Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation: Getting Ready for 2024 - Health and Welfare Plan Developments — Special Edition Podcast
The Form 5500: What All Employers and Plan Administrators Need to Know and How to Avoid Costly Fines
Compliance and Your Business: Managing SCA Costs and Liability
Nuts and Bolts of SCA
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
COVID-19 Impact for Health & Welfare Plans (Troutman Sanders and Pepper Hamilton COVID-19 Issues for Employers Podcast Series)
by Becky Achten New guidance from the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) affirms that both sides—retirement plans and welfare plans—must take steps to secure participant data from cybercrime. In 2021 the...more
On Friday, September 6, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor confirmed that its cybersecurity guidance applies to all employee benefit plans, including health and welfare plans. In 2021, the DOL issued guidance providing best...more
Recent lawsuits filed against the group health plans of two large US employers underscore the importance of implementing formal welfare benefit plan governance structures that include fiduciary committees comparable to the...more
On the latest episode of Just Compensation, Lowenstein’s Darren Goodman, Megan Monson, and Jessica Kriegsfeld of the Executive Compensation, Employment and Benefits practice discuss how the structure of an M&A transaction...more
The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) regulates most private employee benefit retirement and welfare plans. This statute’s purview is vast; it governs employer-sponsored defined benefit and defined...more
For the past few years, we have encouraged plan sponsors to focus on matters of fiduciary governance for their health and welfare benefit plans (see our 2021 blog post). Yet many plan sponsors overlook the fact that the...more
As mentioned in our recent blog post, the recently filed class action lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson (Lewandowski v. Johnson & Johnson et. al., D.N.J., No. 1:24-cv-00671 (Feb. 5, 2024)) over alleged excessive prescription...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
The first complaint was filed in what is expected to be a wave of litigation alleging breach of fiduciary duty in selecting and monitoring welfare plan vendors. While the facts of this particular case may make it somewhat...more
The Department of Labor recently announced the 2024 inflation adjustments for ERISA-related penalties applicable to health and welfare and retirement plans. Applicable penalties increased for 2024 as follows...more
In the second episode of our three-part Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation podcast miniseries, hosts Lynne Wakefield and Lydia Parker discuss key health and welfare plan developments as we close out 2023 and head...more
This newsletter provides updates employers should be aware of heading into 2024, including an outline of the updated 2024 retirement and welfare plan limits, instructions related to the “gag order” attestation requirements...more
The Internal Revenue Service recently announced 2024 dollar limits for qualified retirement plans (including 401(k) plans), deferred compensation plans, and health and welfare plans. Adjustments to certain limits are based on...more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently announced the cost-of-living adjustments to the applicable dollar limits for various employer-sponsored retirement and welfare plans for 2024. Certain health and welfare plan limits...more
The time may have come to add a welfare plan committee to your company’s governance of employee benefit plans. New legal obligations and other developments impose fiduciary risks for welfare plans similar to what already...more
A recent opinion out of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit provides additional support for ERISA-governed severance plans to incorporate a “discretionary component” as a factor in determining eligibility for...more
The latest “Just Compensation” podcast features Megan Monson, Taryn E. Cannataro, and Jessica Kriegsfeld of Lowenstein’s Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation group describing some of the benefits-related considerations...more
On April 20, 2023, McDermott’s Alden Bianchi was a speaker at the ERISA Industry Committee’s 2023 Annual Spring Policy Conference, which was held at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. The panel in which he...more
In 2021, the US Department of Labor (DOL) issued cybersecurity guidance (the DOL Guidance) that sets out the DOL’s views on what processes fiduciaries of benefit plans regulated by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act...more
In late December of 2022, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 (the “Act”), which was part of the larger Securing a Strong Retirement Act, became law. Approximately ninety provisions in the Act affect qualified...more
Join us for our Annual Employee Benefits and Employment Law Seminar, covering the latest updates and practical insights on benefits, labor, and employment issues. Topics include: - SECURE 2.0 - ERISA Litigation...more
As widely reported, the president recently signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 (CAA 2023), a $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill, which contains significant provisions affecting employer-sponsored...more
Join partners from McDermott’s Employee Benefits team as they discuss the impact of the recently passed SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022. With over 90 changes to retirement plans and individual retirement accounts (IRAs), this webinar...more
Plan administrators should review actions to be taken before the end of 2022 and focus on what to expect for 2023. This checklist addresses plan amendments, notices and other considerations for qualified retirement plans,...more
The Department of Labor (DOL) recently removed one regulatory hurdle for public companies that maintain employee benefit plans subject to the Form 5500 requirement. Specifically, the DOL has relaxed the criteria for who...more