401(k) Alternative Assets, NLRB Removal Protections, and Military Leave Requests - Employment Law This Week®
PODCAST: Williams Mullen’s Benefits Companion - Why NAPA Matters for Plan Sponsors and Benefits Professionals
Benefits Industry Predictions for 2026
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion Podcast - Voluntary Benefits and the Rising Risk for Employers
Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Preparing for 2026 – Mandatory Roth and Optional Super Catch-Up Contributions — Troutman Pepper Locke Podcast
Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Preparing for 2026 – Top Five Health and Welfare Updates — Troutman Pepper Locke Podcast
Business Better Podcast Episode: Bridging Campuses: Legal Insights on Education Industry Consolidation – Labor, Employment, and Benefits
How ERISA Litigators Strengthen Plan Compliance and Risk Management: One-on-One with Jeb Gerth
#WorkforceWednesday®: New DOL Guidance - ERISA Plan Cybersecurity Update - Employment Law This Week®
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - ERISA Forfeiture Litigation
ERISA Blog | Changes to the HIPAA Privacy Rules A Primer for Self-Insured Group Health Plans
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - What the J&J Case Means for Plan Administrators
The No Surprises Act: A Cost Saving Opportunity for Employer Plan Sponsors
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - New Federal Rule Aims to Hold Investment Advisors to a Higher Standard
Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation: Getting Ready for 2024 – Top-Hat Plans — Special Edition Podcast
Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation: Getting Ready for 2024 - Health and Welfare Plan Developments — Special Edition Podcast
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Partial Plan Terminations
Podcast Episode 189: Adding Context to Compliance and Color To Your Legal Practice
#WorkforceWednesday: SECURE Act 2.0 - What 401(k) Plan Sponsors Need to Know - Employment Law This Week®
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Plan Administrators’ 2022 Year-End Checklist
Many plan sponsors assume that once a retirement plan is established and service providers are hired, the plan will simply run itself. Unfortunately, that assumption is one of the reasons operational mistakes in retirement...more
Many plan sponsors believe that once they hire a recordkeeper, TPA, or investment advisor, their fiduciary responsibilities are largely taken care of. While service providers certainly help manage the plan, there is one...more
The DOL has proposed regulations intended to clarify and expand prior regulations addressing ERISA’s fiduciary duty of prudence for the selection of directed investment alternatives (DIAs) in participant-directed defined...more
In 2025, we published blog posts about two class action lawsuits by workers alleging independent contractor (IC) misclassification by two artificial intelligence (AI) companies. The first blog post involved an IC...more
On May 12, 2026, the Department of Labor issued Field Assistance Bulletin 2026-02 (“FAB”), announcing a temporary “non”-enforcement policy for the new paper statement requirement under SECURE 2.0, and the Department’s Notice...more
For plan sponsors subject to annual retirement plan audits, the audit process can feel intimidating. Many sponsors worry that an audit will uncover problems that reflect poorly on their organization or create regulatory...more
As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to reshape business operations, many employers are reassessing workforce needs and organizational structure. For many organizations, workforce reductions or redeployments may be...more
The U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) proposed a landmark regulation on March 30, 2026, that could fundamentally reshape the investment landscape for America's 401(k) plans. The proposed rule, titled “Fiduciary Duties in...more
This LawFlash discusses recent developments on the US Department of Labor’s activities regarding ERISA violations, including the department’s stated intent to depart from “regulation by enforcement” and updates to its...more
The conversation around alternative assets in 401(k) plans is gaining momentum, driven by regulatory developments, product innovation, and a growing willingness among plan sponsors to consider broader investment options. To...more
In this handbook, the term “institutional investor” covers a number of different entities that invest funds, typically in order to support a particular purpose. Institutional investors include pension funds (U.S. public...more
Let’s not overcomplicate it. A federal court wiped out the 2024 Retirement Security Rule, and the Department of Labor responded the only way it really could—by reverting to the old five-part fiduciary test. That’s not reform....more
This month’s Friday Five explores the linear relationship between the information that must be exchanged between a claimant and a claims administrator and a court’s subsequent determination of a dispute between the two. The...more
Following a wave of high‑profile settlements involving large defined benefit pension plans, including Raytheon (which settled for around $59 million) and CITGO (which settled for around $10 million), and as they await...more
This issue of McDermott Will & Schulte’s Healthcare Regulatory Check-Up highlights regulatory activity for April 2026, including recent enforcement actions involving the False Claims Act (FCA), two favorable Office of...more
Clarity Act Reported to the Senate and Placed on the Legislative Calendar - On June 1, H.R. 3633, the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, was reported to the Senate by Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina and placed on the Senate...more
My wife loves Le Creuset, which means, by extension, so do I. I’ve been to enough factory-to-table sales across the country to know one thing: for every cooking need, they’ll happily sell you three different versions of the...more
Two critical deadlines are converging. Calendar year plans must adopt amendments reflecting the SECURE Act, CARES Act, and SECURE 2.0 by December 31, 2026 (with later deadlines for collectively bargained and governmental...more
“Prediction is easy — being right is hard.” The Supreme Court’s May 21, 2026, decision in the multiemployer withdrawal liability space affirmed this principle. In M & K Employee Solutions, LLC v. Trustees of the IAM National...more
Mayer Brown partners, Erin Cho and Rick Nowak, submitted a comment letter on behalf of the Coalition for Modern Retirement Solutions (“CMRS”) to the US Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration ("EBSA")...more
The United States Supreme Court recently ruled unanimously that the actuary for a multiemployer pension plan (“MPP”) may select actuarial assumptions used to calculate withdrawal liability after the measurement date, provided...more
The DOL's Proposed Safe Harbor and What It Means for Asset Managers, Advisers, and Plan Sponsors - On March 30, 2026, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) released a proposed rule titled "Fiduciary Duties in Selecting...more
Withdrawal liability is an exit price that an employer must pay when it stops contributing to a multiemployer pension plan that is underfunded (i.e., a plan that does not have enough assets to pay 100% of the retirement...more
Ropes & Gray hosted the 2026 Credit Funds Forum on May 20 in New York, bringing together over 160 credit professionals to discuss current trends and the outlook for the credit market. The forum featured panels on a variety of...more
A federal district court issued a mid-trial ruling in favor of the defendants regarding their use of forfeitures in Stephan v. Trader Joe’s Company, No. 1:25-cv-10212 (D. Mass.). The Stephan case is one of nearly 100...more