PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Trends in Recordkeeper Consolidation and Due Diligence
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Exploring the Value of Qualified Default Investment Alternatives
The Form 5500: What All Employers and Plan Administrators Need to Know and How to Avoid Costly Fines
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Cautionary Tales for Preapproved Plan Documents
DOL Clarifies Timing of Lifetime Income Disclosures in Benefit Statements
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Payroll Integration for Plan Sponsors
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Plan Administrators’ 2020 Year-End Checklist
Cutting Costs With Employee Benefit Plans (Part 5 of 5) – Implementation
Cutting Costs With Employee Benefit Plans (Part 4 of 5) – Retirement Plan Costs
Cutting Costs With Employee Benefit Plans (Part 3 of 5) – Medical Benefit Costs
Cutting Costs With Employee Benefit Plans (Part 2 of 5) – Identifying Potential Targets
Cutting Costs With Employee Benefit Plans (Part 1 of 5) – Using Benefit Plans to Save Money
CARES Act – Retirement Plan Distributions and Loans: Troutman Sanders and Pepper Hamilton COVID-19 Issues for Employers Podcast Series
Blakes Continuity Podcast: COVID-19: The Regulatory Impact on Pensions
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Plan Administrators’ 2019 Year-End Checklist
The Pensions Brief is a monthly update for trustees and employers of occupational pension schemes in the UK. It provides headline summaries of developments over the previous month and associated action points. It also...more
On March 22, 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit issued a ruling in Bulk Transp. Corp. v. Teamsters Union No. 142 Pension Fund, ordering the Teamsters Union No. 142 Pension Fund (the “Fund”) to...more
On March 26, 2024, the Ontario government published their 2024 Budget, in which it was announced that draft regulations to Ontario’s Pension Benefits Act (PBA) would be introduced for review in the summer of 2024, with the...more
Canadian pension law went through numerous changes in 2023. Below is an overview of certain significant developments from the previous year as we look ahead to what may be coming next....more
On November 30, 2023, the federal government introduced Bill C-59, Fall Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2023 (Bill C-59), which included proposed amendments to the Income Tax Act (Canada) (ITA) to implement changes...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The IRS just announced the 2024 annual limits that will apply to tax-qualified retirement plans. For a third year in a row, the IRS increased the annual limits, allowing participants to save even more in...more
On June 22, 2023, Bill C-47 received royal assent, implementing a variety of amendments to the Income Tax Act (Canada) (ITA) and its regulations (ITA Regulations) tabled as part of the 2023 Federal Budget. As we previously...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
Retirement compensation arrangements (RCAs) are, in appropriate circumstances, a useful tool for employers to provide supplemental pension benefits to employees, but such arrangements come at a cost of refundable tax under...more
The Canadian Association of Pension Supervisory Authorities' (CAPSA) draft guideline on ESG sets out three principles as guidance for pension plan administrators - - consider ESG characteristics that may have material...more
In Rayonier v Unifor, Locals 256 and 89 arbitrator Paula Knopf dismissed a union policy grievance which alleged that an age 65 cut-off for long-term disability (LTD) benefits coverage under the parties' collective bargaining...more
On June 9, 2022, the Canadian Association of Pension Supervisory Authorities (CAPSA) published consultation drafts of pension plan guidelines covering environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations, as well as...more
In today’s episode of “Just Compensation,” hosts Megan Monson, Taryn E. Cannataro, and Batool T. Banker of Lowenstein’s Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation practice examine the Form 5500, which must be filed by all...more
The Department of Labor (“DOL”) has undertaken a nationwide compliance initiative to ensure that retirement plan participants receive the benefits that they were promised when they reach their retirement age. To that end, the...more
In the News. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking to create a new category of “seasoned” qualified mortgages; the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Office of...more
Internal Revenue Code Section 402(f) requires plan administrators of certain retirement plans to provide a tax notice to payees that describes their rollover rights. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) historically has...more
The DOL recently provided retirement plans with a new method to comply electronically with certain participant disclosure and notice requirements. See our blog post outlining the new DOL rule. This new method adds to the...more
Faisant suite à notre Bulletin Blakes du 1er mai 2020 intitulé Mise à jour : Le point sur les régimes de retraite et avantages sociaux pendant la pandémie de COVID-19, nous vous présentons ci-après les points saillants des...more
Pension regulators across Canada are adjusting their policies in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Blakes pension lawyers Lindsay McLeod, Adam Ngan and Sean Maxwell demystify the implications of the steps that federal and...more
On March 27, 2020, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) announced a series of regulatory adjustments designed to help reduce some of the operational stress on federally regulated institutions,...more
Congress recently passed the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (the “SECURE Act”), the largest package of retirement system reforms in over a decade. Many of the provisions in the SECURE Act...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Administrators of ERISA plans frequently receive requests from participants, beneficiaries, and their representatives for plan-related documents. A recent decision from the Court of Appeals for the Fifth...more
I always say that you have better chances not getting caught by robbing a bank than you do by stealing money as a plan fiduciary. Yet, people still do it and come up with some amazing ways to get away with it. This new story...more
Welcome to the 24th issue of the Blakes Pensions Newsletter. This newsletter provides a summary of recent jurisprudential developments that affect pensions and benefits and is not intended to be legal advice....more
Health and Welfare Plan Update - It is 9:00 p.m., do you know where your health plan data is? As IT systems continue to expand, and data is accessed, moved and stored in many new and different ways, the Office for Civil...more