“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
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
9/29/2023
/ 401k ,
Affordable Care Act ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) ,
Corporate Governance ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Gag Clauses ,
Health and Welfare Plans ,
Health Plan Sponsors ,
MHPAEA ,
NQTLs ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Retirement Plan ,
Risk Mitigation
One question that often comes up is whether an expense related to an ERISA plan can be paid with plan assets. The decision of whether to use ERISA plan assets to pay an expense is an ERISA fiduciary decision. With the recent...more
3/13/2023
/ 401k ,
Allowable Expenses ,
Audits ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Corporate Governance ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
IRS ,
New Guidance ,
Retirement Plan
The IRS has given plan sponsors more time to adopt some – but apparently not all – retirement plan amendments reflecting law changes in the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (SECURE Act), the...more
Fiduciaries of 401(k) plans and other retirement plans know that they must prudently monitor the investment options available to participants in the plan, but are they monitoring participants’ investments made through a...more
The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling this week in Hughes v. Northwestern University will do nothing to stem the rising tide of retirement plan fee litigation. But the ruling doesn’t mean fiduciary breach claims are more likely to...more
1/31/2022
/ 401k ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Class Action ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Excessive Fees ,
Fees ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Hughes v. Northwestern University ,
Retirement Plan ,
Retirement Plan Providers ,
SCOTUS
Plan sponsors of defined contribution plans such as 401(k) plans will soon have to provide participants with illustrations of just how much a participant’s account balance might produce on a monthly basis if converted to a...more
Last October, Brenda Berg posted a blog titled “I’m Just Waiting on an… End to the Extended ERISA Deadline Periods.” In that blog, Brenda explained that the IRS and DOL extended certain deadlines applicable to retirement...more
Early in the pandemic, the IRS and DOL issued a temporary rule (published May 4, 2020) extending certain deadlines applicable to retirement plans and health and welfare plans. (See Deadlines and Commitments: DOL and IRS...more
10/19/2020
/ COBRA ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Health and Welfare Plans ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
IRS ,
Popular ,
Public Health Emergency ,
Retirement Plan
The IRS has eased the restrictions on mid-year changes to safe harbor contributions, in response to the hardships caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Employers are generally not allowed to reduce or suspend safe harbor...more
Hardship Distributions. It is becoming clearer that COVID-19 may present serious financial difficulties for individuals and employees. Employers and plan administrators should expect to receive inquiries from participants...more
After being on the verge of enactment last spring but failing to pass, the SECURE Act is now law. The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 – the SECURE Act – was enacted on December 20, 2019 as...more
3/11/2020
/ 401k ,
457(b) Plans ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
New Rules ,
Required Minimum Distributions ,
Retirement Plan ,
SECURE Act ,
Summary Plan Description ,
TPAs
After being on the verge of enactment last spring but failing to pass, the SECURE Act will become law after all. Congress included the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (H.R. 1994) (the SECURE...more