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
An Inside Look as a Juror - FCRA Focus Podcast
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Multiemployer Plans
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Court Decisions Impacting Plan Sponsors and Fiduciaries
(A)ESOP's Fables - The Income and Estate Tax-Free ESOP
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - What Constitutes Plan Assets Under ERISA?
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Group Health Plan Service Provider Compensation Disclosure Requirements
Update and Discussion on Legal and Practical Issues
Welcome to 'Just Compensation'
#WorkforceWednesday: SCOTUS in Review, Biden Acts to Limit Non-Competes, NY HERO Act Model Safety Plans - Employment Law This Week®
The Department of Labor (DOL) Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) recently finalized a series of rules viewed as key Trump administration priorities. The rules include: Prohibited Transaction Exemption 2020-02,...more
We are nearing the final stretch of the 2020 campaign. What have the parties proposed for the future of the U.S. retirement system? A chart below summarizes the policy documents prepared by the parties outlining their goals...more
In 1984, Lorne Michaels created a new show, based on Saturday Night Live (SNL) when he was no longer SNL’s producer. It was called “The New Show”, how clever. It failed, people liked the original and within a year, Lorne came...more
I’m sure that everyone knows that Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta resigned over the controversy of a plea deal he negotiated as a U.S. Attorney in Florida with Jeffrey Epstein back in 2008....more
In a move that should shock no one, the Department of Labor (DOL) pretty much left the fiduciary rule to die by rolling over and effectively letting the rule die. The last deadline for resuscitating the fiduciary rule passed...more
In 2016, during the waning days of the Obama Administration, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued a regulation expanding the fiduciary definition to cover more individuals and entities that provide financial services to...more
It has been a long and winding road for the amended fiduciary regulation (the "Regulation") and the related new and amended exemptions (collectively, the "Rule") of the U.S. Department of Labor (the "DOL") under the Employee...more
In a 2-1 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacated the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule, including the expanded definition of “investment advice fiduciary” and the associated exemptions. The...more
The Fifth Circuit on March 15 vacated U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) regulations that redefined the circumstances in which a person who provides investment advice in connection with a retirement plan or individual retirement...more
In 2017, the principal focus in the administration of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA), by the Department of Labor (DOL) appropriately remained one of the extraordinary developments...more
Since its original release as a proposed rule in April 2015 and as a final rule a year later, the Department of Labor’s (DOL's) so-called fiduciary rule — which expands the “investment advice fiduciary” definition under the...more
The department extends non-enforcement policy until July 1, 2019 and plans to propose a new streamlined class exemption under the Fiduciary rule. The DOL finalized its delay of certain portions of the Fiduciary rule until...more
On November 27, 2017, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) extended the transition period for its conflict of interest regulation (commonly referred to as the "fiduciary rule") until July 1, 2019....more
On November 29, the Department of Labor (DOL) announced an extension to July 1, 2019, of the previously established deadline for transition relief from many provisions of the new fiduciary rule applicable to investment...more
As expected, the Department of Labor (DOL) has delayed enforcement of the main provisions of the new fiduciary rule. Provisions covering exemptions for best-interest contracts and principal transactions will now go into...more
Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta fielded a range of questions on the DOL's priorities during a November 15 hearing before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. Although members of the Committee inquired about...more
If you have an account in a retirement plan where you work or you own an Individual Retirement Account, you may get financial advice about the assets in your account from an investment advisor, broker, planner, or insurance...more
There have been several attempts to kill the Fiduciary Rule in recent months. On June 8, The Financial Choice Act (H.R. 10), which overhauls the Dodd-Frank Act and in the process repeals the Fiduciary Rule, passed by a vote...more
The U.S. Department of Labor (the “DOL”) today (August 9, 2017) submitted a Notice of Administrative Action in the Thrivent v. Acosta litigation (D. Minn.). The Notice relates to the final regulation that defines who is a...more
The U.S. Department of Labor (the “DOL”) published in the Federal Register on July 6, 2017 a Request for Information (the “RFI”) regarding the final regulation defining who is a “fiduciary” of an employee benefit plan as a...more
It’s official. The Department of Labor’s final conflict of interest regulation became applicable on June 9, 2017. Despite the consternation leading up to the issuance of this rule and the expectations of many that the rule...more
Core elements of the U.S. Department of Labor’s controversial new fiduciary investment advice rule (the “Fiduciary Rule”) became effective on June 9, 2017, despite President Trump’s February 3, 2017 memorandum ordering...more
From the workplace policy perspective, much of the focus of the first 100 days of the Trump administration was on confirming a new Secretary of Labor and reversing the Obama administration’s labor and employment agenda....more
United States Department of Labor (“DOL”) Secretary Alexander Acosta recently announced that the final DOL fiduciary regulations (the “Fiduciary Rule”) will go into effect on June 9, 2017. In an op-ed in the Wall Street...more
Last week Labor Secretary Acosta chose a Wall Street Journal op-ed to announce DOL’s decision not to delay the “fiduciary rule” past the once-extended June 9 effective date....more