Notice2025-14745
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request; Notice of Special Enrollment Rights Under Group Health Plans
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
August 5, 2025
Issuing agencies
Labor Department
Abstract
The Department of Labor (DOL) is submitting this Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)-sponsored information collection request (ICR) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA). Public comments on the ICR are invited.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 148 (Tuesday, August 5, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 148 (Tuesday, August 5, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37569-37570]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-14745]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB
Review; Comment Request; Notice of Special Enrollment Rights Under
Group Health Plans
ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Labor (DOL) is submitting this Employee
Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)-sponsored information
collection request (ICR) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act
of 1995 (PRA). Public comments on the ICR are invited.
DATES: The OMB will consider all written comments that the agency
receives on or before September 4, 2025.
ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for the proposed
information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of
this notice to <a href="http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain">www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain</a>. Find this particular
information collection by selecting ``Currently under 30-day Review--
Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search function.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael Howell by telephone at 202-
693-6782, or by email at <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#98dcd7d4c7c8cad9c7c8cddad4d1dbd8fcf7f4b6fff7ee"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="3f7b7073606f6d7e606f6a7d73767c7f5b505311585049">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 701(f) of the Employee Retirement
Income Security Act (ERISA) provides special enrollment rights to
individuals who have previously declined health coverage offered to
them to enroll in health coverage upon the occurrence of specified
events, including when they lose other coverage, when employer
contributions to the cost of other coverage cease, and when they marry,
have a child or adopt a child (``special enrollment events''). Plans
and issuers are required to provide for 30-day special enrollment
periods following any of these events during which individuals who are
eligible but not enrolled have a right to enroll without being denied
enrollment or having to wait for a late enrollment opportunity (often
called ``open enrollment'').
A group health plan may require, as a pre-condition to having a
special enrollment right to enroll in group health coverage after
losing eligibility under other coverage, that an employee or
beneficiary who declines coverage provide the plan a written statement
declaring whether he or she is declining coverage because of having
other coverage. Failure to provide such a written statement can then be
treated as
[[Page 37570]]
eliminating the individual's right to special enrollment upon losing
eligibility for such other coverage. The regulations further establish
that the right to special enroll can be denied in such circumstances
only if employees are given notice of the requirement for a written
statement and the consequences of failing to provide the written
statement at the time an employee declines enrollment. As part of the
special enrollment notice, it must be given at or before the time the
employee is initially offered the opportunity to enroll.
This information collection request covers the requirement in the
implementing regulations under section 701(f) for a special enrollment
notice. This information collection implements the disclosure
obligation of a plan to inform all employees, at or before the time
they are initially offered the opportunity to enroll in the plan, of
the plan's special enrollment rules. The regulations require plans and
their issuers to provide all employees with a notice describing their
special enrollment rights, whether or not they enroll. For additional
substantive information about this ICR, see the related notice
published in the Federal Register on January 6, 2025 (90 FR 671).
Comments are invited on: (1) whether the collection of information
is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the
Department, including whether the information will have practical
utility; (2) the accuracy of the agency's estimates of the burden and
cost of the collection of information, including the validity of the
methodology and assumptions used; (3) ways to enhance the quality,
utility and clarity of the information collection; and (4) ways to
minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are
to respond, including the use of automated collection techniques or
other forms of information technology.
This information collection is subject to the PRA. A Federal agency
generally cannot conduct or sponsor a collection of information, and
the public is generally not required to respond to an information
collection, unless the OMB approves it and displays a currently valid
OMB Control Number. In addition, notwithstanding any other provisions
of law, no person shall generally be subject to penalty for failing to
comply with a collection of information that does not display a valid
OMB Control Number. See 5 CFR 1320.5(a) and 1320.6.
DOL seeks PRA authorization for this information collection for
three (3) years. OMB authorization for an ICR cannot be for more than
three (3) years without renewal. The DOL notes that information
collection requirements submitted to the OMB for existing ICRs receive
a month-to-month extension while they undergo review.
Agency: DOL-EBSA.
Title of Collection: Notice of Special Enrollment Rights under
Group Health Plans.
OMB Control Number: 1210-0101.
Affected Public: Private sector.
Total Estimated Number of Respondents: 2,588,300.
Total Estimated Number of Responses: 10,585,910.
Total Estimated Annual Time Burden: 0 hours.
Total Estimated Annual Other Costs Burden: $ 110,358.
(Authority: 44 U.S.C. 3507(a)(1)(D))
Michael Howell,
Senior Paperwork Reduction Act Analyst.
[FR Doc. 2025-14745 Filed 8-4-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-29-P
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