PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Forfeitures Under Fire
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Navigating Fiduciary Responsibilities in a Tide-Turning ESG Era
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Big Changes to Catch-Up Contributions in 2025
How ERISA Litigators Strengthen Plan Compliance and Risk Management: One-on-One with Jeb Gerth
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Good News for the ACA in 2025
#WorkforceWednesday®: New DOL Guidance - ERISA Plan Cybersecurity Update - Employment Law This Week®
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - New IRS Guidance on SECURE 2.0 Act Student Loan Employer Contributions
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Understanding Lifetime Income Products
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Trends in Recordkeeper Consolidation and Due Diligence
Long-Term Part-Time Employee Eligibility Rules Now in Effect — Troutman Pepper Podcast
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - What the J&J Case Means for Plan Administrators
What Can A Tax Attorney Do For You? A Podcast With Janathan Allen
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Understanding Fees in Retirement Planning
The No Surprises Act: A Cost Saving Opportunity for Employer Plan Sponsors
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - ESG Investing by Retirement Plans
Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation: Getting Ready for 2024 – Top-Hat Plans — Special Edition Podcast
Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation: Getting Ready for 2024 - Health and Welfare Plan Developments — Special Edition Podcast
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Auto-Portability: A New Way to Keep Retirement Savings Growing
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - IRS 2024 Health Plan Affordability Threshold May Put Some at Risk
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - SECURE 2.0 Act Relief for Plan Corrections
On May 15, 2025 the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Treasury (the “Departments”) announced they will temporarily not enforce their new standards published under the mental health parity Final Rule last...more
Excessive fee cases against plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) have been on the rise for the last decade. ERISA litigation is expanding with novel theories such as forfeiture litigation....more
In a unanimous decision reversing dismissal of prohibited transaction claims based on fees paid to defined contribution plan recordkeepers, the Supreme Court held that ERISA’s prohibited transaction exemptions are affirmative...more
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
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
The DOL updated its voluntary fiduciary correction program (“VFCP”) which was introduced over 20 years ago to allow plan sponsors to corrected enumerated fiduciary breaches. The amended VFCP now allows for self-correction of...more
In the prior article we discussed the reasoning behind creation of a health and welfare committee to oversee administration of the health and welfare plans. In creating a charter, a plan sponsor will need to decide whether to...more
Following the flurry of regulatory guidance and informal comments from officials at the Employee Benefits Security Administration, and other agencies of the Federal government, health and welfare plans should be a primary...more
As 2024 draws to a close, plan sponsors should be aware of those provisions of the SECURE Act 2.0 that become effective in 2025. Recall that the SECURE 2.0 Act (SECURE 2.0) was enacted on December 29, 2022, and while some...more
In its most recent step to combat cybersecurity risks to employee benefit plans, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) clarified on September 6, 2024, that its guidance on cybersecurity applies to health and welfare plans as...more
If so, you may need to do so by December 1, 2024. Our Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Group reviews the multiple year-end notices that defined contribution plans must issue to participants....more
In potentially welcome news for public institutions of higher education, in Notice 2024-73, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) confirmed that the new long-term part-time (LTPT) rules introduced by the SECURE Act and SECURE...more
Earlier this week, the IRS released Notice 2024-77, which provides much-anticipated guidance related to the handling of so-called “inadvertent benefit overpayments” from qualified retirement plans under the SECURE 2.0 Act. ...more
Executive Summary - Many investment advisers and other financial institutions rely on the Department of Labor’s QPAM Exemption when providing services to, and transacting with, employer-sponsored retirement plans, individual...more
With 2023 drawing to a close, it is a good time for employers to consider any actions needed before year-end with respect to their benefit plans. We made a list, and we encourage plan sponsors to check it twice....more
In the final installment of our three-part Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation podcast miniseries, hosts Jim Earle and Josh Gelfand discuss the basics of top-hat plans — what they are and the necessary steps to...more
In the second episode of our three-part Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation podcast miniseries, hosts Lynne Wakefield and Lydia Parker discuss key health and welfare plan developments as we close out 2023 and head...more
This week we move away from the world of the standard retirement or health and welfare plans and into the world of executive compensation. Executive compensation arrangements provide a company with a highly flexible benefit...more
On this episode of Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion, host Brydon DeWitt is joined by his colleague, Marc Purintun, who discusses partial plan terminations. While you may be aware that plan sponsors can terminate a plan,...more
The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) is a body of federal laws and regulations that govern the provision and operation of certain employer-sponsored benefit plans. While its structure and requirements...more
Bonuses are something I don’t know much about since the only bonus I got was $300 three months after I started as an ERISA attorney. What I do know about bonuses is my role as an ERISA attorney and I have to say from...more
The recently enacted Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 (“CAA”) requires new disclosures for brokers and other consultants providing services to certain group health plans. Under the CAA, “covered service providers”...more
In this episode of the Proskauer Benefits Brief, partner Robert Projansky and special guest Garrett Fenton, senior attorney at Microsoft Corporation, discuss cyber theft of 401(k) plan accounts. Tune in as we discuss why...more
When I first started as an ERISA attorney, I worked for a kind man named Harvey Berman in 1998, working for his law firm affiliated with his third-party administration firm. During Christmas time, he gave me a $300. That was...more
We are pleased to present our annual End of Year Plan Sponsor “To Do” Lists. This year, we present our “To Do” Lists in four separate Employee Benefits Updates. This Part 1 covers year-end health and welfare plan issues....more