News & Analysis as of

Department of Labor (DOL) Summary Plan Description

Foley & Lardner LLP

401(k) Plan Top 10 Year End Laundry List

Foley & Lardner LLP on

No one really appreciates laundry, but having a calendar year-end top 10 list may be exactly what plan sponsors and administration committees need in order to prevent operational or document compliance issues being raised by...more

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

The GAO Reviews QDROs

In July 2020, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) prepared a report for the Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions about Qualified Domestic Relations Orders (QDROs). QDROs are...more

Pullman & Comley - Labor, Employment and...

Supreme Court’s Sulyma Decision Creates Proof of Actual Knowledge Issue for Plan Fiduciaries

Since its adoption the Employee Retirement Income Securities Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”), has required employee benefit plan sponsors to make disclosures regarding plan terms and plan expenses.  The most well-known of...more

Kelley Drye & Warren LLP

COVID-19 Relief Triggers ERISA Participant Notice Requirements

In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, Congress, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) and the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) have each offered temporary relief from certain legal requirements applicable to employee benefit plans....more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

DOL Finalizes Electronic Notice Safe Harbor

The Department of Labor (DOL) has finally issued final regulations providing a new “notice and access” safe harbor for retirement plans to furnish required disclosures by email or other electronic ways to plan participants...more

Bond Schoeneck & King PLLC

DOL Finalizes New Electronic Disclosure Safe Harbor

On May 27, 2020, the United States Department of Labor (DOL) published a Final Rule that establishes an alternative “safe harbor” method by which retirement plan administrators can provide participant disclosures and notices...more

Kilpatrick

DOL Finalizes Rule Updating Electronic Disclosure Safe Harbor for Retirement Plans

Kilpatrick on

The Department of Labor (DOL) has issued final regulations providing a new “notice and access” safe harbor (the “NOA Safe Harbor”) for retirement plans to furnish required disclosures by email or other electronic means to...more

Holland & Hart - The Benefits Dial

We Interrupt this Program – What in the SECURE Act Do Retirement Plan Sponsors Need to Pay Attention to in 2020?

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

Perkins Coie

US Department of Labor Proposes New “Notice and Access” Electronic Delivery Safe Harbor

Perkins Coie on

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued proposed regulations on October 23, 2019, providing for a new electronic-delivery safe harbor applicable to certain required disclosures for ERISA-governed retirement plans. Though...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

Best Practices in Administering Benefit Claims #4 – Know (and Understand) the Law: Full and Fair Review

This week in our blog series on best practices in administering benefit claims, we discuss the importance of knowing and, importantly, understanding the laws governing benefit claim administration. Section 503 of ERISA...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Proposed Regulations on Electronic Disclosures by ERISA Plans: What Plan Administrators and Sponsors Need to Know

In proposed regulations released last week, the Department of Labor (DOL) finally put forward a revision of its long-outdated regulations on the electronic delivery of certain participant disclosures required under ERISA...more

Bass, Berry & Sims PLC

2019 ERISA Welfare Plan Checklist

Bass, Berry & Sims PLC on

We recognize that many of our clients sponsor ERISA welfare benefit plans and are currently undergoing their open enrollment process and issuing related participant communications. To assist our clients with that process, we...more

Snell & Wilmer

Authorized Representatives – Fresh Look at an Old Rule

Snell & Wilmer on

Earlier this year, the Department of Labor issued an information letter explaining ERISA’s authorized representative requirement. Below are some of the takeaways employers may want to consider....more

Jackson Lewis P.C.

Changes To Employee Benefit Plans May Create Unforeseen Disclosure Deadlines

Jackson Lewis P.C. on

Believe it or not, it may be time to distribute a new Summary Plan Description (SPD) to include all changes made since the last issuance or a Summary of Material Modifications (SMM) for any amendments adopted during the 2018...more

Dickinson Wright

Debunking SPD Myths, Part 4: Know Your Alternative Methods of Distribution for Terminated Participants and Beneficiaries

Dickinson Wright on

The summary plan description (“SPD”) and disclosure regulations provided by the Department of Labor (“DOL”) are spread across six regulatory sections. They are voluminous....more

Dickinson Wright

Debunking SPD Myths, Part 2: Think That Emailing Your SPD to Employees is Always Enough? Think Again

Dickinson Wright on

Most employers are familiar with the requirement to prepare and distribute a summary plan description (“SPD”). Many employers, however, assume that Department of Labor (“DOL”) disclosure requirements are consistent with the...more

McDermott Will & Emery

ERISA Plan Documents Must State Procedures for Authorizing a Representative under a Plan

McDermott Will & Emery on

In an Information Letter dated February 27, 2019, the Department of Labor (DOL) clarified that an ERISA plan must include any procedures for designating authorized representatives in the plan’s claims procedure and summary...more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

Eighth Circuit Casts Doubt on Cross-Plan Offsetting for ERISA Health Plans

Employers may soon find themselves reviewing and revising health plan master documents and summary plan descriptions (SPDs) and administrative service agreements with respect to an obscure claims administration practice known...more

Bass, Berry & Sims PLC

2018 ERISA Welfare Plan Checklist

Bass, Berry & Sims PLC on

We recognize that many of our clients sponsor ERISA welfare benefit plans and are currently undergoing their open enrollment process and issuing related participant communications. To assist our clients with that process, we...more

Epstein Becker & Green

Association Health Plans: Federal Rule Broadens Opportunities, but Some States Clamp Down

Epstein Becker & Green on

On June 19, 2018, the Trump administration finalized a rule that will enable small businesses and self-employed individuals to band together to offer access to large group health plans, which are typically less expensive (but...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

Retirement Plan Advisors Advantage - May 2018

Free Advice In Dealing With A TPA's Business Challenges. It's free. I always joke that when my wife discusses to people what I do as an ERISA attorney, she claims she has no idea. Imagine if I was a third party...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

Graff Calls For DOL E-Delivery Change and I Love It

I used to love paper until I had a 5-foot flood in the downstairs of my home during Hurricane Sandy. When you have a file cabinet with files sitting outside your house with files that you hope dry over 6 months, you learn to...more

Steptoe & Johnson PLLC

Retirement Plans: The Fiduciary Landscape and Best Practices to Avoid Liability for Plan Investments

Steptoe & Johnson PLLC on

The landscape surrounding retirement plans maintained by institutions of higher education has been changing in recent years, although certain critical responsibilities that are imposed on plan sponsors have been in place...more

Holland & Knight LLP

New ERISA Claims Procedures for Plans Providing Disability Benefits Effective April 1, 2018

Holland & Knight LLP on

• Administrators of employee benefit plans governed by ERISA should make sure now that the claims procedures contained in their affected benefit plans comply with new regulations applicable to disability benefits. • The...more

Bass, Berry & Sims PLC

Action Needed by Certain ERISA Plans – New Disability Claims Procedures Apply Beginning April 2018

In January 2018, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced that final regulations affecting how some ERISA plans process claims and appeals will apply beginning April 1, 2018. As explained below, the final regulations...more

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