In Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and Relentless Inc. v Department of Commerce, the Supreme Court held that both the United States’ constitutional structure and the Administrative Procedure Act preclude a court from...more
The US Supreme Court heard arguments on January 17 in Relentless v. Department of Commerce and Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo. In both cases, a commercial herring fishing company challenged a regulatory requirement that...more
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
Since its effective date in February 2023, the Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) rule officially titled Prudence and Loyalty in Selecting Plan Investments and Exercising Shareholder Rights, and colloquially called the “ESG rule,”...more
The US District Court for the Southern District of New York recently ruled in favor of issuers of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) in a case that was a long-running challenge to the Employee Retirement Income...more
Much has been written, on ML BeneBits and elsewhere, about the US Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) so-called “ESG Rule” issued in November 2022 (the DOL Rule). The DOL Rule, in part, addressed the appropriate factors for an...more
While the Department of Labor’s environmental, social, and governance rule garnered a lot of attention in 2022, there are two other developments simmering that could have significant implications for ERISA plans and financial...more
The US Department of Labor released a final rule reframing how ERISA-regulated fiduciaries can consider environmental, social, and governance factors in retirement plan investment decision making....more
The US Department of Labor (DOL) released the Final ESG Rule on November 22, 2022, regulating the consideration of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors by fiduciaries of employee benefit plans subject to the...more
The US Department of Labor (DOL) published in the July 27, 2022, Federal Register a number of proposed changes to Prohibited Transaction Class Exemption (PTE) 84-14, the so-called “QPAM Exemption.” Investment managers of US...more
The Department of Labor (DOL) delivered a surprise holiday gift on December 21, 2021 to fiduciaries of participant-directed 401(k) plans subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), as...more
The US Department of Labor on October 14 published in the Federal Register a “Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Prudence and Loyalty in Selecting Plan Investments and Exercising Shareholder Rights.” The proposed rule, if...more
The US Department of Labor (DOL) released on Wednesday, October 13, a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Prudence and Loyalty in Selecting Plan Investments and Exercising Shareholder Rights (the proposed rule), which would...more
The Department of Labor (DOL) released on October 13, 2021, a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Prudence and Loyalty in Selecting Plan Investments and Exercising Shareholder Rights (Proposed Rule), which would amend a prior...more
We have recently seen a rise in the number of retirement plans exiting mutual funds in favor of collective investment trusts (CITs). Often the transition is simply a change in structure—that is, moving from the same...more
The US Department of Labor (DOL) has released its final rule on the application of ERISA fiduciary duties—specifically the duties of prudence and loyalty—to proxy voting and the exercise of shareholder rights. It takes effect...more
The US Department of Labor’s final ERISA regulation generally follows its proposal but without the focus on environmental, social, and governance investing. ...more
Keeping up the steady stream of new and proposed guidance coming from the US Department of Labor (DOL), the Employee Benefits Security Administration issued a proposed regulation on September 4, 2020 that would require...more
This White Paper highlights the legal and regulatory considerations in the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Hong Kong, and Singapore that asset managers and their institutional investor clients should...more
9/10/2020
/ Best Practices ,
Business Plans ,
Business Strategies ,
Capital Investments ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Investment Funds ,
Investment Management ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Sustainability
Like many of our clients, we have been anxiously awaiting guidance from regulators on pooled employer plans, which may enter the retirement plan marketplace as soon as January 1, 2021. ...more
Ever since defined contribution plans have come to dominate the retirement plan landscape, both plan sponsors and policymakers have grappled with how to help employees take a lifetime’s worth of savings and convert it into a...more
2/21/2020
/ 401k ,
403(b) Plans ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Defined Contribution Plans ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
New Legislation ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Required Minimum Distributions ,
Retirement ,
Retirement Plan ,
Safe Harbors ,
Section 204 ,
Section 404 ,
SECURE Act ,
Tax Planning ,
Tax Rates
A constantly evolving framework of laws governing how multinational businesses can contact customers to how nonprofits report business income to how overtime is calculated and paid will influence how companies do business...more
2/3/2020
/ #MeToo ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) ,
Commercial Real Estate Market ,
Consumer Privacy Rights ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Collection ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Employee Benefits ,
Energy Policy ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
FERC ,
Insurance Regulations ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
IRS ,
Japan ,
Long Term Care Insurance ,
NAIC ,
New Legislation ,
Opt-Outs ,
Personal Data ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Privacy Laws ,
Rate of Pay ,
Retirement Plan ,
Russia ,
SECURE Act ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State Labor Laws ,
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ,
Tax Exempt Entities ,
Tax Reform ,
White-Collar Exemptions
The SECURE Act—the most impactful retirement plan legislation since the Pension Protection Act of 2006—was included in the bipartisan spending bill signed by US President Donald Trump on December 20, 2019. The SECURE Act will...more
Enacted in 1974, ERISA celebrates its 45th birthday this year. A lot has changed in those 45 years. While ERISA has kept up with the changes at time, one area where ERISA has not stayed current is Section 404(b). Here we...more
Even with these victories, continuing risks remain for plan fiduciaries.
Over the last few months, there have been a significant number of court decisions ruling against plaintiffs alleging ERISA breach of fiduciary claims...more