Below is a sample statement. Final Authority for Matters of Belief and Conduct
The statement of faith does not exhaust the extent of our beliefs. The Bible itself, as the inspired and infallible Word of God that speaks with final authority concerning truth, morality, and the proper conduct of mankind, is the sole and final source of all that we believe. For purposes of [the organization]’s faith, doctrine, practice, policy, and discipline, our [minister/executive committee/board of directors] is [the organization]’s final interpretive authority on the Bible’s meaning and application.
Footnote 1
Serbian E. Orthodox Diocese for U. S. of Am. & Canada v. Milivojevich, 426 U.S. 696, 710 (1976) (the First Amendment commands civil courts to refrain from resolving controversies over religious doctrine as well as disputes over “church polity and church administration”); id. at 713 (“religious controversies are not the proper subject of civil court inquiry”); Kedroff v. St. Nicholas Cathedral of Russian Orthodox Church in N. Am., 344 U.S. 94, 116–17 (1952) (civil courts prohibited from reviewing internal church disputes involving matters of faith, doctrine, church governance, and polity); Gunn v. Mariners Church, Inc., 2005 WL 1253953 at *2 (Cal. App. 2005) (courts “cannot undertake...a mission” of finding what is and is not “moral” or “sinful” within the beliefs of a particular church).
Qualified Small Employer Health Reimbursement
Arrangements Permitted, Beginning in 2017 Reprinted with Permission from Conner & Winters,
LLP.www.cwlaw.com
On December 13, 2016, President Obama signed the 21st Century Cures Act (“Act”) into law. The Act allows qualified small employers to offer a new type of health reimbursement arrangement (“HRA”) to help employees pay for their medical expenses, effective January 1, 2017.1
The new arrangement is called a “qualified
small employer health reimbursement arrangement” (or a “QSEHRA”). QSEHRAs will not be considered
“group health plans” under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“Affordable Care Act”), so market reform requirements will not apply to QSEHRAs.
Eligible qualified small employers will be allowed to pay or reimburse employees’ eligible medical care expenses through a QSEHRA on a pre-tax basis. Employers are eligible to offer a QSEHRA if they (i) are not applicable large employers as defined under the Affordable Care Act,2
and (ii) do not offer a group health plan to any of
their employees. A QSEHRA must meet the following requirements:
• All employees of the employer must be covered by the QSEH- RA, unless they have not completed 90 days of employment, are under the age of 25, are part-time or seasonal employ- ees, are covered under a collective bargaining agreement that does not provide for coverage under the QSEHRA, or are nonresident aliens with no U.S. source of income.
• The QSEHRA must be provided on the same terms to all eligible employees. An employee’s permitted benefit under the QSEHRA is allowed to vary in accordance with the variation in the price of an insurance policy in the relevant individual health insurance market, based on the age of the eligible employee and covered family members, or the number of family members of the eligible employee covered.
• The QSEHRA must be funded solely by the eligible employer; no employee salary reduction contributions are allowed.
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• The QSEHRA must provide for the payment of, or reimbursement of, eligible medical care expenses (as described in section 213(d) of the Internal Revenue Code) incurred by the eligible employee or the eligible employee’s family members (including premiums for individual health coverage), but only after the employee provides proof of health coverage or expense. The Act does not describe the types of proof that are considered acceptable.3
• The employer must ensure that, in 2017, annual payments or reimbursements from the QSEHRA to an eligible employee do not exceed $4,950 ($10,000 if family members are covered under the QSEHRA).4
If an
individual is not covered under a QSEHRA for the entire year, this dollar limitation is prorated for the number of months the individual is covered by the QSEHRA.
Notice requirement. An eligible employer funding a QSEHRA must provide an annual written notice to eligible employees not later than 90 days before the beginning of the year (or, in the case of an employee who is not eligible to participate in the QSEHRA as of the beginning of a year, the date on which the eligible employee is first eligible to participate in the QSEHRA). The Act also includes transition relief for 2017 under which an employer will not be treated as failing to provide a notice as long as the notice is provided no later than 90 days after enactment of the Act (that is, by March 16, 2017). The notice must contain the following information:
• The amount of the eligible employee’s permitted benefit5
under the QSEHRA for the year.
• A statement that the eligible employee should provide information regarding the amount of the employee’s permitted benefit to any health insurance exchange to which the employee applies for advance payment of a premium assistance tax credit.
• A statement that, if the employee is not covered under © 2017 by the Association of Christian Schools International
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