In the wake of the horrific wildfires in Los Angeles (which are ongoing as of today), employees based in the Los Angeles area may have questions about available support from employer-sponsored 401(k) plan accounts and other...more
1/14/2025
/ 401k ,
California ,
COBRA ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Rights ,
Employees ,
Employment Policies ,
FEMA ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Natural Disasters ,
Retirement Plan ,
SECURE Act ,
Wildfires
The U.S. Departments of Labor, Treasury, and Health and Human Services proposed regulations last month that would expand group health plans' required coverage of preventive services and contraceptives.
Originally published...more
On April 23, 2024, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued final rules which expand what it means to provide fiduciary “investment advice” under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”) and...more
On April 3, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor (the “DOL”) published in the federal register a final amendment to Prohibited Transaction Class Exemption 84-14 (the “QPAM Exemption”) that makes considerable changes to the...more
4/17/2024
/ Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Criminal Convictions ,
Deferred Prosecution Agreements ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Exemptions ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Inflation Adjustments ,
Investment Management ,
Non-Prosecution Agreements ,
QPAM ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Willful Misconduct
The Departments of Labor, Treasury, and Health and Human Services (the “Departments”) recently issued guidance for group health plans outlining a “therapeutic equivalence” medical management technique for required preventive...more
The new “retirement security rule” package, issued by the U.S. Department of Labor (the “DOL”) on October 31, 2023, is the latest chapter in an almost 15-year effort by the DOL to amend the five-part test in its 1975...more
12/11/2023
/ Compliance ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Exemptions ,
Fiduciary Rule ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Investment ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Management ,
Investors ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Proposed Rules ,
Securities ,
Valuation
The new “retirement security rule” package, issued by the U.S. Department of Labor (the “DOL”) on October 31, 2023, is the latest chapter in an almost 15-year effort by the DOL to amend the five-part test in its 1975...more
11/28/2023
/ 401k ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary-Standards ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Investment ,
Investors ,
IRA Rollovers ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Proposed Rules ,
PTEs ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Responding to the “terrifying” reality that conflicted investment advice is costing retirement savers billions of dollars each year, on October 31, 2023, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued proposed rules representing its...more
11/1/2023
/ 401k ,
Comment Period ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
Investment ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Management ,
IRA Rollovers ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
Proposed Regulation ,
PTEs ,
Retirement
The Departments of Labor, Treasury, and Health and Human Services (the “Departments”) recently released guidance for group health plans on required preventive services coverage. The guidance was issued in response to a...more
4/26/2023
/ ACIP ,
Affordable Care Act ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Compliance ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
HDHP ,
HRSA ,
SBC ,
U.S. Treasury
Important Update: Based on informal comments from the U.S. Department of Labor, it appears that the tolling of benefit plan deadlines will end on July 10, 2023, as described in our earlier blog on this subject,...more
Earlier this week, the Departments of Labor, Treasury, and Health and Human Services (the “Departments”) jointly issued guidance confirming that most COVID-19-related benefit coverage mandates, as well as the special tolling...more
On February 23, 2023, the Departments of Labor, Treasury, and Health and Human Services (the “Departments”) issued new guidance (in the form of FAQs) implementing the No Surprises Act’s prohibition on “gag clauses” in...more
SECURE 2.0 includes significant changes for retirement plan sponsors and employers, as discussed in our prior blog posts. If you are looking for a short summary organized by effective date, we have prepared a “pocket guide”...more
As part of our ongoing series on SECURE 2.0, this post discusses three significant changes to corrections of common retirement plan errors: (1) New rules for correcting overpayments, (2) expansion of the Self-Correction...more
1/3/2023
/ Audits ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Defined Benefit Plans ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
EPCRS ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
New Rules ,
Overpayment ,
Retirement Plan ,
Safe Harbors ,
SECURE Act ,
Self-Correction Programs
The wait is over for SECURE 2.0, a long-awaited (and debated) package of retirement plan reforms. Today, Congress passed the “SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022” as part of the 2023 Consolidated Appropriations Act; President Biden is...more
12/26/2022
/ 401k ,
403(b) Plans ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Contribution Limits ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
New Legislation ,
Required Minimum Distributions ,
Retirement ,
Retirement Plan ,
Retirement Plan Providers ,
SECURE Act
A few short weeks ago we told you in a blog post that, with only four days’ notice, the Departments of Labor, Treasury, and HHS (the Departments) required that, starting January 15, 2022, group health plans cover FDA-approved...more
2/7/2022
/ Compensation & Benefits ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Cost-Sharing ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Fraud and Abuse ,
Health Insurance ,
Healthcare ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Medical Reimbursement ,
New Regulations ,
Over The Counter Drugs (OTC) ,
Safe Harbors ,
Virus Testing ,
Workplace Safety
Immediate Action Required -
As discussed in our prior posts, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (“ARP”) requires that plan administrators distribute new COBRA notices advising individuals of their possible rights to a...more
On May 21, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor (the “DOL”) finalized its proposed regulation expanding electronic delivery for retirement plan disclosures. On balance, the final regulation is generally consistent with the...more
Editor's Overview -
Happy New Year. We wrap-up 2019 with an article that reflects on significant developments in ERISA litigation during 2019, and takes a look at what's on the horizon for 2020. The courts (at all levels)...more
1/17/2020
/ 401k ,
Affordable Care Act ,
American Arbitration Association ,
Arbitration ,
Article III ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Best Practices ,
Breach of Duty ,
Cadillac Tax ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Individual Mandate ,
Intel Corp. Investment Policy Committee v. Sulyma ,
IRS ,
Loss Causation ,
Multiemployer Plan ,
Pleading Standards ,
Retirement Plan ,
SCOTUS ,
Standing ,
Thole v U.S. Bank ,
Venue
On October 23, 2019, the Department of Labor published a new proposed regulation that paves the way for “notice and access” electronic delivery of certain disclosures for retirement plans. The proposal is welcome news for...more
New regulations issued by the Departments of Labor, Treasury, and Health and Human Services (the “Departments”) have expanded the use of health reimbursement arrangements (“HRAs”), including permitting the use of HRAs to...more
8/12/2019
/ Affordable Care Act ,
COBRA ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Contributions ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Health Insurance ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Health Savings Accounts ,
HRA ,
New Regulations ,
U.S. Treasury
New regulations issued by the Departments of Labor, Treasury, and Health and Human Services have expanded the use of health reimbursement accounts (“HRAs”) by allowing reimbursements for individual market insurance premiums....more
7/16/2019
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
COBRA ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Final Rules ,
HRA ,
Safe Harbors ,
U.S. Treasury
Editor's Overview -
As the summer heats up, so too has the U.S. Supreme Court's docket for next term where it has already agreed to hear three ERISA cases and more may be in the works. On the docket already are ERISA...more
7/16/2019
/ 401k ,
Affordable Care Act ,
Anti-Assignment Clauses ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Certiorari ,
Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure ,
Final Rules ,
HRA ,
IBM ,
Retirement Plan ,
Roth IRA ,
SCOTUS ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Stock Drop Litigation
Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancements (SECURE) Act of 2019. To become law, the bill still needs to be passed by the Senate and signed by the President....more
5/30/2019
/ 401k ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Defined Benefit Plans ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Contributions ,
Part-Time Employees ,
Pending Legislation ,
Safe Harbors ,
Wage and Hour