PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Forfeitures Under Fire
5 Key Takeaways | IRS Final RMD Rules & Proposed Regulations to Address SECURE 2.0 Act Issues
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - New IRS Guidance on SECURE 2.0 Act Student Loan Employer Contributions
Long-Term Part-Time Employee Eligibility Rules Now in Effect — Troutman Pepper Podcast
What Can A Tax Attorney Do For You? A Podcast With Janathan Allen
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Auto-Portability: A New Way to Keep Retirement Savings Growing
#WorkforceWednesday: SECURE Act 2.0 - What 401(k) Plan Sponsors Need to Know - Employment Law This Week®
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Plan Administrators’ 2022 Year-End Checklist
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Court Decisions Impacting Plan Sponsors and Fiduciaries
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Helping Employers Address the Gender Gap in Retirement Savings
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Millennials, Boomers and Retirement Planning
The Form 5500: What All Employers and Plan Administrators Need to Know and How to Avoid Costly Fines
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Cryptocurrency in 401(k) Plans
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - What Constitutes Plan Assets Under ERISA?
2022 Resolutions: What Healthcare Practices Need To Tackle In the New Year
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 - Back to the Future: SECURE Act and SECURE Act 2.0
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Payroll Integration for Plan Sponsors
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Plan Administrators’ 2020 Year-End Checklist
Bitcoin has blown past $120,000 and, predictably, the buzz is back. Advisors are getting questions. Participants are curious. And yes, some plan sponsors are starting to wonder if it’s time to add crypto to their 401(k)...more
Forfeitures have long been a sleepy corner of 401(k) plan administration, but recent class-action lawsuits are waking everyone up....more
On July 28, 2025, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued some new interpretive guidance as part of a request for information (“RFI”) about pooled employer plans (“PEPs”) and an employer’s fiduciary responsibilities that...more
Here we go again. Another jumbo 401(k) plan, another lawsuit, another round of alleged fiduciary misconduct that reads like a broken record for those of us who’ve been watching this space since before fee disclosure was a...more
Fifteen years into my solo practice, you’d think I’d be desensitized to the absurdities of the 401(k) world. But no. Every time I think I’ve seen it all, a plan sponsor, or more accurately, the people advising them, reminds...more
Fifteen years into running my own practice, I can say without hesitation—it was the right decision. Going out on my own as an ERISA attorney allowed me to focus on what truly matters: delivering value to clients, not...more
In Compliance Assistance Release 2025-01 (the “Release”), the Department of Labor (the “Department”) rescinded its prior guidance that cautioned fiduciaries against offering cryptocurrency investments in their retirement...more
Another week, another Adams v. Goliath story in the world of ERISA litigation—and this time, Goliath is Cigna. The company is now facing its second lawsuit in as many months over how it handled forfeitures in its $13 billion...more
Let me be honest: most fiduciary training out there is about as exciting as watching paint dry in a compliance office. It’s often a checkbox exercise—generic, outdated, and completely divorced from the real-world problems...more
After close to 30 years in this business—wearing the hats of TPA employee, ERISA attorney, plan document drafter, and occasional therapist to frantic plan sponsors—I’ve seen it all. The horror stories, the lawsuits, the...more
I enjoy business history and why certain businesses and organizations fail. I knew Sears and Blockbuster Video would fail, years ahead of time. I knew the synagogue where I was a member and where my son had his bris, would...more
The Department of Labor recently issued Compliance Assistance Release No. 2025-01 rescinding Compliance Assistance Release No. 2022-01 that directed 401(k) plan fiduciaries to exercise “extreme care” before adding...more
Empower recently made headlines by announcing a bold new initiative: giving defined contribution (DC) retirement plan participants access to private market investments. On the surface, it sounds like a win—more choice,...more
When I draft a new 401(k) plan for a client, one of the first provisions I’ll recommend—including with some reluctance—is a loan feature. Not because I enjoy dealing with it. On the contrary, it’s an administrative pain. But...more
The landscape for retirement plan investments and fiduciary risks is shifting in the early part of the second Trump Administration, both due to changes in the administration’s policies and developments in the courts....more
When acquiring a company that offers its employees retirement benefits via a 401(k) plan, a lot can go wrong and recent law changes and litigation trends have created more complications. Buyers who fail to understand and...more
Artificial Intelligence. It sounds futuristic, impressive, and maybe even a little terrifying—like something you’d expect in a sci-fi movie where robots take over the world. I’m still convinced that AI is just Skynet in...more
I have experienced several bear markets as an ERISA attorney, and it’s never easy, especially with the current volatility due to tariffs....more
A recent complaint (Dylan Handy v. Paychex, Inc.) highlights the potential for plan administrators, and their delegates, to continue monitoring distributions after being made. In this particular situation, the participant...more
I’ve been in the retirement plan business for 26 years and I’ve been through a few recessions in that time. There was the dot-bomb implosion, added by 9/11. Let us not forget when our entire financial system was on the verge...more
by Alex Smith A recently filed lawsuit related to Swiss Re’s 401(k) plan stands out because of the extensive assortment of allegations...more
At work and at home, one of the worst things I ever did was make a mistake and not accept responsibility for it. Instead of owning up, I would make excuses, turning the fight over the mistake into a bigger issue than the...more
On whether to recommend Bitcoin and other digital assets for clients, financial advisers are wary about their fiduciary duty to clients, according to a CoinShares survey....more
The March Monthly Minute brings you three recent case updates addressing 401(k) forfeiture utilization, TPA responsibility for recovering self-insured plan’s fraudulently paid claims, and continued PBM litigation in the wake...more
As I have always said, the most important 401(k) plan provider you can hire is a Third-Party Administrator (TPA). That’s because a TPA does so much work, and their incompetence can lead to you getting penalized or forcing you...more