On January 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled in Hughes v. Northwestern University that establishing and offering a broad range of investment options for a participant-directed retirement plan does not ensure...more
1/26/2022
/ 401k ,
403(b) Plans ,
Duty of Prudence ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Hughes v. Northwestern University ,
Investment Management ,
Plan Participants ,
Retirement Plan ,
Tibble v Edison Int
Last week, the U.S. Department of Labor (the "DOL") on December 21, 2021 issued a supplement (the “2021 Supplement”) to a June 2020 Information Letter (the "2020 Information Letter") that had addressed the possible use of...more
12/28/2021
/ 401k ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Financial Products ,
Information Letters ,
Investment ,
Investment Management ,
Private Equity ,
Retirement Plan
The U.S. Department of Labor (the “DOL”) on October 14, 2021, released a new Proposed Regulation (the “Proposed Regulation”) generally relating to the prudence and loyalty duties under the fiduciary rules of the Employee...more
Cybercrime increased exponentially in 2020 and into 2021, starting with the disruption caused by COVID-19 and the migration to a work from home environment. Phishing emails were up 35 times and ransom attacks were up 150...more
Overview The U.S. Department of Labor (the “DOL”) on December 15, 2020 issued a release (the “Release”) finalizing Prohibited Transaction Class Exemption (“PTCE”) 2020-2 (the “Final Exemption”) for retirement accounts...more
1/20/2021
/ Best Interest Standard ,
Biden Administration ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Fiduciary Rule ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Management ,
Regulation BI ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Retirement Plan ,
Rollover Equity
The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (the “Act”) was signed by the President on December 27, 2020, to provide additional COVID-related relief. The Act has a number of provisions that are relevant to retirement plans...more
Last week, the U.S. Department of Labor (the “DOL”) on December 15, 2020 issued a release (the “Release”) finalizing an important new initiative for retirement accounts (“Plans”) that are subject to the Employee Retirement...more
This OnPoint is the first in a series that will examine important trends and developments in class action litigation under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). Here, we look at the current litigation...more
11/20/2020
/ Article III ,
Breach of Duty ,
Class Action ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
ESOP ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
FIfth Third Bancorp v Dudenhoeffer ,
Intel Corp. Investment Policy Committee v. Sulyma ,
Investment Management ,
Retirement Plan ,
Standing ,
Stock Drop Litigation ,
Thole v U.S. Bank
The U.S. Department of Labor (the “DOL”) on October 30, 2020 released a final regulation (the “Final Regulation”) relating to the consideration of non-pecuniary factors by fiduciaries of employee benefit plans (“Plans”) that...more
The U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) on August 18, 2020, issued an interim final regulation (the “Regulation”) requiring the inclusion of lifetime income illustrations in the benefit statements provided to participants in...more
9/20/2020
/ 401k ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Comment Period ,
Defined Contribution Plans ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary ,
Interim Rule ,
Lifetime Income Disclosures ,
Limited Liability ,
Request For Information ,
Retirement Plan ,
SECURE Act
The U.S. Department of Labor (the “DOL”) on June 29, 2020 issued a release (the “Release”) proposing an important new initiative for retirement accounts (“Plans”) that are subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security...more
7/20/2020
/ 1975 Rule ,
Banks ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Brokers ,
Comment Period ,
Covered Transactions ,
Defined Contribution Plans ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Exemptions ,
Fiduciary Rule ,
Five-Part Test ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Insurance Industry ,
Investment Adviser ,
New Guidance ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
Proposed Rules ,
Public Comment ,
Regulation Best Interest ,
Retirement Plan ,
Rollover Equity
The Internal Revenue Service released Notice 2020-51 on June 23, 2020, which provides additional Coronavirus related guidance relating to the waiver of 2020 required minimum distributions (RMDs) under certain defined...more
7/11/2020
/ 401k ,
403(b) Plans ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
CARES Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Highly Compensated Employees ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
IRS ,
Popular ,
Required Minimum Distributions ,
Retirement Plan ,
Safe Harbors ,
SECURE Act
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on June 1, 2020 in Thole v. U.S. Bank that a participant in a defined benefit (“DB”) plan is constitutionally barred from bringing a fiduciary-breach (or similar) claim under the...more
6/11/2020
/ Article III ,
Breach of Duty ,
Defined Benefit Plans ,
Duty of Loyalty ,
Duty of Prudence ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Injury-in-Fact ,
Investment Adviser ,
Mismanagement ,
Pensions ,
Plan Participants ,
Retirement Plan ,
SCOTUS ,
Standing ,
Thole v U.S. Bank
The U.S. Department of Labor (the "DOL") this week, on June 4, 2020, issued an Information Letter (the "Letter") regarding the use of private equity ("PE") investments in investment options offered under participant-directed...more
A substantial portion of available global investment capital is held under private U.S. pension and other employee benefit plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”). At the same time, for...more
5/16/2020
/ Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Field Assistance Bulletins ,
Investment Management ,
Political Parties ,
Retirement Plan ,
Trump Administration
The Senate yesterday, March 25, 2020, passed by a vote of 96-0 the stimulus bill known as the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (the “Act”), which awaits the President's signature. It has been reported that...more
Under Section 413(2) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”), ERISA’s three-year statute of limitations for fiduciary breaches and certain other violations starts to run when “the plaintiff had actual...more
3/6/2020
/ Actual or Constructive Knowledge ,
Appeals ,
Breach of Duty ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Intel Corp. Investment Policy Committee v. Sulyma ,
Material Disclosures ,
Question of Fact ,
Reaffirmation ,
Retirement Plan ,
Retirement Plan Beneficiaries ,
Reversal ,
SCOTUS ,
Split of Authority ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Summary Judgment
The upcoming term of the U.S. Supreme Court is shaping up to be a busy one with respect to cases arising under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”). There have been other terms with multiple ERISA...more
10/16/2019
/ Actual or Constructive Knowledge ,
Appeals ,
Breach of Duty ,
Certiorari ,
Class Action ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Defined Benefit Plans ,
Duty of Prudence ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employee Stock Purchase Plans ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Intel Corp. Investment Policy Committee v. Sulyma ,
Investment Funds ,
Overfunded Plans ,
Pleadings ,
Retirement Plan ,
Retirement Plans Committee of IBM v Jander ,
SCOTUS ,
Split of Authority ,
Standard of Review ,
Standing ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Thole v U.S. Bank
The Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) issued final regulations, effective September 23, 2019 (the “Final Regulations”), that modify the hardship distribution rules for plans established under Section 401(k) of the Internal...more
10/4/2019
/ 401k ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Bipartisan Budget Act ,
Final Rules ,
Hardship Distributions ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Pension Protection Act of 2006 ,
Retirement Plan ,
Retirement Plan Providers ,
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
Fiduciary rule, we hardly knew ya. The death knell for the DOL’s amended rule appears to be sounding this week with the expected mandate from the Fifth Circuit effectuating the vacatur of the amended rule in the case of...more
5/9/2018
/ Amended Rules ,
Best Interest Contract Exemptions ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Chamber of Commerce ,
Collateralized Loan Obligations ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Rule ,
Investment Adviser ,
Retirement Plan ,
Risk Retention ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Vacated
On December 22, 2017, the tax reform bill, informally known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Act”), was signed by President Trump. As we noted in our prior OnPoint (available here) with respect to earlier versions of the...more
12/27/2017
/ 529 Plans ,
Affordable Care Act ,
Broker Commissions ,
CEOs ,
CFOs ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Executive Compensation ,
Individual Mandate ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
IRA Rollovers ,
Moving ,
Pay-for-Performance ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Restricted Stocks ,
Retirement Plan ,
Roth Conversions ,
Sales Commissions ,
Section 162(m) ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Student Loans ,
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ,
Tax Deferral ,
Tax Exempt Entities ,
Tax Reform
It has been a long and winding road for the amended fiduciary regulation (the "Regulation") of the U.S. Department of Labor (the "DOL") under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ("ERISA"). The highly...more
5/30/2017
/ Best Interest Contract Exemptions ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Delays ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Enforcement ,
Exemptions ,
Fiduciary Rule ,
Field Assistance Bulletins ,
Final Rules ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Investment Adviser ,
Obama Administration ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
Retirement Plan ,
Secretary of Labor ,
Trump Administration
The controversial new fiduciary regulation of the U.S. Department of Labor (the “DOL”), together with related new and amended “prohibited transaction” exemptions (collectively, the “Rule”), had been scheduled to become...more
At the end of last week, on March 10, 2017, the U.S. Department of Labor (the "DOL") issued Field Assistance Bulletin 2017-01 (the "FAB"). The FAB relates to the DOL's proposal, which was published in the Federal Register on...more
The U.S. Department of Labor (the “DOL”), on December 29, 2016, issued Interpretive Bulletin 2016-1 (“IB 2016-1”) under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ("ERISA") regarding the duties of fiduciaries under...more