Benefit plan sponsors sometimes send out Summary Plan Descriptions (SPDs) having given too little thought to the legal consequences. Two recent cases illustrate how an organization can end up in serious and costly litigation...more
While considering year-end tasks and planning for the upcoming year, qualified plan sponsors should think about whether they need to revise and/or reissue their summary plan descriptions (SPDs) in 2022....more
ERISA requires disclosure of certain plan documents to participants including a summary plan description, statements, and notices. The problem is what do you do with people who aren’t participants such as potential employees?...more
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued proposed regulations on October 23, 2019, providing for a new electronic-delivery safe harbor applicable to certain required disclosures for ERISA-governed retirement plans. Though...more
In proposed regulations released last week, the Department of Labor (DOL) finally put forward a revision of its long-outdated regulations on the electronic delivery of certain participant disclosures required under ERISA...more
The summary plan description (“SPD”) and disclosure regulations provided by the Department of Labor (“DOL”) are spread across six regulatory sections. They are voluminous....more
Most employers are familiar with the requirement to prepare and distribute a summary plan description (“SPD”). Many employers, however, assume that Department of Labor (“DOL”) disclosure requirements are consistent with the...more
There has been a surge of court decisions over the last year addressing fiduciary liability for welfare benefit plans under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). These lawsuits should prompt you to...more
• Administrators of employee benefit plans governed by ERISA should make sure now that the claims procedures contained in their affected benefit plans comply with new regulations applicable to disability benefits. • The...more
ERISA, as amended by the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (CHIPRA), requires employers to notify their employees of potential opportunities for group health plan premium assistance through...more
Generally speaking, many employers do not think about the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) when it comes to severance, whether at the front end, when employment agreements or policies are negotiated and...more
On October 23, 2015, the U.S. Departments of Labor (DOL), Health and Human Services (HHS), and Treasury issued frequently asked questions (FAQs) on the implementation of preventive care and wellness provisions of the...more
There has been an explosion of participant disclosure requirements for group health plans in recent years. While health care reform created some of these new requirements, many of them became effective years earlier. For busy...more
A federal court dismissed the plaintiffs’ claim to recover civil penalties for failure to provide plan documents requested by the plaintiffs. Boyd v. Sysco Corporation, No. 4:13-cv-00599 (D. S. C. September 3, 2015), provides...more