On August 7, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order (the Order) instructing federal agencies to expand access to alternative asset investments for participants in defined-contribution retirement plans such as 401(k)...more
8/14/2025
/ 401k ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Defined Contribution Plans ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Digital Assets ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Executive Orders ,
Fiduciary ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Investment ,
Investment Management ,
Popular ,
Private Equity ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Trump Administration
To encourage participation in 401(k) plans, the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (SECURE Act) requires employers who sponsor 401(k) plans with eligibility service requirements that exclude...more
Summary -
The U.S. Supreme Court this week unanimously decided an ERISA fiduciary duty case, Hughes v. Northwestern University, which will impact dozens of similar cases currently pending against fiduciaries of section...more
1/27/2022
/ 401k ,
403(b) Plans ,
Breach of Duty ,
Duty of Prudence ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Hughes v. Northwestern University ,
Plan Participants ,
Retirement Plan ,
SCOTUS ,
Tibble v Edison Int
Summary -
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has issued a temporary enforcement policy to address frequently asked questions about the requirement for certain service providers to disclose direct and indirect compensation...more
Summary -
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) released Proposed Regulations for plan fiduciaries on the role Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) considerations should play in investment decisions....more
10/18/2021
/ Climate Change ,
Comment Period ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Fiduciary ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Management ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Rulemaking Process
Summary The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously upheld an Arkansas statute that regulates the price that pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) pay retail pharmacies for prescription drugs. ...more
12/15/2020
/ Drug Pricing ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Health Insurance ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Pharmacies ,
Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) ,
Preemption ,
Prescription Drug Coverage ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Rutledge v Pharmaceutical Care Management Association ,
SCOTUS
The United States Department of Labor (DOL) has issued a new set of proposed regulations providing guidance to plan fiduciaries about investing plan assets in investment vehicles that have environmental, social, and/or...more
6/26/2020
/ 401k ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Investment Management ,
New Guidance ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Retirement Plan
On May 27, 2020, the United States Department of Labor (DOL) published its highly-anticipated Default Electronic Disclosures by Employee Pension Benefit Plans Under ERISA Final Rule (the E-Disclosure Final Rule), which...more
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) – the federal agency created by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to insure certain defined benefit pension plans offered by private-sector employers –...more
The Coronavirus, Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act, which passed the Senate last night, is Congress’s third legislative answer to the coronavirus pandemic. The CARES Act represents a heavily negotiated...more
This week, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published its highly anticipated Final Rule, which allows working owners with no employees and companies in unrelated industries to band together to create a single defined...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
3/19/2018
/ Best Interest Contract Exemptions ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Deregulation ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Fiduciary Rule ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Management ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Retirement Plan ,
Trump Administration ,
Vacated
U.S. Representative Mimi Walters (R-CA) last week introduced bill H.R. 4219, "Workflex in the 21st Century Act," which, if passed, will create a voluntary program through which employers can opt to offer employees a...more
11/13/2017
/ Compensation & Benefits ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Flexible Work Arrangements ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Paid Leave ,
Paid Time Off (PTO) ,
Preemption ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Wage and Hour ,
Work Schedules
The IRS has released Announcement 2017-11 to provide relief to taxpayers from requirements for loans and hardship distributions for participants of qualified retirement plans who have been adversely affected by Hurricane...more
9/1/2017
/ 401k ,
403(b) Plans ,
457(b) Plans ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Future Tax Treatment ,
Hardship Distributions ,
Hurricane Harvey ,
IRS ,
Loans ,
Natural Disasters ,
Retirement Plan
A plaintiffs' class action law firm in St. Louis made national headlines last August when it filed a series of breach of fiduciary duty lawsuits under ERISA, the federal employee benefits law, against the fiduciaries of...more
5/15/2017
/ 401k ,
Breach of Duty ,
Class Action ,
Educational Institutions ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Investment Management ,
Mutual Funds ,
Retirement Plan ,
Transaction Fees
Several ERISA breach of fiduciary duty class actions involving allegedly excessive retirement plan fees were filed this week against higher education institutions including colleges, universities, and medical schools. The...more
8/12/2016
/ 403(b) Plans ,
Breach of Duty ,
Class Action ,
Colleges ,
Educational Institutions ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fees ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Investment Management ,
Medical School ,
Retirement Plan ,
Universities
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has finalized regulations describing the circumstances in which a person who provides investment advice in connection with a retirement plan or individual retirement arrangement (IRA) acts...more
ERISA does not allow a state to compel a self-insured group health plan to compile and report medical claims data for inclusion in a state-wide all-payer health care database, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in a landmark...more
The U. S. Department of Labor (DOL) has reissued long-awaited proposed regulations describing the circumstances in which a person who provides investment advice in connection with a retirement plan or individual retirement...more