News & Analysis as of

Pensions Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

District Court Holds Pension Fund Misapplied Prior Partial Withdrawal Liability Credit

A federal district court in Illinois became the first court to rule that an employer’s credit for a prior partial withdrawal should be applied at the end of the statute’s “waterfall” for calculating withdrawal liability. The...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

Seventh Circuit Affirms that Employer’s Withdrawal Liability Cannot Be Based on Post-Rehabilitation Plan Contribution Increases

We recently reported on a district court decision holding that the Central States Pension Fund’s calculation of withdrawal liability should not have included contribution rate increases imposed after the Fund’s implementation...more

Morgan Lewis - ML Benefits

DOL Issues Temporary Enforcement Policy for Small Amount Transfers to State Unclaimed Property Funds

The US Department of Labor recently issued Field Assistance Bulletin (FAB) 2025-01, a temporary enforcement policy regarding the transfer of small retirement plan benefits to state unclaimed property funds. This development...more

Littler

Seventh Circuit Places Limits on Employers’ Withdrawal Liability from Certain Multiemployer Plans

Littler on

On April 24, 2025, the Seventh Circuit upheld a Northern District of Illinois decision requiring a multiemployer pension plan to exclude the employers’ post-2014 rehabilitation plan contribution rate increases from the...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

District Court Holds Withdrawal Liability Claim Not Barred by Employer’s Dissolution

In Central States, Southeast & Southwest Areas Pension Fund v. Sheets Enterprise, No. 24 cv 2277 (N.D. Ill.), a district court held that an employer could not avoid being held liable for withdrawal liability simply because it...more

Jackson Lewis P.C.

Not So Fast: DOL Releases Annual Funding Notice Guidance Just Before the Distribution Due Date

Jackson Lewis P.C. on

On April 3, 2025, the Department of Labor (the DOL) issued Field Assistance Bulletin 2025-02 (the FAB) and updated model annual funding notices for single-employer and multiemployer plans. The FAB addresses conflicts between...more

Foley & Lardner LLP

Taming the Tariffs: Employee Benefit Issues for Employers During Times of Economic Uncertainty – Reducing or Suspending Qualified...

Foley & Lardner LLP on

Many companies are scrambling to quickly assess how to reduce the business impact of the upheaval to U.S. manufacturing and trading with the recent onslaught of tariffs threatened or imposed by the United States and the...more

Verrill

Does ERISA Work?

Verrill on

On Labor Day, September 2, 1974, Gerald Ford signed the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”) into law. ERISA governs the employee benefit plans (i.e., retirement and welfare plans) of most private employers in...more

Morgan Lewis - ML Benefits

Wait a Minute, Mister Postman: DOL Issues Annual Funding Notice Guidance

The US Department of Labor (DOL) has issued new guidance in the form of Field Assistance Bulletin No. 2025-02 (FAB 2025-02) and updated model annual funding notices (AFNs) for single-employer and multiemployer pension plans....more

Jackson Walker

2025 Regulatory Review: Implications for Retirement Plans and Employer Actions

Jackson Walker on

The first few months of 2025 brought the potential for many changes. On January 20, 2025, one of the Executive Orders pulled back all proposed regulations that had been issued in the last 60 days, including proposed...more

Alston & Bird

Department of Labor’s Temporary Policy Allows Voluntary Escheatment of Certain Retirement Benefits

Alston & Bird on

In this article, the authors delve into the Department of Labor’s temporary ERISA enforcement policy for unclaimed retirement benefit payments of $1,000 or less. The Department of Labor (DOL) has announced a temporary...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

First Rulings on Pension Risk Transfer — ERISA Class Actions Reach Opposite Conclusions on Article III Standing

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on

The first two district court opinions deciding whether plaintiffs have Article III standing to challenge pension risk transfers have reached opposite conclusions. One case will proceed to discovery, and the other has been...more

Foley & Lardner LLP

Benefits Basics - When an Employee Dies: A Resource Guide for HR & Benefits Professionals

Foley & Lardner LLP on

As a member of your company’s human resources or employee benefits department, one of the most difficult calls you may receive is from a colleague or an employee’s family member notifying you of the death of an employee. This...more

Morgan Lewis

DOL’s VFCP Final Rule Adds Limited ‘Self-Correction’ Program for Late Contributions, Participant Loan Failures

Morgan Lewis on

The Employee Benefits Security Administration recently released its final rule amending and restating the Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program, along with corresponding amendments to a related class exemption, Prohibited...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

SECURE 2.0’s Required Changes to Annual Funding Notices Become Effective in 2025

SECURE 2.0 introduced many changes for retirement plans, including updated disclosure requirements for a defined benefit plan’s annual funding notice (AFN). These updated AFN disclosure requirements apply for all plan years...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

District Court Rules Employer’s Withdrawal Liability Cannot Be Based on Post-Rehabilitation Plan Contribution Increases

In Central States, S.E. & S.W. Pension Fund v. McKesson Corp., No. 23-cv-16770, 2025 WL 81358 (N.D. Ill. Jan. 13, 2025), the district court affirmed that a multiemployer pension plan’s calculation of withdrawal liability...more

Groom Law Group, Chartered

DOL Finalizes Update to Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program

On January 15, 2025, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued notice amending its Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program (“VFCP”), along with related final amendments to Prohibited Transaction Exemption 2002-51 (“PTE 2002-51”),...more

McDermott Will & Emery

Trump Places DOL’s ESOP Proposals in Regulatory Moratorium

On January 16, 2025, the US Department of Labor’s (DOL) Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) released two pieces of guidance that, if finalized, would dramatically change the landscape for fiduciaries responsible...more

Pullman & Comley - Labor, Employment and...

Retirement Plan Update – Forfeitures are New Focus of Fiduciary Breach Litigation

Many employer-sponsored defined contributions plans, including 401(k) profit sharing plans and money purchase pension plans include a vesting schedule – a period over which a plan participant earns a nonforfeitable right to...more

Jackson Lewis P.C.

Exciting Update: Self-Correction for Delinquent Contributions Now Possible Under the DOL’s VFCP

Jackson Lewis P.C. on

On January 14, 2025, the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) within the Department of Labor (DOL) updated its Voluntary Fiduciary Compliance Program (VFCP). The VFCP allows plan officials to correct certain...more

Verrill

DOL Announces Temporary Enforcement Policy Regarding Transfer of Small Retirement Benefit Payments of Missing Participants to...

Verrill on

Retirement plan fiduciaries have a new option for handling small benefit payments owed to missing participants and beneficiaries thanks to a temporary enforcement policy announced by the Department of Labor (“DOL”) earlier...more

DLA Piper

Supreme Court Debates ERISA Exemptions in Cunningham v. Cornell University

DLA Piper on

The US Supreme Court heard argument on Wednesday, January 22, 2025 from Cornell University and its employees over dismissal of a class action alleging that Cornell University’s retirement plan paid unreasonable recordkeeping...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

Fourth Circuit Approves Award of Estimated Delinquent Contributions

Multiemployer benefit plans generally require contributing employers to submit “remittance reports” that identify the employees that performed covered work, the type of work performed, and the amount of time worked. Plans...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

Get A Grip Over Hiring An ERISA Attorney

As a lawyer, I’ve heard plenty of lawyer jokes and some of them are amusing. I once said at law school that I now know why lawyers have terrible reputations because I met some of these lawyers at law school. While lawyers...more

Baker Donelson

Multiemployer Withdrawal Liability Can Extend Beyond the Withdrawing Employer

Baker Donelson on

A recent case from the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, Local No. 499, Board of Trustees of Shopmen's Pension Plan v. Art Iron, Inc., et al., 177 F. 4th 923 (6th Cir. 2024), clarifies a significant legal...more

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