Last week, the Supreme Court issued its anticipated ruling in the ERISA fiduciary-breach class action Hughes v. Northwestern. In its unanimous decision, the Court vacated the Seventh Circuit’s dismissal of the case and sent...more
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
The IRS recently issued Notice 2021-40, providing a one-year extension through June 30, 2022, of the temporary relief from the physical presence requirement for certain plan elections (including spousal consents) required to...more
President Biden signed an executive order on May 20 on climate-related financial risk that seeks to change the rules regarding the use of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investments in retirement plans. The order...more
6/11/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Climate Change ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
EBSA ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Executive Orders ,
Extensions ,
Fiduciary ,
Investment ,
Investment Adviser ,
Retirement Plan ,
Trump Administration
On May 4, 2021, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan granted in part and denied in part a motion to dismiss in a class action lawsuit regarding the adequate notice of the right to continued...more
On Friday January 8, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) published a final rule that provides multiemployer pension plans with additional methods to help calculate employer withdrawal liability. The rule includes...more
The U.S. Supreme Court handed down a decision on Thursday of last week that will impact state-level regulation of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) by holding that an Arkansas law regulating PBMs was not preempted by the...more
12/16/2020
/ Drug Pricing ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Health Insurance ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Pharmacies ,
Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) ,
Preemption ,
Prescription Drug Coverage ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Rutledge v Pharmaceutical Care Management Association ,
SCOTUS
When an ERISA plan delegates authority to the plan administrator to interpret the plan documents for benefit determinations, the plan administrator typically is entitled to a deferential standard of judicial review, and...more
On June 29, 2020, the IRS issued Notice 2020-52 addressing mid-year reductions and suspensions of contributions to Safe Harbor 401(k) and 403(b) plans. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Notice provides some temporary...more
On March 27, Congress enacted the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, a massive stimulus package in response to the global coronavirus pandemic. Section 2202 of the CARES Act provides certain...more
With most of the nation on lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many employers are in the unfortunate position of having to lay off workers or significantly reduce their hours. If these workers also lose employer-sponsored...more
After a delay of several months, Congress passed the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act, clearing the way for one of the most substantial pieces of retirement plan legislation in years to...more
12/20/2019
/ 401k ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Employee Benefits ,
Multiple Employer Plan (MEP) ,
New Legislation ,
Part-Time Employees ,
Penalties ,
Required Minimum Distributions ,
Retirement Plan ,
Safe Harbors ,
SECURE Act ,
Tax Credits
The American Arbitration Association (AAA) significantly altered its rules for multiemployer pension plan arbitrations after the Pension Benefit Guaranty Board (PBGC) and several public comments raised concerns about the...more
12/10/2019
/ Amended Rules ,
American Arbitration Association ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitrator Selection Disputes ,
Arbitrators ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Multiemployer Plan ,
PBGC ,
Pensions ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Withdrawal Liability
The withdrawal liability case of the year came to an anticlimactic end on Monday, September 16, 2019, as the Second Circuit docket sheet of New York Times Company v. Newspaper and Mail Deliverers' Publishers' Pension Fund...more