PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - New IRS Guidance on SECURE 2.0 Act Student Loan Employer Contributions
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Understanding Lifetime Income Products
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Trends in Recordkeeper Consolidation and Due Diligence
Long-Term Part-Time Employee Eligibility Rules Now in Effect — Troutman Pepper Podcast
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - What the J&J Case Means for Plan Administrators
What Can A Tax Attorney Do For You? A Podcast With Janathan Allen
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Understanding Fees in Retirement Planning
The No Surprises Act: A Cost Saving Opportunity for Employer Plan Sponsors
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - ESG Investing by Retirement Plans
Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation: Getting Ready for 2024 – Top-Hat Plans — Special Edition Podcast
Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation: Getting Ready for 2024 - Health and Welfare Plan Developments — Special Edition Podcast
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Auto-Portability: A New Way to Keep Retirement Savings Growing
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - IRS 2024 Health Plan Affordability Threshold May Put Some at Risk
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - SECURE 2.0 Act Relief for Plan Corrections
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Partial Plan Terminations
Podcast Episode 189: Adding Context to Compliance and Color To Your Legal Practice
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - SECURE 2.0 Act - More Relief for Plan Administrators
The Burr Broadcast April 2023 - The Official End of COVID-19 Emergencies
#WorkforceWednesday: SECURE Act 2.0 - What 401(k) Plan Sponsors Need to Know - Employment Law This Week®
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Plan Administrators’ 2022 Year-End Checklist
The Secure 2.0 Act of 2022 authorizes numerous new provisions that employers can choose to include or exclude in the retirement plans they sponsor. Recently, retirement plan vendors (vendors) have been sending communications...more
Executive Summary - Many investment advisers and other financial institutions rely on the Department of Labor’s QPAM Exemption when providing services to, and transacting with, employer-sponsored retirement plans, individual...more
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
As a retirement plan provider and you’re in the business of retaining and recruiting new plan sponsor clients. Life can get in the way of things, so when it comes time to schedule meetings with plan sponsors who want you to...more
One of my pet peeves out there is when you give a list of complaints to a business or an organization and they give the proverbial “shrug of the shoulders.” The “proverbial shrug” is basically the business or the organization...more
How to determine whether a plan sponsor is paying way too much? Like Justice Potter Stewart would say, I know it when I see it. I have seen the information shown on Form 5500 or a fee disclosure form. Whether it’s the plan...more
Social media is one of the great tools that I needed to start my own ERISA practice. While my Twitter handle can attract some interaction with non-retirement folks, I’m always mindful of what I post and how I handle myself....more
As a 401(k) plan sponsor, you need to make sure that all your plan providers understand any ownership interests in other companies that you may have and make a determination whether those interests constitute a controlled...more
A plan sponsor was spared from a 403(b) lawsuit, but the advisor is still on the hook. Two plaintiffs filed a complaint in Texas federal court against their employer, Legacy Counseling Center, Inc. the plan’s manager,...more
Kwasi Kwarteng, the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the new UK government led by Prime Minister Liz Truss, presented his “Growth Plan 2022” to Parliament last Friday 23 September 2022. The Growth Plan 2022 outlines the UK...more
On June 29, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor (the Department) formally reinstated its “five-part test” for determining what constitutes “investment advice” under ERISA and Section 4975 of the Internal Revenue Code (the...more
Over the next year, the Department of Labor (DOL) will likely be issuing guidance in a number of areas that could impact asset managers and financial services companies. In this Bottom Line videocast, Carol McClarnon and...more
Companies in the medical and recreational marijuana industry continue to face an uphill battle for access to financial services. Although a number of states have legalized the medicinal and/or recreational use of marijuana,...more
I’m going to say something and that means J.D. Power will never sponsor one of my events, but those J.D. Power surveys on the best workplace plan providers are kind of worthless....more
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals’ rejection of the DOL’s Fiduciary rule reintroduces the 1975 five-factor fiduciary test and creates uncertainty for plan sponsors, plan fiduciaries and investment advisors. After years of...more
The landscape surrounding retirement plans maintained by institutions of higher education has been changing in recent years, although certain critical responsibilities that are imposed on plan sponsors have been in place...more
Since 2016, record keepers for large 401(k) plans have been defending litigation over investment advice provided by the Financial Engines investment advice algorithm. (This kind of arrangement is commonly referred to as...more
On March 15, 2018, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled, in a 2-to-1 decision, that the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) abused its authority and acted unreasonably in promulgating its 2016 fiduciary rule and...more
This updates our August 15 blog entry, which targeted employers who sponsor retirement or welfare plans and are concerned about their fiduciary liabilities for properly selecting service providers....more
On November 29, the Department of Labor (DOL) announced an extension to July 1, 2019, of the previously established deadline for transition relief from many provisions of the new fiduciary rule applicable to investment...more
On November 29, the US Department of Labor (DOL) finalized its 18-month extension of the transition period under the Best Interest Contract Exemption (the "BIC Exemption"). As described in Katten's earlier advisory,...more
By a notice published in the Federal Register on August 31, 2017, the Department of Labor proposed to extend from January 1, 2018, until July 1, 2019, the date for compliance with the full conditions in its new “investment...more
CAMPAIGN PROMISES AND THE FIDUCIARY FIGHT - President Elect Trump’s campaign website states that he intends to issue a moratorium on new regulations that are “not compelled by Congress or public safety.” His stated goal...more