President Obama recently signed the 21st Century Cures Act (the Cures Act) which contains numerous health-care related provisions. One such provision allows small employers, beginning on and after January 1, 2017, to...more
The Internal Revenue Service announced the 2017 cost-of-living adjustments to the dollar limitations for qualified retirement plans and other benefits, and the Social Security Administration announced its own cost-of-living...more
11/1/2016
/ 401k ,
403(b) Plans ,
457(b) Plans ,
Contribution Limits ,
Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) ,
Defined Benefit Plans ,
Employee Benefits ,
ESOP ,
Health Savings Accounts ,
IRS ,
Qualified Retirement Plans ,
Retirement Plan
Program Highlights Please join the Locke Lord Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Group for our 28th annual employee benefits seminar via webinar. Our attorneys will provide an overview of current developments...more
9/8/2016
/ 501(c)(3) ,
Acquisitions ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
CEOs ,
CFOs ,
Continuing Legal Education ,
COOs ,
Deferred Compensation ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Employment Contract ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Limitation Periods ,
Mergers ,
Non-Assignment Clauses ,
Out of Network Provider ,
Popular ,
Subrogation ,
Successor Liability ,
Webinars
On June 21, 2016, after more than 15 years of ongoing deliberations, the U.S. Department of the Treasury (the Dept. of Treasury) issued proposed regulations under Section 457 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (the Code),...more
7/19/2016
/ Deferred Compensation ,
Forfeiture ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Section 409A ,
Section 457(f) ,
Severance Agreements ,
Tax Exempt Entities ,
U.S. Treasury ,
Vesting
On April 8, 2016, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued its final regulations significantly redefining the standards for determining when an adviser is a fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as...more
In connection with publication of final regulations (the Rule) on the definition of “fiduciary” under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA) and the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended...more
On April 8, 2016, the United States Department of Labor (Department) published its long-awaited final regulations (the Rule) redefining who is a “fiduciary” of an employee benefit plan under the Employee Retirement Income...more
In a landmark benefits decision, a Federal District Court in Massachusetts held that separate private equity funds sharing a general partner are jointly and severally liable under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act...more
The Internal Revenue Service announced the 2016 cost-of-living adjustments to the dollar limitations for qualified retirement plans and other benefits, and the Social Security Administration announced its own cost-of-living...more
What is the Supreme Court’s holding in Obergefell v. Hodges?
LB: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that all states must license a marriage between two people of the same sex and all states must recognize a lawful same-sex...more
In a historic decision, the United States Supreme Court in Obergefell v. Hodges recently held that the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution requires all jurisdictions in all fifty states to: (1) license a...more
7/30/2015
/ 401k ,
Annuities ,
Civil Unions ,
COBRA ,
Domestic Partnership ,
Employee Benefits ,
Essential Health Benefits ,
Health Insurance ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Income Taxes ,
Life Insurance ,
Long Term Disability Insurance ,
Obergefell v. Hodges ,
QDRO ,
Qualified Retirement Plans ,
Same-Sex Marriage ,
Survivor Benefits
Many public companies have not waited for the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) to mandate executive compensation recovery policies, as required by the Dodd-Frank Act. Shareholder and peer pressure has resulted in the...more
Corporate directors are permitted to, and regularly do, set their own compensation. This has not been controversial because boards have typically taken seriously their responsibility to set compensation that is reasonable and...more
6/17/2015
/ Board of Directors ,
Business Judgment Rule ,
Compensation Standards ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Director Compensation ,
Directors ,
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) ,
Proxy Advisors ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Restricted Stocks ,
Self-Dealing ,
Shareholder Litigation ,
Shareholder Votes
Public company proxy statements would have to disclose the total compensation “actually paid” to their principal executive officers over the previous five years, then describe the relationship between that compensation and...more
On March 31, 2015, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) published final regulations under Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code (the Code). Code Section 162(m) disallows a deduction by any publicly-held corporation for...more