News & Analysis as of

401k Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) Corporate Counsel

Littler

July is Still the New January! Littler’s Workplace Policy Institute’s Mid-Year Legislative Report

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Hot off the press – here is Littler’s mid-year report!  As federal regulators, states and cities continue to pass new workplace regulations through the calendar year, we summarize each state’s notable labor and employment law...more

Mintz

Texas Court Rules ESG Lawsuit Against Employer's 401(k) Plan Can Proceed

Mintz on

Recently, a Texas federal court denied the defendants' motion to dismiss in a lawsuit featuring allegations that an employer's 401(k) plan, which allegedly relied on ESG principles when making investments, violated ERISA. ...more

ArentFox Schiff

Airline 401k Decision Illustrates Continued Takeoff of ESG Litigation

ArentFox Schiff on

A Texas federal judge recently permitted an environmental, social, and governance- (ESG) related Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) case filed by an airline pilot against his employer and its benefits plan to...more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

Coming to a Retirement Plan Near You in 2024 - Long-Term, Part-Time Employees

Beginning January 1, 2024, employers will be required to allow Long-term, part-time (LTPT) employees to make deferral contributions to qualified retirement plans that contain cash or deferred arrangements. Deferrals for LTPT...more

Groom Law Group, Chartered

Plaintiffs Target Use of 401(k) Plan Forfeitures

In the past month, plaintiffs have filed two separate lawsuits – Dimou v. Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. and Rodriguez v. Intuit, Inc – accusing plan fiduciaries of violating the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of...more

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP

Don’t Let Bank Uncertainty Delay Payroll: Considerations for Employers

With bank uncertainty making headlines, we answer employers’ most frequently asked questions about the consequences of payroll delays, strategies for mitigating risk and more. ...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

Wisconsin District Court Rulings Signal Potential New Trend Favoring the Defense of ERISA Fee and Investment Performance Lawsuits

In a striking reversal of approach beginning in the summer of 2022, the District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin went from denying, in whole or in part, virtually every motion to dismiss ERISA lawsuits targeting...more

Jackson Lewis P.C.

Failure to Identify Sound Comparisons Sinks ERISA Fee, Investment Claims in Eighth Circuit

Jackson Lewis P.C. on

Plaintiffs must plead a “sound basis for comparison—a meaningful benchmark” — to sustain their claims of imprudent investment and excessive fee against a 401(k) plan, the federal appeals court in St. Louis has held,...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

Eighth Circuit Joins Growing Number of Courts Rejecting Common ERISA Fee and Investment Claims

In Matousek v. MidAmerican Energy Co., 2022 WL 6880771, __ F.4th __ (8th Cir. 2022), the Eighth Circuit joined the Sixth and Seventh Circuits in affirming dismissal of ERISA breach of fiduciary duty claims alleging that the...more

McDermott Will & Emery

A Light in the Dark: Seventh Circuit Helps Clarify New Pleading Standards for 401(k) Fee Cases

McDermott Will & Emery on

A recent US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit case supplies answers to many questions left open in 401(k) fee litigation cases after the US Supreme Court’s ruling earlier this year in Hughes v. Northwestern University....more

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

ERISA Litigation Roundup: In the Aftermath of Hughes, Seventh Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Excessive Fee Lawsuit

On August 29, 2022, the Seventh Circuit decided Albert v. Oshkosh Corporation, affirming a district court’s dismissal of breach of fiduciary claims related to Oshkosh Corporation’s management of its 401(k) plan, and striking...more

Jackson Lewis P.C.

7th Circuit Ruling Sheds Light Into the post-Hughes 401(k) Litigation Era

Jackson Lewis P.C. on

Since the Supreme Court’s January ruling in Hughes v. Northwestern University, circuit courts throughout the country have issued varying rulings regarding 401(k) fee litigation cases. These include the Ninth Circuit in Trader...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Between A Rock and A Hard Place... ESG Investments in 401(k) Plan Line-Ups

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on

Seyfarth Synopsis: The ever evolving landscape of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors and 401(k) plan investment options may have just become even more complicated....more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

Sixth Circuit Rejects Arbitration for Proposed Fiduciary Breach Class Action

The Sixth Circuit, in a matter of first impression for that Circuit, held an arbitration clause contained in an individual employment agreement did not apply to ERISA fiduciary breach claims brought on behalf of a defined...more

Miller Canfield

SECURE Act 2.0 Passes the House: Which Retirement Plan Rules Would Change?

Miller Canfield on

Key Takeaways - ..SECURE Act 2.0 passed the U.S. House of Representatives on March 29, 2022. ..SECURE Act 2.0 would make changes to employer-sponsored retirement plans to expand coverage and increase savings, as well as...more

Verrill

Thoughts on the DOL’s Proposed ESG Regulation

Verrill on

The latest installment in the regulatory back-and-forth over the investment of ERISA-governed retirement plan assets based on environmental, social, and corporate governance (“ESG”) factors arrived on October 14, 2021 in the...more

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

ERISA Litigation Roundup: Fifth Circuit Affirms Decision in Favor of American Airlines in Suit Over Plan Investment Alternative...

On July 19, 2021, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion in Ortiz v. American Airlines, upholding the dismissal of a class action lawsuit filed against American Airlines, the American Airlines Pension Asset...more

Jackson Lewis P.C.

Fifth Circuit: Plan Participants Lacked Standing To Bring ERISA Fiduciary Breach Claims

Jackson Lewis P.C. on

American Airlines, Inc. and its affiliated credit union recently defeated an appeal challenging a low-yield investment option in the airline’s 401(k) plan when the Fifth Circuit ruled that the plan participants lacked Article...more

Mintz - Employment Viewpoints

Khan v. PTC, Inc.—Three Important Lessons From An Otherwise Unremarkable 401(k) Fee Case

According to Bloomberg Law, class actions challenging 401(k) plan fees are increasing at a record pace. The underlying claims in these class action suits fall into predictable categories that are all too familiar: excessive...more

Groom Law Group, Chartered

Emerging Case Law Supports Forum-Selection Clauses in ERISA Plans

A recent decision by the Ninth Circuit upholds the enforceability of forum-selection clauses in ERISA plans. The case, In re Becker v. United States Dist. Court, No. 20-72805, 2021 WL 1219745 (9th Cir. Apr. 1, 2021), is in...more

Groom Law Group, Chartered

Is Data a Plan Asset: Another Court Says No

Last week marked a key development in the nascent and still evolving body of case law addressing the status of 401(k) plan participant data as an ERISA “plan asset.” On Tuesday, March 30, 2021, The U.S. District Court for...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

Ninth Circuit Enforces Forum Selection Clause in 401(k) Plan

On April 1, 2021, the Ninth Circuit became the third circuit court to conclude that a forum-selection clause in an ERISA 401(k) plan is enforceable. The Ninth Circuit thus denied a petition for mandamus seeking to overturn a...more

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

DOL Issues Guidance on Private Equity Investments in 401(k) Plans

The Department of Labor (DOL) recently issued guidance in the form of an Information Letter describing the process that plan fiduciaries should undertake in determining whether an investment fund having a private equity...more

Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete, LLP

A “Vaccine” For COVID-19 ERISA Litigation

ERISA litigation tends to spike when economic uncertainty or turmoil rises. Although many things contribute to this historically verifiable trend, it is easiest for employers to think about just two of them. First, an...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

Experience can mean a lot of things

I always talk about how plan sponsors need to work with experienced financial advisors, third party administration (TPA) firms, and ERISA attorneys on their plan needs. Like with reasonable fees, I believe that the term...more

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