On Wednesday, September 30, 2015, the BABC of Greater Philadelphia presented a global mobility seminar at Duane Morris’ Philadelphia office. Attendees represented a diverse cross section of executives operating across various industry sectors. Duane Morris graciously hosted the breakfast meeting and Jonathan Segal, a Partner with the Firm in the Employment, Labor, Benefits and Immigration Practice Group, and the managing principal of the Duane Morris Institute (DMi), seamlessly led presenters through a discussion about the tax, healthcare benefits, and legal aspects of moving employees outside of their home offices.
Tim Lung, Partner in KPMG’s Global Mobility Services practice group provided a tax overview of US taxation, specifically for outbound expats and inbound inpats. He talked about different levels of tax and various tax developments. Tim also discussed global mobility trends, policies, types of assignments, and the integration with talent management strategies. Lastly, Tim directed people to KPMG’s Global Assignments Policies and Practices survey distributed during the event.
Jeffrey Walsh, a Senior New Business Manager in the Eastern Region for Cigna Global Health Benefits focused his presentation on trends in the healthcare space. Healthcare reform is top of mind for many US and Global HR directors, and Jeff explained how this reform has affected expatriates and business travelers. He also addressed the rise of corporate short term assignees and business travelers, and the increasing need for employers to cover them. Jeff provided insight about what businesses are doing with respect to their approaches to benefit offerings (centralization vs. regional approach) in terms offering benefits to their expatriates and business travelers. He also touched on compliance issues, US healthcare, and Obama Care.
Elena Cooper, Partner from Duane Morris London flew in for the seminar. Elena and Johnathan volleyed back and forth about the legal differences between UK and US employment law. Elena provided attendees with clear examples of how laws vary between the US and the UK. Both countries may speak the same language but the words used to describe or to refer to different scenarios, time frames, and levels of representation can be dramatically different. Their discussion included various legal differences between the US and the UK, which law applies, is there a double application, etc.
Each panelist could have spoken at much greater length about their area of expertise. Unfortunately the three main topics addressed during the seminar were limited due to the brief time frame of the program. CLE and CPE credits were offered. Speakers answered questions throughout the program and remained long after to speak individually with attendees.
Special thanks to sponsors: Cigna, Duane Morris LLP and KPMG LLP.
Click here for link to moderator and presenter bios.
