The House GOP tax reform bill introduced Nov. 2, 2017, would have a major impact on employee benefits, including executive compensation, qualified retirement plans, fringe benefits and tax-exempt organizations. If adopted,...more
On Sept. 15, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) issued a technical update providing interim guidance under its final rule on reportable events for defined benefit pension plans and their sponsors.
This...more
Last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued new guidance under its rule implementing the pay ratio disclosure requirement mandated by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The...more
Last week, the Department of Labor (DOL) announced additional delays to major aspects of its fiduciary rule by proposing to extend certain transition period deadlines and applicability dates by 18 months. If finalized, full...more
The fiduciary rule issued by the Department of Labor (DOL) is one of the major developments in employee benefits law in recent years. The rule aims to reduce and regulate conflicts of interest related to paid investment...more
Last week, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued a request for information (RFI) in the form of 18 questions regarding its fiduciary rule and related prohibited transaction exemptions (PTEs). The RFI was issued approximately...more
In a victory for religiously affiliated hospitals sponsoring defined benefit (DB) plans, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on June 5 that such plans need not have been originally established by churches to be exempt from ERISA....more
Earlier this week, Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta indicated in a Wall Street Journal op-ed article that there will be no further delay as to the parts of the fiduciary rule issued by the Department of Labor (DOL) that...more
On April 7, the Department of Labor (DOL) formally adopted its previously proposed 60-day delay of the applicability date of its fiduciary conflict-of-interest rule and related prohibited transaction exemptions (PTEs). The...more
Last week, the Department of Labor (DOL) announced a temporary enforcement policy related to its recently proposed 60-day delay of the April 10, 2017 applicability date of its fiduciary conflict-of-interest rule and related...more
Earlier this year, the IRS issued a memorandum setting forth substantiation guidelines for IRS auditors examining whether a 401(k) plan hardship distribution is “deemed to be on account of an immediate and heavy financial...more
On March 1, the Department of Labor (DOL) proposed a 60-day delay of the April 10, 2017 applicability date of its fiduciary conflict-of-interest rule and related prohibited transaction exemptions (PTEs). The delay was...more
Last week, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued long-awaited guidance in the form of answers to 34 frequently asked questions (the FAQs) on its final rule (the Rule) for determining when a party is a fiduciary, by virtue...more
The IRS recently issued Revenue Procedure 2016-51 (the 2016 RP) to provide revised procedures for its Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS) – the system through which plan sponsors can correct errors in the form...more
Last week, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued a final rule revamping the standards for determining when a party is a fiduciary with respect to an ERISA retirement plan or an individual retirement account (IRA) by...more
4/18/2016
/ Best Interest Contract Exemptions ,
Brokers ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Final Rules ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Investment Adviser ,
Popular ,
PTEs ,
Retirement Plan
In Gobeille v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., No. 14-181, 2016 U.S. LEXIS 1612 (Mar. 1, 2016), the U.S. Supreme Court held that ERISA pre-empts Vermont’s “all-payer database” law – to the extent it is applied to self-insured health...more
As discussed in a prior WorkCite article, the recently enacted Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 (the Act) permanently removed the disparity between the taxation of (i) commuter vehicle/transit benefits and (ii) qualified...more
On Sept. 25, 2015, the Central States, Southeast and Southwest Areas Pension Plan (Central States), submitted to the Department of the Treasury a plan for reducing benefits under the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014...more
10/9/2015
/ CBAs ,
Corporate Counsel ,
IRS ,
MPRA ,
Multiemployer Plan ,
PBGC ,
Pensions ,
Retirement Plan ,
Suspensions ,
Teamsters ,
U.S. Treasury ,
Unions ,
Young Lawyers
Earlier this month, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) issued final regulations on reportable events under ERISA in connection with defined benefit pension plans and their sponsors (the Final Regulations). The...more
Earlier this week, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued proposed and temporary regulations (collectively, the Guidance) under the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014 (MPRA). As discussed in an earlier WorkCite...more
The Ninth Circuit recently held that a multiemployer pension plan (MEP) cannot label unpaid contributions as “plan assets” so as to impose ERISA fiduciary status on persons controlling the payment of employer contributions to...more
Yesterday the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) issued temporary, proposed and interim final regulations and a revenue procedure (collectively, the Guidance) under the...more
Last week, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued its widely anticipated re-proposed rules for defining fiduciary status under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) for providers of investment advice...more
The IRS recently issued important updates to its Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS). The updates are contained in Revenue Procedures 2015-27 and 2015-28. ...more
In August 2014, GRQ Investment Management, LLC (GRQ) sued Financial Engines, Inc. and Financial Engines Advisors, LLC (collectively, Financial Engines), alleging that Financial Engines’ sale of account management and advisory...more