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Fiduciary Duty Benefit Plan Sponsors Employee Benefits

Littler

Cybersecurity Considerations for Employers Sponsoring ERISA Plans

Littler on

In its most recent step to combat cybersecurity risks to employee benefit plans, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) clarified on September 6, 2024, that its guidance on cybersecurity applies to health and welfare plans as...more

Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck

Employee Benefits-Related Limits for 2025

This chart shows some of the annually adjusted dollar limits that impact employee benefits, as published by the Internal Revenue Service, the Social Security Administration and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation....more

Keating Muething & Klekamp PLL

Benefits Monthly Minute - October 2024

The October Monthly Minute highlights two recent retirement plan cases, one in which the court sides with the plan and emphasizes plan administrative review over specific investment results and another where plaintiffs are...more

Verrill

Final Mental Health Parity Rule Spells Compliance Changes

Verrill on

The long-anticipated final rule under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) was published on September 9, 2024. The MHPAEA prohibits group health plans that provide mental health and substance use...more

Jackson Lewis P.C.

Health Plan Hygiene Part 4 – Show Me the Money

Jackson Lewis P.C. on

Our “health plan hygiene” series has focused on steps that fiduciaries of employer-sponsored group health plans can take to ensure they meet their fiduciary responsibilities. This issue has been brought to the forefront...more

Epstein Becker & Green

#WorkforceWednesday®: New DOL Guidance - ERISA Plan Cybersecurity Update - Employment Law This Week®

Epstein Becker & Green on

This week, we’re interpreting the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) recently updated cybersecurity guidance for all employee benefit plans covered under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA): The DOL recently...more

Kelley Drye & Warren LLP

Colgate-Palmolive 401(k) Theft Case Settles on Undisclosed Terms, Leaving Open Questions

Many who work with defined contribution plan administrators and consult plan sponsors on their ERISA fiduciary duties have been carefully monitoring Disberry v. Employee Relations Committee of the Colgate-Palmolive Company...more

Verrill

Prepare for Cooler Weather, Annual Enrollment, and 2025

Verrill on

Summer is ending and fall is rapidly approaching. For employee benefit professionals with calendar-year health and welfare benefit plans that means preparing for annual enrollment and year-end compliance requirements. This...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

District Court Dismisses Challenge to Use of Plan Forfeitures

A federal district court recently granted a motion to dismiss claims that defined contribution plan fiduciaries breached their fiduciary duties of loyalty and prudence, and violated ERISA’s anti-inurement and prohibited...more

Verrill

Novel 401(k) Plan Lawsuits Over the Use of Forfeitures—Swinging for the Fences or Plausible Claims?

Verrill on

In our December 7, 2023 post, we noted five class action lawsuits, all filed by the same law firm within two months, in which 401(k) plan participants allege plan fiduciaries violated ERISA by using plan forfeitures to offset...more

Stinson - Benefits Notes Blog

DOL Settlements Remind Employers to Avoid Collecting Premiums Until Evidence of Insurability is Approved

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced two settlements with major insurance companies this month that highlight the importance of employers avoiding the collection of group life insurance premiums from employees until...more

Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP

DOL Final Rule 4.0 - Correcting the historical record

From the 2010 outset of its project to extend ERISA fiduciary status broadly to financial intermediaries, including insurance agents, the US Department of Labor (DOL) has consistently relied on the evolution of the private...more

Miller Canfield

DOL’s Latest Regulatory Package Expands Definition of Fiduciary

Miller Canfield on

The Department of Labor ("DOL") recently issued a regulatory package that includes a final rule updating ERISA's definition of an investment advice fiduciary and amending certain related prohibited transaction exemptions...more

Groom Law Group, Chartered

Is Your DC Plan Retirement Ready?

Participating in DC plans such as 401(k), 457, and 403(b) plans is the primary way most people save for retirement, and there is considerable sponsor and participant interest in making DC plans more effective at their primary...more

Bricker Graydon LLP

Too Little, Too Late? Plan Contribution Timing Requirements and How to Correct Delays

Bricker Graydon LLP on

One of the most basic duties of a defined contribution plan sponsor is to ensure that that there is no delay and participants’ salary deferral elections are correctly and timely deposited into the retirement plan. Not only is...more

Verrill

Health and Welfare Benefit Plan Fiduciary Governance in the Wake of the Johnson & Johnson Lawsuit

Verrill on

For the past few years, we have encouraged plan sponsors to focus on matters of fiduciary governance for their health and welfare benefit plans (see our 2021 blog post). Yet many plan sponsors overlook the fact that the...more

Dickinson Wright

Why Establish a Fiduciary Committee for Welfare Benefit Plans?

Dickinson Wright on

Many plan sponsors have read about the lawsuit filed against Johnson & Johnson alleging that it breached its fiduciary duties with regard to the prescription drug component of its group health plan, causing participants to...more

A&O Shearman

DOL Issues Final Rule Amending QPAM Exemption

A&O Shearman on

On April 3, 2024, the Department of Labor (DOL) released its final rule amending Prohibited Transaction Exemption 84-14 (PTE 84-14). PTE 84-14 exempts from ERISA’s prohibited transaction rules certain transactions between...more

Mayer Brown

Decision Alert: Northern District of Texas Expands Fiduciary Liability To Cover Non-ESG Fund Managers’ ESG-Related Conduct

Mayer Brown on

Case Name and Number: Spence v. American Airlines, Inc., et al., No. 4:23-cv-00552 - Introduction - On February 21, 2024, Judge Reed O’Connor in the Northern District of Texas (the “Court”) denied a motion to dismiss an...more

McGuireWoods LLP

Lessons From Wood Group’s Success in ERISA Defense Over Target-Date Funds

McGuireWoods LLP on

In a win for employee retirement plan sponsors and investment managers alike, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California recently ruled in favor of the defendants following a bench trial in a class action...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

The Duties Must Change For 401(k) Plan Sponsors

One of the major reasons that I started my law practice was my discontent with the way that midsized law firms ran. I think they were the worst-run businesses out there because they didn’t have the clientele to support such a...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

These Things You Can’t Afford To Neglect About Your 401(k) Plan

We all know from your health, that if you neglect certain things, it will hurt you later down the line. Whether it’s your heart or your teeth, neglecting important health issues is only going to make the situation worse. The...more

Morgan Lewis - ML Benefits

DOL Provides Guidance on Racial Equity Plan Supplier Program

The US Department of Labor (DOL) recently issued DOL Advisory Opinion 2023-01A, (Advisory Opinion) addressing racial equity and supplier diversity. The Advisory Opinion answered an inquiry about the application of ERISA’s...more

Dickinson Wright

Mastering Retirement Plan Forfeitures: A Deep Dive into IRS’s 2023 Proposals & Fiduciary Litigation Trends

Dickinson Wright on

When a participant terminates employment without being fully vested in their qualified retirement plan account, the non-vested portion of the account is a “forfeiture.” While forfeitures are a common element of most...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

Ninth Circuit: Changes to a Services Agreement Require Consideration of Indirect Compensation

A recent Ninth Circuit decision has generated considerable controversy amongst employee benefits practitioners by holding that plan fiduciaries engaged in prohibited transactions when they amended the plan’s existing...more

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