News & Analysis as of

Retirement Plan Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) Recordkeeping Requirements

Morrison & Foerster LLP

Amendment To QPAM Exemption

The Department of Labor (DOL) recently issued a final amendment (“Final Amendment”) to Prohibited Transaction Exemption (PTE) 84-14, which is otherwise known as the “QPAM Exemption.” The QPAM Exemption is a prohibited...more

Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP

Dual registrant regulatory roundup - May 2024

Welcome to the Regulatory Roundup. Each month, Eversheds Sutherland Investment Services attorneys review significant regulatory developments (including notable rulemakings and guidance from securities regulators) from the...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

Fifth Circuit Reverses Dismissal of 401(k) Fees Claims

The Fifth Circuit recently reversed a district court’s dismissal of claims that the fiduciaries of a 401(k) plan breached the duty of prudence under ERISA by offering participants retail share classes instead of cheaper...more

Holland & Hart - The Benefits Dial

Just Because I’m Missing, Doesn’t Mean I’m Lost: Should Plan Sponsors Provide Data for the DOL’s Missing Participant Database?

“Missing participants” have long been a thorn in the side of plan sponsors and administrators, as they are owed a retirement benefit, but are unable to be found or unresponsive to plan communications. As a partial solution,...more

Latham & Watkins LLP

Raising the Bar: DOL’s Amendment Sets Higher Standards for QPAM Qualification

Latham & Watkins LLP on

The DOL’s final amendment to the QPAM Exemption sets forth more rigorous compliance requirements and expands the circumstances of ineligibility, potentially affecting the operations and compliance procedures of investment...more

Smith Gambrell Russell

Group Health Plan Fiduciaries May Now be a Target of Lawsuits for Excessive Fees

Smith Gambrell Russell on

History of 401(k) Plan Excessive Fee Cases. Once the Department of Labor’s participant fee disclosure rules for retirement plans became effective in 2012, the plaintiffs’ bar latched onto recordkeeping and investment fees...more

Holland & Knight LLP

Tenth Circuit Dismisses Claims Related to High-Cost Funds, High Recordkeeping Fees

Holland & Knight LLP on

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit issued its decision in Matney v. Barrick Gold of North America, et al. on Sept. 6, 2023, finding that participants in an employer-sponsored defined contribution retirement plan...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

Managed Accounts in 401(k) Plans: Their Value and Their Dangers

Dorsey & Whitney LLP on

A “managed account” is a discretionary portfolio management service that makes investment decisions for individual participants within the confines of a 401(k) plan and its fund options. This service is fundamentally...more

Verrill

Unanimous Supreme Court Overturns Court of Appeals in Northwestern University 403(b) Plans Excessive Fee Case

Verrill on

The United States Supreme Court has agreed with participants in two 403(b) plans sponsored by Northwestern University that their lawsuit, alleging that plan recordkeeping and investment fees were excessive, should not have...more

ArentFox Schiff

Supreme Court Set To Rule This Spring on ERISA Investment Fees, Affecting Over 150 Cases Around the Country

ArentFox Schiff on

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument to decide a circuit split and determine what ERISA requires of ERISA-governed pension plan fiduciaries with respect to investment fees and recordkeeping. A decision is expected in...more

Jackson Lewis P.C.

Supreme Court Struggles to Apply “Twiqbal” in Retirement Plan Fee Cases

Jackson Lewis P.C. on

Monday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Hughes v. Northwestern University, No. 19-1401, just one of about 150 similar class action suits filed around the country in the last few years. The case was brought by...more

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

Lessons Learned from Recent Fiduciary Victories

There is nothing a plan sponsor or ERISA fiduciary can do to prevent allegations of fiduciary breach; however, there are many things they can do to be prepared to rebut such claims. Unfortunately, because of “headline news,”...more

Morgan Lewis - ML Benefits

DOL ‘Encourages’ Retirement Plan Fiduciaries to Recoup Uncashed Checks from Prior Recordkeepers

The focus of the US Department of Labor (DOL) on missing participants and uncashed checks (discussed in our LawFlash DOL Guidance on Missing Participants Is No Longer Missing) recently began expanding into the area of...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

Tenth Circuit Addresses Damages for Excessive Recordkeeping Fee Claims

One of the multitude of recent cases challenging the recordkeeping fees of 401(k) plans recently made its way to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. Ramos v. Banner Health, No. 20-1231, — F.3d —- (10th Cir. June 11, 2021). ...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

Ascensus is acquired

One of the biggest consolidators in the third-party administration (TPA) business has found itself being acquired....more

Holland & Hart - The Benefits Dial

In the Darkness at the Edge of Town…Cybersecurity Guidance for Plan Participants, Record-Keepers, and Plan Sponsors From The EBSA

On April 14, 2021, the Employee Benefits Security Administration (“EBSA”) published guidance for plan sponsors, plan fiduciaries, record-keepers, and plan participants on best practices for maintaining cybersecurity. This is...more

Lowenstein Sandler LLP

Fiduciary Rule Prohibited Transaction Class Exemption Released By The DOL

Lowenstein Sandler LLP on

On December 15, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) released a final prohibited transaction class exemption for certain fiduciary investment advice actions. Issuance of the exemption is the latest in the tug of war of...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

Free record keeping and you

Several of the large bundled providers are offering free recordkeeping for parts of next year if plan sponsors switch over to them. It might be a gimmick, but it’s clever marketing. When they are large in the 401(k) business...more

Lowenstein Sandler LLP

U.S. Department Of Labor Proposes New (Simpler) Fiduciary Rule Exemption

Lowenstein Sandler LLP on

On June 29, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) again waded into the financial services standard of care waters, only this time, it is staying in the shallow end. The DOL’s proposed prohibited transaction exemption (Proposed...more

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

Best Practices for Plan Sponsors #12

Lessons Learned from Litigation (#4)—The Johns Hopkins Case - This is the twelfth in a series of articles about Best Practices for Plan Sponsors. To be clear, “best practices” are not the same as legal requirements....more

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

Best Practices for Plan Sponsors #11

This is the eleventh in a series of articles about Best Practices for Plan Sponsors. To be clear, “best practices” are not the same as legal requirements. Instead, they are about better ways to manage retirement plans. In...more

Proskauer Rose LLP

ERISA Newsletter - Third Quarter 2018

Proskauer Rose LLP on

Editor's Overview - In last quarter's Newsletter, we commented that all eyes were on President Trump's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court, as the outcome of the appointment process can have a significant impact on the...more

Foley & Lardner LLP

Emerging Private Fund Manager Guide for Raising Institutional Investor Capital

Foley & Lardner LLP on

Public and private pension plans, endowments, hedge funds and other institutional investors are investing trillions of dollars annually with alternative asset managers. Many of these fund managers are well-established with a...more

Dechert LLP

Navigating the DOL’s New Fiduciary Rules: A Game Plan for Broker-Dealers

Dechert LLP on

This OnPoint focuses on the new and amended fiduciary investment advice regulations issued by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and accompanying prohibited transaction exemptions (Final Rules), from the perspective of...more

Winstead PC

Might You Be Stumbling Into Being Subject to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Conflict of Interest Regulatory World?

Winstead PC on

The U. S. Department of Labor’s Conflict of Interest regulatory package (the “COI Rules”) reaches far more than traditional trustees named in retirement plan documents. Many financial advisors, tax advisors, investment...more

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