Under the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 (“BBA 2015”), Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (“PBGC”) premiums for plan years beginning in 2025 are due one month earlier than normal. For example, for calendar year plans,...more
Most SECURE 2.0 articles focus on the changes applicable to defined contribution plans, such as 401(k) plans, and rightly so, since those plans were the most impacted by the law. However, SECURE 2.0 did make a handful of...more
In a defined benefit plan, participants usually accrue a monthly benefit based on a formula that typically considers their last three years’ salary before retirement and years of service with their employer. For example, the...more
Over the last several years, numerous large pension plan sponsors have transferred billions of dollars in financial risk related to their pension plan benefit obligations to insurance companies through the purchase of group...more
Recent action taken by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) and the US Department of Labor (DOL) will affect plans that are eligible for, or have received, special financial assistance (SFA). SFA-eligible plans...more
The Department of Labor (DOL) announced that it has finalized, together with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation (PBGC), the third and final round of revisions to the Form 5500 Annual...more
The problem of “missing” participants and beneficiaries (individuals for whom the plan administrator does not have adequate contact information) is an ongoing issue for retirement plan administrators. It is also an area to...more
On January 12, 2021, the Department of Labor (DOL) released a triple shot of guidance related to helping retirement plan fiduciaries meet their obligations under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) to...more
The Secretaries of the Departments of Treasury, Commerce, and Labor have been directed to review and report on the pension funding crisis in an October 22, 2020, Presidential Memorandum. The Memorandum brings renewed...more
Multiple Employer Plans: Proposed IRS Regulations Eliminate the “One Bad Apple” Rule - A multiple employer plan (MEP) is a tax qualified retirement plan that is maintained by two or more employers who are not part of the...more
Editor's Overview - As we have observed on other occasions, the ERISA class action plaintiffs' bar has, for several years now, honed in on 401(k) plan fiduciaries and their decisions to select and retain investment options...more
Employer-sponsored retirement plans come in many varieties. For example, under 401(k) and other defined contribution plans, employees and, often, employers may make specific contributions to an employee’s plan account...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Supreme Court has held unanimously that a 1980 amendment to ERISA means that a pension benefit plan need not be established by a church in order to be exempt from ERISA rules, including most...more
In a much-anticipated decision, on June 5 the U.S. Supreme Court held that a pension plan sponsored by a religious affiliated nonprofit hospital qualifies as an ERISA-exempt church plan even though the plan was not initially...more
As has been our tradition, January is the time to predict the big developments in the coming year which will impact on manufacturers. Notwithstanding my “Lawyer’s Shrug,” here is my take on 2017....more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Supreme Court’s grant of certiorari in three Church Plan cases presents the possibility that many Church Plans thought for years to be exempt from ERISA rules, including its funding rules, will now have...more
For many months, we have been speculating about how the results of the 2016 presidential election would impact employee benefits policy going forward. Now that Donald Trump has won the election and Republicans have secured a...more
Religiously affiliated hospitals and health systems have recently come under attack by private litigants for exercising the right to remain exempt from ERISA requirements. Such hospitals and health systems should assess their...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
Major Revisions to Qualified Plan Determination Letter Process Announced - Effective January 1, 2017, the staggered five-year determination letter remedial amendment cycles for individually designed plans will be...more
On July 9, 2015, the IRS announced that it intends to amend the required minimum distribution regulations under Section 401(a)(9) of the Internal Revenue Code to prohibit plans from offering voluntary lump-sum cashouts to...more
Supreme Court - As explained in more detail in separate alerts we issued over the past several days, the Supreme Court decided two major cases involving the Affordable Care Act and same-sex marriage. First, as described...more
As a part of the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015, passed by Congress and signed by the President on December 18, 2014, the 161-page "Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014" (Act) gives the...more
The Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014 (the MPRA), as part of the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act of 2015 (the Act), H.R. 83, was passed by the House on December 11, 2014, the Senate on December...more
Both houses of Congress recently passed and President Obama recently signed comprehensive spending legislation that includes an amendment with the provisions of the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014 (MPRA) along with a...more