The Economic Innovation Group's updated analysis puts numbers on the coverage gap. About 76.2 million U.S. workers lack access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan, 61 million employed by an organization and 15 million self-employed. Nearly half of private-sector workers lack access, and 77 percent of private-sector part-timers. Only 37 percent of workers received any employer contribution in 2025, with a median of about $3,000. The gap tracks income more than any demographic measure. In the bottom tenth of household income, 88 percent of private-sector employees lack access; in the top tenth, 14 percent. For employers, these are the numbers behind the steady spread of state auto-enrollment mandates, which reach businesses that don't offer a plan of their own.

Marsh projects every key retirement plan limit will rise for 2027. The projections include a $25,500 deferral limit for 401(k), 403(b), and 457 plans, an $8,500 catch-up with $11,750 for ages 60 to 63, a $375,000 compensation limit, and a $75,000 cap on total annual additions to a defined contribution account. One number deserves payroll attention now. The wage threshold that requires catch-up contributions to be made on an after-tax Roth basis is projected to rise to $155,000, and an employee's 2026 wages against that threshold determine their 2027 treatment. The IRS usually announces official limits in late October or early November.

CMS has paused new agent and broker registrations for the federal ACA exchanges through February 1 and canceled coverage for more than 760,000 people it says were enrolled without authorization. New brokers make up 11 percent of the field but drew 30 percent of compliance terminations for the 2026 plan year, per the agency, which has sent termination notices to more than 200 agents and brokers since January. Existing agents must re-verify their identities, and a new HHS anti-fraud group will meet regularly. A trade group for insurance professionals calls the blanket freeze "a blunt and inappropriate response" that could thin broker capacity during open enrollment. Employers that reimburse workers for individual health insurance through an ICHRA should consider whether these changes affect the brokers their employees use. Workers who buy marketplace coverage should also check their enrollment status before open enrollment.

Proposed IRS rules would clarify how employers check whether dependent care benefits disproportionately favor highly paid employees, the first real testing guidance since these requirements took effect in 1981. One test requires average benefits for other participating employees to reach at least 55 percent of the average for highly compensated participants. Under the proposal, employees who receive no benefits wouldn't count in that calculation. Proskauer's example shows why that matters. A program where 11 highly compensated employees and 4 others each elect $7,500 passes this test, because the averages match. The proposal also sets criteria for who can be made eligible and would let employers correct certain failures by including amounts in income and reporting them on Form W-2. The proposed rule would apply to plan years beginning after final rules are published, though employers may rely on it now. Ask your testing provider what rules it's applying for 2026 and what would change if the proposal becomes final.

Employers with San Francisco headcount will be required to spend roughly 9 percent more on health care next year under the city's Health Care Security Ordinance, which sets a minimum amount employers must spend for each hour a covered employee works in the city. The 2027 rates are $4.49 an hour for employers with 100 or more workers worldwide and $2.99 for those with 20 to 99 (nonprofits, 50 to 99). The exemption threshold for managers and supervisors rises to $131,763 a year on January 1. The ordinance counts the whole worldwide workforce to determine coverage but charges only for San Francisco hours, and telecommuters outside the city currently don't trigger the expenditure. The annual report on compliance is due around April 30.

The comment period closed September 21 on the proposal to let group health plans deliver required notices electronically. As Hall Benefits Law explains, the optional safe harbor works by posting documents online and notifying participants where to find them, by email or through a web portal, mirroring what retirement plans have had since 2020, and anyone who prefers paper can opt out and receive paper copies. It would cover summary plan descriptions, summaries of benefits and coverage, COBRA notices, and HIPAA special-enrollment notices, among others. The website, which can be a mobile app, must keep documents up at least a year, be searchable, and let users print or save. One caution from Marsh's alert for sponsors planning ahead. A wrap document, a single document combining several benefit programs, may not fully qualify, because the safe harbor covers group health plan disclosures only.

The District of Columbia becomes the first jurisdiction to significantly cut paid family and medical leave benefits. For claims filed from October 1, 2026 through October 1, 2030, paid family leave under the Universal Paid Leave program drops from 12 weeks to 6, medical leave from 12 weeks to 10, and the weekly benefit cap falls from $1,190 to $1,100. Parental leave (12 weeks) and prenatal leave (2 weeks) are untouched, and the duration cuts sunset in 2030 while the lower benefit cap does not. The 0.75 percent employer payroll tax that funds the program stays where it is. Parallel emergency legislation makes October 1 the effective date even though congressional review of the permanent act runs into November. Employers with D.C. employees should update leave policies and post the new program notice before Thursday.

The county that includes Pittsburgh votes Monday on a scaled-back version of its paid parental leave mandate. After more than 1,500 comments, the Board of Health cut the proposed leave from 18 weeks to 12, capped the weekly benefit at $4,200, and narrowed coverage from all employers to those with 15 or more employees. Full-time employees would qualify after 180 continuous days. The revision also adds stillbirth as a qualifying event, lets FMLA leave run concurrently, and would raise the county's separate paid sick leave accrual to one hour per 30 worked, up to 72 hours a year. If the Board approves on September 28, the measure still needs the county council and the county executive.

A year-end checklist for companies that sponsor retirement plans and executive pay arrangements. On the plan side, amendments documenting optional SECURE and SECURE 2.0 changes already in operation are due December 31 for calendar-year plans, while required changes can have later deadlines. On the executive side, three items reward attention before year-end. Social Security and Medicare taxes on deferred compensation are generally owed when the pay vests, not when it is paid, so amounts that vested in 2026 need payroll taxes handled by December 31. Elections to defer pay earned in 2027 must also be made by December 31, with narrow exceptions. And documentary problems in deferred-compensation arrangements can often be corrected without penalty if caught before the amounts vest, which makes a year-end review worth scheduling. Public companies should also confirm that equity-plan share reserves will cover grants planned through 2028.

For tax-exempt organizations in related groups, "who is the employer" is a question with new stakes. Related nonprofits are treated as one employer when at least 80 percent of one organization's directors or trustees are representatives of, or removable by, the other. A management company that runs a nonprofit's operations on a continuing basis can also tie the organizations together under separate affiliated service group rules. Getting the answer right matters more now because Congress amended the excise tax on nonprofit executive compensation in 2025 to cover a broader group of employees, with the IRS's initial reading in Notice 2026-36. Because pay counts across related organizations, identifying the full group is the first step, and the same analysis drives combined plan testing and the reporting of related entities on Form 990.