We are often asked about the permissibility of excluding certain categories of employees from participating in an employer’s tax-qualified retirement plan. This post provides a high-level summary of what is and is not...more
On October 18, 2023, the Maine Retirement Savings Board adopted a final rule implementing Maine’s state-run retirement savings program, the Maine Retirement Investment Trust or MERIT. MERIT is intended to help employees who...more
11/6/2023
/ Covered Employees ,
Covered Employer ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Final Rules ,
New Legislation ,
Payroll Deductions ,
Registration Requirement ,
Regulatory Mandates ,
Retirement Plan ,
Savings Plans
The opportunity to self-correct mistakes in maintaining a retirement plan has been dramatically expanded by the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (“SECURE 2.0”); see our February 10 blog post for details. However, IRS interim guidance...more
This post summarizes the new distribution options, including penalty-free withdrawals, applicable to defined contribution plans under the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (“SECURE 2.0”) and provides a timeline of their effective dates....more
5/24/2023
/ 401k ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Distribution Rules ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
New Legislation ,
Plan Administrators ,
Required Minimum Distributions ,
Retirement ,
Retirement Plan ,
SECURE Act
As a matter of plan design, for purposes of matching contributions some 401(k) plans provide that a participant’s compensation for the entire plan year is taken into account (regardless of whether the participant makes...more
Last month, the IRS extended the deadline for retirement plan sponsors to adopt amendments necessary to comply with the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (the “SECURE Act”) and the Bipartisan...more
With the April 15 deadline for distributing excess elective deferrals fast approaching, this post summarizes the rules for correcting excess elective deferrals made to a 401(k) plan. In brief, excess elective deferrals not...more
This Client Advisory summarizes developments in the law governing employee benefit plans prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic. We explain what these developments mean for plan sponsors and highlight the need to adopt plan...more
8/19/2021
/ 401k ,
403(b) Plans ,
American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 ,
CARES Act ,
COBRA ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employer Mandates ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Executive Compensation ,
GINA ,
Health and Welfare Plans ,
IRS ,
Medicare ,
New Guidance ,
Paid Leave ,
Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Remote Working ,
Retirement Plan ,
Vaccinations
This post provides a high-level summary of the Department of Labor’s cybersecurity guidance issued in April and identifies actions retirement plan sponsors and other plan fiduciaries should consider taking now in light of the...more
This Client Advisory highlights important developments in the law governing employee benefit plans over the past year. It offers insight into what these developments mean for employers and plan sponsors and previews...more
12/18/2020
/ CARES Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Executive Compensation ,
Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) ,
Filing Deadlines ,
IRS ,
New Rules ,
Paid Leave ,
Retirement Plan ,
SECURE Act
In Thole v. U.S. Bank, a 5-4 Supreme Court decision issued on June 1, the Court held that retired participants in a defined benefit pension plan lack constitutional standing to sue the plan fiduciaries for alleged breach of...more
6/16/2020
/ Article III ,
Breach of Duty ,
Defined Benefit Plans ,
Duty of Loyalty ,
Duty of Prudence ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Injury-in-Fact ,
Investment Adviser ,
Mismanagement ,
Pensions ,
Plan Participants ,
Retirement Plan ,
SCOTUS ,
Standing ,
Thole v U.S. Bank
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, signed into law on March 27, 2020, includes a number of provisions that affect retirement plan sponsors and participants. These provisions are designed to...more
4/2/2020
/ Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
CARES Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Defined Benefit Plans ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Qualified Retirement Plans ,
Relief Measures ,
Required Minimum Distributions ,
Retirement Plan ,
Student Loans
As summarized in our January 7 Client Advisory, the SECURE Act includes many changes that affect the design and administration of retirement plans. One of those changes is the increase to the trigger age for required minimum...more
The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (the “SECURE Act”) is the most far reaching new law affecting retirement benefits in more than a decade. This Client Advisory highlights key aspects of the...more
1/9/2020
/ 401k ,
403(b) Plans ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employer Contributions ,
Form 5500 ,
New Legislation ,
Required Minimum Distributions ,
Retirement ,
Retirement Plan ,
Safe Harbors ,
SECURE Act ,
Small Business
In September, the Treasury Department issued final regulations governing hardship withdrawals from 401(k) plans. The final regulations update the existing 2004 regulations to reflect recent statutory changes made to the...more
11/26/2019
/ 401k ,
403(b) Plans ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Employee Benefits ,
FEMA ,
Final Rules ,
Hardship Distributions ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
QMAC ,
QNEC ,
Qualified Retirement Plans ,
Required Amendments (RAs) ,
Retirement Plan ,
Safe Harbors ,
U.S. Treasury
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (“2017 Tax Act”) includes a provision that changed the rollover rules for certain plan loan offset distributions and that may not be well known to retirement plan sponsors and...more
5/7/2019
/ 401k ,
403(b) Plans ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Contract Termination ,
Income Taxes ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
IRA Rollovers ,
IRS ,
Loans ,
Offsets ,
Plan Administrators ,
Retirement Plan ,
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ,
Tax Planning ,
Taxable Distributions ,
Time Extensions
Last month, the Treasury Department issued highly anticipated proposed regulations governing hardship withdrawals from 401(k) plans. The proposed regulations address recent statutory changes made to the hardship withdrawal...more
The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (“Budget Act”) includes several changes to the rules governing hardship withdrawals from 401(k) plans. Because the changes apply to plan years beginning after December 31, 2018, 401(k) plan...more
7/9/2018
/ 401k ,
403(b) Plans ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Bipartisan Budget Act ,
Deferred Compensation ,
Employee Benefits ,
Hardship Distributions ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Retirement Plan ,
Safe Harbors ,
Secretary of the Treasury