PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Trends in Recordkeeper Consolidation and Due Diligence
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Exploring the Value of Qualified Default Investment Alternatives
The Form 5500: What All Employers and Plan Administrators Need to Know and How to Avoid Costly Fines
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Cautionary Tales for Preapproved Plan Documents
DOL Clarifies Timing of Lifetime Income Disclosures in Benefit Statements
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Payroll Integration for Plan Sponsors
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Plan Administrators’ 2020 Year-End Checklist
Cutting Costs With Employee Benefit Plans (Part 5 of 5) – Implementation
Cutting Costs With Employee Benefit Plans (Part 4 of 5) – Retirement Plan Costs
Cutting Costs With Employee Benefit Plans (Part 3 of 5) – Medical Benefit Costs
Cutting Costs With Employee Benefit Plans (Part 2 of 5) – Identifying Potential Targets
Cutting Costs With Employee Benefit Plans (Part 1 of 5) – Using Benefit Plans to Save Money
CARES Act – Retirement Plan Distributions and Loans: Troutman Sanders and Pepper Hamilton COVID-19 Issues for Employers Podcast Series
Blakes Continuity Podcast: COVID-19: The Regulatory Impact on Pensions
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Plan Administrators’ 2019 Year-End Checklist
On April 23, 2024, the United States Department of Labor (DOL) issued updates to the investment advice fiduciary regulation, formally called the “Retirement Security Rule” and generally referred to as the “DOL Fiduciary...more
It’s hard to believe that 2024 is well underway! That means it’s a perfect time to think about an issue that might get lost in the summertime and (dare I already say) year-end shuffles: fiduciary committees. ERISA imposes...more
Plan administrators should review actions to be taken before the end of 2023 and focus on what to expect for 2024. This checklist addresses plan amendments, notices and other considerations for qualified retirement plans,...more
With recent well-publicized data breaches impacting pension systems and their retirees nationally, as well as increased Department of Labor scrutiny surrounding cybersecurity policies and procedures implemented by ERISA...more
To help employers properly administer their 401(k) plans, in 2022, Foley & Lardner LLP is authoring a series of monthly “401(k) Compliance Check” newsletters. This article includes some tips for drafting a best-in- class...more
Nokia of America is one of the latest employers hit with a class-action lawsuit over the fees in its 401(k) plan....more
A participant in a 401(k), 403(b), or other account-style retirement plan may name a beneficiary to receive his or her account balance after the participant’s death. A recent case, Moore v. NCR Corp. Plan Admin. Comm. (USDC...more
As an ERISA attorney, my retainer agreements are pretty straight and clear. Governed by the laws that govern attorney behavior, I have no choice. Yet, Third Party Administrators (TPAs) don’t have guidelines to live by. ...more
In response to the deluge of ERISA class action breach of fiduciary duty claims, plan sponsors and fiduciaries have increasingly sought to compel individual arbitration of such claims pursuant to arbitration clauses in...more
In the News. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking to create a new category of “seasoned” qualified mortgages; the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Office of...more
A recent spate of lawsuits against large employers’ 401(k) retirement plans (a Plan) has refocused attention on the need for plan administrators to ensure that they are honoring their fiduciary duties and prudently managing...more
Years ago, a lot of financial advisors weren’t aware of their role as a retirement plan advisor when it came to handling their plan sponsor clients. Most advisors were mailing it in, pocketing the quarterly fee without...more
Retirement plans with more than 100 participants require a CPA audit for their Form 5500. However, small plans with less than 100 participants may sometimes require an audit. This often happens when more than 5% of the Plan’s...more
On Thursday, December 19, the Senate passed two spending bills to fund the government through September 30, 2020, one of which (H.R. 1865, the “Further Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2020” or the “Act”) contains the...more
Employers, plan sponsors, and plan administrators ring in the New Year with new recordkeeping and administrative challenges for 2020 and beyond. After much anticipation, on December 20, 2019, Pres. Donald Trump signed into...more
As we get ready for 2020 (and beyond) here are five hot employee benefits ideas to implement in order to make your employee benefit plan administration easier...more
Steering board members clear of being named plan fiduciaries is a start. Most board members don’t want to become 401(k) plan fiduciaries....more
As a 401(k) plan sponsor, you need to understand that an integral part of limiting your liability when participants are having plan enrollment/education meetings....more
A Plan Provider's Guide On How Not To Die (Sorry Lois). Get busy living or get busy dying. I started my own practice about 9 years ago because I was involuntarily liberated from my position as an associate at a...more
How 401(k) Plan Sponsors Should Deal With Plan Enrollment/Education Meetings. These meetings shouldn't be forgotten. Plan sponsors are constantly inundated by articles and plan providers talking about issues dealing...more
Chutzpah is nerve, shameless audacity. The best example of chutzpah is someone who kills their parents and asks the court for leniency because they’re an orphan. I’ve been in this business of ours for the past 20 plus...more
401(k) Options That Must Be Obligatory For Plan Sponsors. They need to be obligatory. Buying a car isn't easy because it's confusing with the different option packages and trims. Sometimes I jokingly ask whether a...more
New Year's Resolutions For 401(k) Plan Sponsors. Get off on the right foot for 2019. A New Year's resolution is a tradition in which a person resolves to change and undesired trait or behavior to either improve their...more
There are so many articles for plan sponsors (I’ve written quite a few) where they go on and on about what plan sponsors need for a successful 401(k) plan. Rather than go into a whole diatribe, here is a Reader’s Digest of...more
As an ERISA attorney, 3(16) plan administrator, and sponsor of several 401(k) plans that needed an audit completed by October 15th to file the Form 5500 on-time, I will have to say I’ve noticed a discrepancy among audit...more