, not-for-profit, governmental, and individual clients on a broad range of executive compensation and employee benefits issues, including qualified and non-qualified retirement plans, stock and stock-based compensation arrangements, ERISA fiduciary and prohibited transaction issues, benefit-related aspects of mergers and acquisitions, and health and welfare plans. He is nationally renowned for his advice on the Affordable Care Act's impact on employers. He represented the Romney administration in connection with the historic 2006 Massachusetts health care reform act. Alden has testified before the Senate Finance Committee on the subject of health care reform. His many published works include the Bloomberg/Bureau of National Affairs Health Care Reform Advisor, a comprehensive work on the impact of the Affordable Care Act on employers and employer-sponsored group health plans. He is also the current chair of the Bloomberg Tax Compensation Planning Journal Advisory Board.
Education
- Georgetown University (LLM)
- Boston University (LLM, Taxation)
- Suffolk University Law School (JD)
- Worcester Polytechnic Institute (BS)
Experience
- Served as counsel to a global staffing company on the US regulatory aspects of all of its worldwide stock compensation arrangements. Also advised the company on all US tax-qualified and non-qualified pension plans, welfare arrangements, and fringe benefit programs.
- Advised CitiGroup on all its U.S. employee welfare benefits programs, including compliance with the Affordable Care Act and a top-to-bottom review of their retiree health benefit plans.
- Advised the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on the correction of qualification failures under the Commonwealths’ public employee pension plans. The plans in issue have over $80 billion in assets and provide pension benefits to tens of thousands of current and former state employees.
- Serve as outside benefits counsel to a nationwide pharmacy on all matters relating to their benefit and compensation programs, in addition to representing the company in investigations before government agencies.
- Advised the ERISA Industry Committee on the Affordable Act and other welfare plan issues and to prepare comments to the Treasury Department on proposed regulations issued under the Affordable Care Act’s employer shared responsibility rules.
- Retained by Robert Half International to write a comprehensive explanation of the Affordable Care Act for RHI U.S. clients and prospects.
- Advised a large Massachusetts city on their transfer into a state-sponsored group health arrangement and PBM.
- Prepared a master ERISA compliance checklist for third-party-administration affiliate of a state-licensed health insurance issuer.
- Advise William Gallagher & Associates’s benefits brokers and consultants on pension and welfare issues and employment law matters.
- Served as outside benefits counsel to Protector Group on employee benefits issues with a focus on compliance with the Affordable Care Act.
- We serve as outside benefits council to PrideStaff on matters relating to compliance with the Affordable Care Act.
- Served as outside benefits counsel to Paradigm Health Plans on matters relating to compliance with the Affordable Care Act and matters relating to group health insurance products.
- Serve as outside benefits counsel to the American Staffing Association on benefits and employment matters, and in connection with impact of the Affordable Care Act on ASA members.
- Routinely advise a regional benefits consulting firm that provides advice to employers with various benefits-related issues.
- Represented a state Blue Cross Blue Shield organization on a top-to-bottom re-write of their ASO agreements for ERISA-covered plans.
Recognition & Awards
- Bloomberg BNA: 2015 Federal Tax Contributor of the Year for his article “Information Reporting Under the Affordable Care Act: I.R.C. §6055 and §6056,” which was featured in the Compensation Planning Journal
- Who’s Who Legal: Labour, Employment & Benefits (2016)
- Best Lawyers in America: Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law (1995 – 2018)
- Chambers USA: Nationwide – Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation (2010 – 2017)
- Chambers USA: Massachusetts (Band 1) – Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation (2006 – 2017)
- Included on the Massachusetts Super Lawyers: Employee Benefits/ERISA List (2006 – 2018)
- Who’s Who in American Law
- Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent
- Named as a JD Supra Top Author, Affordable Care Act (2017)
Involvement
- Fellow, American College of Employee Benefits Counsel
- Member, BNA Pension & Benefit Publications Advisory Board
Recent Insights
Viewpoints
News & Press
Alden Bianchi, Chair of Mintz’s Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Practice contributed this column discussing how it’s too soon to tell whether the decision in New York v. DOL is a battle in a larger war or the war itself.
Viewpoints
Association Health Plan Perspectives (Part 5): U.S. Department of Labor Issues FAQs in Support of “Pathway 1” Association Health Plans
June 3, 2019 | | By Alden Bianchi
In New York v. United States Dep’t of Labor [link to case], CV 18-1714 (D.D.C. Mar. 28, 2019), the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia invalidated final regulations issued by the U.S. Department Labor (DOL) on the subject of association health plans (AHPs). Entitled Definition of “Employer” under Section 3(5) of ERISA – Association Health Plans, the disputed regulations were issued in response to an Executive Order directing the DOL to expand AHP access by small employers and self-employed individuals. Among other things the regulations sought to allow small employers and self-employed individuals to gain access to group health plan coverage and benefits heretofore generally available only to large groups.
The Big Mistake Too Many Retirement Plan Fiduciary Committees are Making—And What to Do About It
May 3, 2019 | Blog | By Alden Bianchi
This post explains how to set up and monitor a retirement plan fiduciary committee in a manner that insulates the plan sponsor’s board and senior management from unnecessary fiduciary exposure.
Association Health Plan Perspectives (Part 4): Round One of The States vs. DOL Goes to the States
April 9, 2019 | | By Alden Bianchi
The battle over Association Health Plans (AHPs) is indisputably political, but it is being waged on legal terrain. On July 26, 2018, 11 states (New York, Massachusetts, California, Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington) and the District of Columbia filed a complaint in the U.S. Federal District Court for the District of Columbia seeking to invalidate a June 2018 U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) final regulation (the “Final Regulation”). The Final Regulation’s purpose is to expand access by small employers and self-employed individuals to AHPs by amending the definition of “employer” in Section 3(5) of ERISA. (We describe the prior law governing AHPs and explain the details of the Final Regulation in an article published by Bloomberg Tax, available here.) In New York v. United States Dep’t of Labor, CV 18-1714 (D.D.C. Mar. 28, 2019), United States District Judge John D. Bates sided with the States, concluding that the Final Regulation is an unreasonable interpretation of ERISA. This post explains the decision and explores its implications.
Interim Guidance Under §4960: Excise Taxes and Parachute Payments
April 5, 2019 | | By Alden Bianchi, Alexander Song
Mintz attorneys Alden Bianchi and Alexander Song recently published an article in the Bloomberg Tax - Compensation Planning Journal explaining the nuances of recent guidance from the IRS regarding Section 4960 of the tax code. Section 4960 was enacted in December 2017 and imposes an excise tax on the amount of remuneration in excess of $1 million, plus any excess parachute payment paid by an applicable tax-exempt organization to certain covered employees.
Agencies Propose Regulations Expanding Access to Health Reimbursement Arrangements
December 12, 2018 | Blog | By Alden Bianchi
Health Reimbursement Arrangements (or “HRAs”) are employer-funded, account-based group health plans, which are used to reimburse certain medical expenses incurred by eligible employees, their spouses, and their dependents. While participants can use HRA proceeds to pay for certain medical insurance premiums, current law prohibits employers from offering HRAs to their employees for the purpose of reimbursing the cost of individual health insurance policies. This is about to change. This post explains why.
Association Health Plan Perspectives (Part 3): Handicapping the Legal Challenge by State Attorneys General to the Final U.S. Department of Labor AHP Regulations
December 4, 2018 | Blog | By Alden Bianchi, Christopher E. Condeluci
In the last post in this series, we examined the regulatory response by certain states to the final regulations governing association health plans, which were issued by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) in June 2018. On July 26, 2018, 11 states (New York, Massachusetts, California, Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington) and the District of Columbia filed a complaint in the U.S. Federal District Court for the District of Columbia seeking to invalidate the final regulations. The case is State of New York et al. v. United States Department of Labor et al, Civ. Action 18-1747. This post scrutinizes the arguments set out in the states’ complaint and their brief filed this past August in support of their Motion for Summary Judgment, which lays out their legal arguments.
The New Massachusetts HIRD Form
November 2, 2018 | Blog | By Alden Bianchi
In January 2018, we reported that Massachusetts employers with six or more employees “will soon be required to prepare and file” a new health care reporting form (referred to as the “healthcare coverage form”). Soon has now arrived. The Massachusetts Department of Revenue (DOR) recently issued a set of FAQs that provides a detailed explanation of the new Health Insurance Responsibility Disclosure (HIRD) reporting requirement.
Association Health Plans: Benefits & Challenges
October 15, 2018 | Video | By Alden Bianchi
Alden Bianchi explains the benefits Association Health Plans (AHPs) provide to small employers as well as the concerns they raise for states regarding their impact on the markets.
Association Health Plan Perspectives (Part 2): The Look-Through Rule and the Limits of State Regulatory Power
October 2, 2018 | Blog | By Alden Bianchi, Christopher E. Condeluci
In a summary of the recently issued Association Health Plan (AHP) final regulations, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) rightly observed that AHPs are a species of multi-employer welfare arrangements, or MEWAs, that are subject to regulation under both federal and state laws. The insurance regulators in a handful of states have recently issued guidance that, in most cases, purports to prohibit AHPs from operating as “large group” plans. (The attached table summarizes and provides links to the guidance, state-by-state.) A common, though not universal, theme is that in no case may a collection of small employers be combined to form a large group. Certain states address collateral issues. Pennsylvania, for example, makes the further claim that in no case may a self-employed individual with no employees participate in an AHP. We think that the states have overreached. This post explains why.
The Massachusetts Division of Unemployment Assistance Issues Proposed Regulations Implementing EMAC Hardship Waivers
September 28, 2018 | Blog | By Alden Bianchi
Responding to widespread resistance—principally on the part of small businesses—to the increase in the Employer Medical Assistance Contribution (“EMAC”) contributions and the addition of an EMAC supplemental contribution, Massachusetts lawmakers amended the EMAC rules in 2017 to add hardship waiver provisions. (Click here for a summary of the EMAC rules.) The Massachusetts Division of Unemployment Assistance (DUA) recently issued a proposed regulation implementing the hardship waiver rules. This post examines those proposed regulations.
News & Press
District Court Invalidates Labor Department's 2018 Final Association Health Plan Rule
May 7, 2019 | Bloomberg Tax
Alden Bianchi, Chair of Mintz’s Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Practice contributed this column discussing how it’s too soon to tell whether the decision in New York v. DOL is a battle in a larger war or the war itself.
Mintz Recognized by Chambers USA 2019
April 26, 2019
Interim Guidance Under §4960: Excise Taxes and Parachute Payments
April 5, 2019 | Compensation Planning Journal
Enacted on December 22, 2017, the 2017 tax act (Pub. L. No. 115-97, §13602(a)) added §4960 to the Internal Revenue Code. This new section imposes an excise tax on the amount of ‘‘remuneration’’ in excess of $1 million, plus any ‘‘excess parachute payment’’ paid by an ‘‘applicable tax-exempt organization’’ to a ‘‘covered employee.’’ The Chair of Mintz’s Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Practice, Alden J. Bianchi, and associate Alexander K. Song, explore §4960 in this article, and conclude that from the perspective of the board or management of an ATEO, there is a lot not to like in §4960 and the IRS’s interpretation of the statute in the Notice.
Question of Authority at Heart of Labor Dept. Health Rule Case
July 30, 2018 | Bloomberg BNA Benefits & Executive Compensation News
This feature article discusses allegations that the Labor Department overstepped when it expanded a type of small business health option called an association health plan. Employment, Labor & Benefits Member Alden Bianchi is among the industry sources quoted in the piece.
Waiver sought for health plan fee
June 12, 2018 | Cape Cod Times
Member and Leader of the firm’s Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Practice Alden Bianchi provides commentary for this article discussing the impacts employers are facing of a supplemental fee for workers receiving insurance through MassHealth or the Health Connector.
Chambers USA 2018 Ranks Mintz Attorneys & Practices
May 03, 2018
Mintz partner and Massachusetts lawyer Julie Korostoff is one of 49 attorneys recognized as “Leaders in Their Fields” by the 2018 Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business guide. Chambers named Korostoff a “Recognized Practitioner” in Technology.
Dear Employer, You Could Owe the IRS Millions of Dollars
March 5, 2018 | Bloomberg BNA's Pension & Benefits Daily
Employment, Labor & Benefits Member Alden Bianchi is featured in this article providing commentary on the first round of estimates from the IRS that some employers are getting in terms of penalties they may owe for not providing health coverage to employees.
Individual Mandate Now Gone, G.O.P. Targets the One for Employers
January 14, 2018 | The New York Times
This article notes the steps being taking by Republicans taking aim at the mandate in the Affordable Care Act that employers offer coverage to employees – and the reaction by many employers who are supporting the efforts.
‘Skinny’ health plans confuse consumers
November 21, 2017 | NBC News
Alden Bianchi, a Member in Mintz’s Boston office, is quoted in an NBC News article covering the institution of new “skinny” or reduced-cost health care plans being newly offered to individuals struggling to meet the demands of paying for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.
ACA & Access to Birth Control (Audio)
November 14, 2017 | https://www.bloomberg.com/news/audio/2017-11-14/bloomberg-law-brief-aca-access-to-birth-control-audio Bloomberg Law Brief
Alden Bianchi, a Mintz Member, was interviewed for a Bloomberg Law podcast about a move made by the New York Attorney General to protect New Yorkers’ access to birth control, in response to the Trump administration allowing employers to deny women free birth control under the Affordable Care Act.
Anthem’s In-House Drug Plan: What Should Employers Expect?
October 24, 2017 | Bloomberg BNA
Mintz Member Alden Bianchi was quoted in a Bloomberg Law article on Anthem’s aim to have its own pharmacy benefit manager in 2020. This could allow more integrated medical and pharmacy benefits for employers, according to the article.
Best Lawyers named 85 Mintz attorneys to its 2018 list of The Best Lawyers in America. In addition, Mintz attorneys Matthew J. Gardella and Samuel M. Tony Starr were named “Lawyer of the Year” in their respective practice areas.
The Emerging Contours of the Rules Governing Wellness Programs
August 1, 2017 | The Practical Lawyer
Alden Bianchi, a Member in Mintz’s Boston office, authored an article in The Practical Lawyer on the evolving regulations placed on workplace wellness programs. Alden cites the impact these programs can have on holding down health care costs for employers.
Mintz Named Top Firm in Energy and Eleven Attorneys Featured in JD Supra’s 2017 Reader’s Choice Awards
March 20, 2017
JD Supra has recognized Mintz in its 2017 Reader’s Choice awards, highlighting the most widely read authors and articles over the past year. Eleven Mintz attorneys were named JD Supra Top Authors in four industries and Mintz was recognized as the Top Firm with readers in the Energy Industry.
Mintz Attorney Alden J. Bianchi Named Chair of Bloomberg BNA Compensation Planning Advisory Board
February 24, 2017
Alden J. Bianchi, Practice Group Leader of Mintz's Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Practice, has been named Chair of Bloomberg BNA’s Compensation Planning Advisory Board.
Eighty-Four Mintz Attorneys Named 2016 Massachusetts Super Lawyers and Rising Stars
October 18, 2016
Fifty-three Mintz attorneys have been named Massachusetts Super Lawyers for 2016 and thirty-one have been named Massachusetts Rising Stars. The findings will be published in the November 2016 issue of Boston Magazine and in a stand-alone magazine, New England Super Lawyers.
Best Lawyers named 73 Mintz attorneys to its 2017 list of The Best Lawyers in America. Mintz attorneys selected for inclusion in this year’s list span 44 practice areas.
Firm’s National Healthcare Practice, NY Corporate/M&A and Litigation: General Commercial Among Newest Rankings
Alden Bianchi, a Member in the Mintz Boston office, authored this Bloomberg BNA column discussing two new reporting requirements of particular interest to employers included in the Affordable Care Act’s amendment to the Internal Revenue Code (I.R.C.) of 1986.
Alden Bianchi, a Mintz Member and employee benefits lawyer, is quoted in this Inside Counsel article discussing the likelihood of the Affordable Care Act’s "Cadillac" tax implementation and its impact.
The 2015 Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business guide names 52 Mintz, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C. attorneys as “Leaders in Their Fields.”
Events
Speaker
Nov
7
2018
Boston Employment Law Summit
One Financial Center, Boston, MA
Speaker
Apr
19
2018
Mintz's Fourth Annual Employment Law Summit
New York, NY
Speaker
Sep
29
2016
The Future of Executive Compensation for Tax-Exempt Entities Webinar
Marsh & McLennan Agency
Webinar
Speaker
Apr
19
2016
American Staffing Association Annual Law Conference
American Staffing Association
Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, 201 Waterfront St., National Harbor, MD 20745
Panelist
Jan
30
2016
ABA Tax Section 2016 Midyear Meeting
American Bar Association
JW Marriott Los Angeles L.A. LIVE, 900 W Olympic Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90015-1328
Panelist
Jan
29
2016
ABA Tax Section 2016 Midyear Meeting
American Bar Association
JW Marriott Los Angeles L.A. LIVE 900 W Olympic Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90015-1328
Speaker
Jan
28
2016
Second Annual Employment Law Summit
The Princeton Club 14 West 43rd Street, New York, New York
Speaker
Oct
28
2015
American Staffing Association (ASA) Staffing World 2015
American Staffing Association (ASA)
Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center, 2800 Opryland Dr., Nashville, Tennessee
Speaker
Oct
8
2015
What You Need to Know About ERISA - A Comprehensive Overview
Bloomberg BNA
731 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY
Speaker
Oct
1
2015
The Affordable Care Act: What's Trending and What's Next
The TemPositions Group
20 Lexington Avenue, 21st Floor, New York, NY
Speaker
Sep
27
2015
Employee Benefits & Healthcare Congress
Employer Healthcare & Benefits Congress (EHBC)
Orange County Convention Center, 9800 International Drive, Orlando, FL
Speaker
May
13
2015
Speaker
Apr
29
2015
American Staffing Association Staffing Law Conference
American Staffing Association
Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, 201 Waterfront St, 20745, National Harbor, MD
Speaker
Apr
22
2015
The Year in Benefits: Insights from Leaders in the Benefits Field
The American Law Institute Continuing Legal Education Group
1250 Columbus Avenue, 94133 San Francisco, CA
Speaker
Apr
8
2015
The Year in Benefits: Insights from Leaders in the Benefits Field
The American Law Institute Continuing Legal Education Group
415 New Jersey Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20001, Washington, DC
Speaker
Mar
18
2015