On October 30, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor (the “DOL”) released a Final Rule to “provide clear regulatory guideposts for fiduciaries of private-sector retirement and other employee benefit plans in light of recent...more
11/12/2020
/ Amended Regulation ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Duty of Loyalty ,
Duty of Prudence ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Fiduciary ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Investors ,
Required Documentation ,
Retirement ,
Retirement Plan ,
Retirement Plan Providers ,
Section 404
Spotlight -
Wrongfully Convicted of Murder, Tennessee Board of Parole Recommends Adam Braseel to be Exonerated -
On June 24, 2020, The Tennessee Board of Parole voted unanimously to recommend that Gov. Bill Lee...more
7/24/2020
/ 401k ,
Contraceptive Coverage Mandate ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Criminal Convictions ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Exonerate ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Little Sisters of the Poor Saints Peter and Paul Home v Pennsylvania ,
Loan Forgiveness ,
Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) ,
Personal Protective Equipment ,
Private Equity ,
Religious Exemption ,
SCOTUS ,
Trump Administration ,
Work Visas
The U.S. Department of Labor (the “DOL”) recently released an information letter that concludes, if certain conditions are met, a plan fiduciary will not violate his fiduciary duties under the Employee Retirement Income...more
7/16/2020
/ 401k ,
404(c) Plans ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Information Letters ,
Investment ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Management ,
Private Equity ,
Private Equity Funds ,
Retirement Plan
Presently, many human resource departments are scrambling to address issues raised by the passage of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (the “FFCRA”) and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (the...more
On December 20, 2019, President Trump signed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020 (the “Appropriations Act”) that includes the “Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019” (the “SECURE...more
12/27/2019
/ 401k ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Inherited IRA ,
Investment Management ,
Multiple Employer Plan (MEP) ,
Retirement ,
Retirement Plan ,
Safe Harbors ,
SECURE Act ,
Tax Credits
Generally, a 403(b) plan is a retirement planning program whereby a public school or tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization (including churches) makes contributions for their employees (and certain ministers) to specific types of...more
10/9/2019
/ 403(b) Plans ,
Church Plans ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Contributions ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Final Rules ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
IRS ,
Plan Documents ,
Public Schools ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Retirement Plan ,
Tax Exempt Entities ,
Tax Extensions ,
Tax Shelters
On April 29, 2019, the United States Department of Labor (the “DOL”) released a policy statement providing transitional relief from the potential adverse consequences arising from a District Court’s vacating portions of the...more
5/16/2019
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Association Health Plans ,
Contract Terms ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Final Rules ,
Health Insurance ,
MEWAs
A health wellness program is broadly defined as any program of health promotion or disease prevention. My recent article entitled “Taxonomy of Health Wellness Programs – Part I” reviewed the classification of health wellness...more
With increasing employee health costs, many employers are adopting or expanding their health wellness programs. In the retirement plan area, some employers are also adopting programs to assist their employees with managing...more
Section 403(b) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”) authorizes a type of retirement plan that can be sponsored by certain tax exempt organizations (e.g., a Code Section 501(c)(3) organization,...more
4/6/2018
/ 403(b) Plans ,
501(c)(3) ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Employee Benefits ,
Former Employee ,
Income Taxes ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Required Minimum Distributions ,
Retirement Plan ,
Tax Exempt Entities
In early November, I posted an article entitled “Tax Reform Proposal Nixes Favorable Tax Treatment of Several Employee Benefits”. That article reviewed the Ways and Means Committee’s proposal (H.R. 1, the Tax Reform and Jobs...more
1/4/2018
/ Adoption ,
Dependent Care ,
Educational Assistance Programs ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Relocations ,
Income Taxes ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRA Rollovers ,
IRS ,
New Legislation ,
Repeal ,
Roth IRA ,
Tangible Property ,
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ,
Tax Reform ,
Time Extensions ,
Trump Administration
On November 3, 2017, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Brody began the legislative consideration of Tax Reform by releasing an amendment (in the nature of a substitute) to the Tax Reform and Jobs Act (H.R. 1 hereinafter...more
11/14/2017
/ Adoption ,
Cafeteria Plans ,
Dependent Care Assistance Program (DCAP) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Relocations ,
Income Taxes ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
Markups ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Reimbursements ,
Tax Credits ,
Tax Exemptions ,
Tax Reform ,
Ways and Means Committee
On December 29, 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor (the “DOL”) released Interpretive Bulletin 2016-1 (“IB 2016-1”) relating to the voting of proxies on securities held in employee benefit plans. IB 2016-1 withdraws the...more
1/20/2017
/ Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Defined Benefit Plans ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Directed Trustees ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employee Stock Purchase Rights ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Interpretive Opinions ,
Investment Management ,
Investment Policy Statements ,
Profit Sharing ,
Proxy Voting Guidelines ,
Qualified Benefit Plans