In the US, the relationship between employers and employees is heavily regulated by statute at both the state and federal level, and the provision of employee benefits is also highly regulated, primarily at the federal level....more
7/31/2024
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Chevron Deference ,
Chevron v NRDC ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Employee Benefits ,
Government Agencies ,
Judicial Authority ,
Loper Bright Enterprises v Raimondo ,
Regulatory Authority ,
SCOTUS ,
State Labor Laws ,
Statutory Interpretation
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
The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a final rule (Final Rule) on April 26, 2024 amending the privacy regulations (Privacy Rule) promulgated under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act...more
5/13/2024
/ Abortion ,
Covered Entities ,
Data Privacy ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ,
Final Rules ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
HIPAA Privacy Rule ,
Notice of Privacy Practices ,
Patient Privacy Rights ,
PHI ,
Reproductive Healthcare Issues
On April 23, 2024, the US Department of Labor (DOL) released its Final Rule 4.0 regarding ERISA fiduciary investment advice, including amended exemptions for conflicted investment advice.
Our initial analysis of the Final...more
5/10/2024
/ Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Rule ,
Final Rules ,
Insurance Industry ,
Investment ,
Investment Adviser ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
PTEs ,
Retirement Plan
On February 21, 2024, the IRS announced a new initiative to audit large corporate taxpayer use of corporate jets, as part of a larger initiative focused on tax compliance of large corporations and high-income taxpayers. The...more
The IRS released long-awaited guidance under the SECURE 2.0 Act on December 20, 2023. Notice 2024-2 (Notice) provides clarification of various provisions, including several optional features that plan sponsors have been...more
1/22/2024
/ 401k ,
403(b) Plans ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Distribution Rules ,
Employee Benefits ,
EPCRS ,
Incentive Compensation ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
New Guidance ,
Pension Plan Amendments ,
Retirement Plan ,
Roth IRA ,
SECURE Act
With 2023 drawing to a close, it is a good time for employers to consider any actions needed before year-end with respect to their benefit plans. We made a list, and we encourage plan sponsors to check it twice....more
The Department of Labor (DOL) recently advised that a program under which Citigroup Inc. (Citi) subsidizes investment management fees for its employee benefit plans’ diverse investment managers could be implemented without...more
The IRS has announced a two-year “administrative transition period” for plan sponsors to implement the SECURE 2.0 Act provision requiring higher-income employees to make retirement plan catch-up contributions as Roth...more
8/29/2023
/ 401k ,
403(b) Plans ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Comment Period ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Contributions ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
IRS ,
Relief Measures ,
Retirement Plan ,
Roth IRA ,
SECURE Act
The end of an era looms for employee benefits plans, as the Biden administration has announced the end of both the Public Health Emergency and the National Emergency periods on May 11, 2023. The two emergency periods were...more
On February 24, 2023, the IRS issued proposed regulations simplifying the use of forfeitures in qualified retirement plans, providing that forfeitures in defined contribution plans must be used by the end of the plan year...more
President Biden signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, on December 29, 2022, which includes the package of retirement plan legislation known as “SECURE 2.0.” SECURE 2.0 contains numerous significant changes for...more
On October 26, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) approved final rules (the Clawback Rules) requiring publicly traded companies to develop, implement and disclose policies providing for recovery, or...more
11/29/2022
/ Business Development Companies ,
Clawbacks ,
Corporate Officers ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Effective Date ,
Executive Compensation ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Reporting ,
Incentive Compensation ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Section 10D ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act
On October 14, 2021, the US Department of Labor (DOL) proposed changes to ERISA regulations that would again shift the analysis of consideration of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors in retirement plans...more
The IRS issued Notice 2022-53 on October 7, providing relief under the required minimum distribution (RMD) rules of Section 401(a)(9) of the Internal Revenue Code (Code). The Notice provides that excise taxes and tax...more
The IRS has extended the deadline for plan sponsors of qualified retirement plans and IRAs to make amendments under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) and the Taxpayer Certainty and...more
9/27/2022
/ 403(b) Plans ,
457(b) Plans ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
CARES Act ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
IRS ,
New Guidance ,
Plan Documents ,
Qualified Retirement Plans ,
Relief Measures ,
Required Minimum Distributions ,
Retirement Plan ,
SECURE Act ,
Time Extensions
In the guise of clarifications relating to criminal convictions and misconduct, the Department of Labor (DOL) has proposed major amendments to Prohibited Transaction Exemption (PTE) 84-14, also known as the QPAM exemption...more
8/11/2022
/ Affiliates ,
Comment Period ,
Corporate Restructuring ,
Criminal Convictions ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Exemptions ,
Foreign Affiliates ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
Proposed Amendments ,
QPAM ,
Real Party in Interest
The IRS has extended the deadline for adopting qualified retirement plan and IRA amendments to reflect changes made by the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (SECURE Act), the Bipartisan...more
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued Compliance Assistance Release No. 2022-01 on March 10, 2022, cautioning 401(k) plan fiduciaries to “exercise extreme care” before they allow participant investments in cryptocurrency...more
Health plans and insurers must generally cover over-the-counter COVID-19 tests under Frequency Asked Questions (FAQs) issued on January 10 by the Departments of Labor, Treasury and Health and Human Services (tri-agencies)....more
1/12/2022
/ Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Biden Administration ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Health Insurance ,
New Guidance ,
U.S. Treasury ,
Virus Testing ,
Workplace Safety
Since 1996, the US Department of Labor granted more than 1,200 individual exemptions from the ERISA prohibited transaction rules.
One of the distinctive features of ERISA is its prohibition, in ERISA section 406 as a...more
1/5/2022
/ 401k ,
403(b) Plans ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Exemptions ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
Reinsurance ,
Related Parties
On November 4, 2021, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced an “Emergency Temporary Standard” (ETS) on workplace safety and coronavirus. The ETS is in response to President Biden’s directive in...more
11/8/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Covered Employer ,
Employer Mandates ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Contractors ,
General Duty Clause ,
OSHA ,
Preemption ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Subcontractors ,
Temporary Regulations ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing ,
Workplace Safety
On October 14, 2021, the US Department of Labor (DOL) proposed changes to ERISA regulations that would again shift the analysis of consideration of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors in retirement plans...more
In Field Assistance Bulleting 2021-02, published on October 25, 2021, the US Department of Labor announced with respect to its Fiduciary Rule 3.0 that:
..The temporary ERISA enforcement policy for conflicted fiduciary...more
As businesses return to work after Labor Day 2021, a principal focus for companies that serve US retirement plans will be the impending December 20 enforcement date for the Labor Department’s (DOL) latest fiduciary guidance...more