The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) regulates most private employee benefit retirement and welfare plans. This statute’s purview is vast; it governs employer-sponsored defined benefit and defined...more
A recent rash of class action lawsuits in California claim that using forfeitures to reduce future employer contributions to tax-qualified retirement plans runs afoul of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)....more
6/14/2024
/ Breach of Duty ,
Class Action ,
Employee Contributions ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Forfeiture ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Pensions ,
Retirement Plan ,
Tax Qualified Plans
High-stress, demanding retail positions where constant customer demands are front and center can leave employees feeling overwhelmed and burnt out, resulting in lower productivity and higher turnover for employers....more
Employees, especially those far from retirement, are sometimes hesitant to put money into their employer’s 401(k) plan, knowing that their money won’t be available to them if unexpected expenses arise. Congress and the Biden...more
We recently summarized the regulatory back and forth of the past few years relating to environmental, social, and corporate governance (“ESG”) factors and their impact on ERISA retirement plans and the fiduciaries that...more
Beginning as early as January 15, 2023, certain employers will need to ensure they are complying with the District of Columbia’s Transportation Benefits Equity Amendment Act of 2020, also known as the “Parking Cash Out Law.”...more
For those with an eye on ERISA and its fiduciary rules, the past few years have caused whiplash when it comes to environmental, social, and corporate governance (“ESG”) investments in retirement plans....more
On May 2, 2022, a draft opinion from the U.S. Supreme Court case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health was leaked to the press, and as a result the Court is expected to overturn Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey,...more
6/15/2022
/ Abortion ,
Affordable Care Act ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Health Savings Accounts ,
Mental Health Parity Rule ,
Planned Parenthood ,
Roe v Wade ,
SCOTUS
Just over a month ago, we wrote about the Department of Labor’s guidance on cryptocurrency as a 401(k) investment option, and the landscape has already shifted multiple times....more
It started sometime last year and, in hindsight, was inevitable. Clients with 401(k) plans and a crypto-savvy employee population began asking whether they could offer cryptocurrency as a plan investment option. In the...more
The U.S. House of Representatives has passed the Build Back Better Act (BBBA) (H.R. 5376) by a vote of 220–213. Supported by the Biden Administration and congressional Democrats, the controversial bill heads to the Senate for...more
11/30/2021
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Child Care ,
Clean Energy ,
Employee Contributions ,
Energy Storage ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Joe Biden ,
NLRA ,
OSHA ,
Popular ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Retirement Plan ,
Roth IRA ,
Solar Energy ,
Tax Credits
Just three weeks ago, we wrote that employers likely would not receive certain Affordable Care Act reporting relief to which they’ve become accustomed.
But in a welcome turn of events, the IRS just released proposed...more
As employers with 50 or more full-time (or full-time equivalent) employees are well aware, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (”ACA”) requires annual submission of Forms 1094-C and 1095-C with the Internal Revenue...more
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (“ARPA”) kept many practitioners busy this spring/summer.
Under one of ARPA’s most impactful provisions, employees who were involuntarily terminated or had their hours reduced (and...more
Every few years, the IRS enhances its popular correction program for qualified retirement plans (the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System, or EPCRS) to continue to encourage plan sponsors to correct any plan failures...more
As the IRS continues to churn out guidance on various forms of COVID-19 relief, this week is no exception with the release of Notice 2021-26. This Notice clarifies two key points relating to the tax treatment of dependent...more
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) is the latest federal COVID-19 relief bill, which the President signed into law March 11, 2021. ARPA includes new COBRA continuation coverage election, notice, and subsidy...more
3/12/2021
/ Affordable Care Act ,
American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 ,
Biden Administration ,
COBRA ,
Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Defined Benefit Plans ,
Dependent Care ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Flexible Savings Accounts (FSAs) ,
Full-Time Employees ,
Pensions ,
Popular ,
Relief Measures ,
Tax Credits
As COVID-19 continues its upheaval of nearly all aspects of life, retirement plan administration included (see some of our prior discussions here, here, here and here), the Internal Revenue Service recently issued guidance...more
We previously wrote about the Department of Labor’s proposed expansion of its safe harbor for electronic delivery of certain retirement plan disclosures required under ERISA. The wait is finally over, with publication of the...more
In this issue:
Has DOL Put Final Nail In Coffin of ‘Substantial Compliance’ Doctrine for Disability Claims? Analysis of the most recent revisions to the ERISA Claims Procedure regulations, asking whether the amendments...more
Penalties and fines for non-compliance with Washington, D.C.’s law requiring D.C. employers to offer commuter benefits to their D.C. employees will take effect beginning on November 14, 2019.
The law, which became...more
Long on the wish list of practitioners and plan sponsors alike, self-correction of certain common plan document issues and loan failures is finally an option under the Internal Revenue Service’s Employee Plans Compliance...more
As employers and their third-party administrators begin to wrap-up their Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) reporting for the 2018 tax year, we’ve started to receive questions about what comes next. As we...more
Benefit plan practitioners returned to their desks after the holidays to the surprising news that the Internal Revenue Service issued guidance that made sweeping changes to the user fees for the Internal Revenue Service’s...more
While helping employers craft severance packages, we have often cautioned that a well-meaning offer by an employer to subsidize a former employee’s COBRA coverage for a period of time can result in unintended consequences....more