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Benefit Plan Sponsors Disclosure Requirements Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)

Hall Benefits Law

PBM Contracts Could Expose Plan Sponsors to Fiduciary Liability

Hall Benefits Law on

A plan sponsor’s fiduciary duty to be transparent in Pharmacy Benefit Manager contracts safeguards plan participants’ interests and mitigates the risk of litigation, regulatory penalties, and reputational harm, say Hall...more

Verrill

Does ERISA Work?

Verrill on

On Labor Day, September 2, 1974, Gerald Ford signed the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”) into law. ERISA governs the employee benefit plans (i.e., retirement and welfare plans) of most private employers in...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

Providing Info to Participants

ERISA requires disclosure of certain plan documents to participants including a summary plan description, statements, and notices. The problem is what do you do with people who aren’t participants such as potential employees?...more

Foley & Lardner LLP

Benefits Basics - When an Employee Dies: A Resource Guide for HR & Benefits Professionals

Foley & Lardner LLP on

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

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

Things I Worry About (8): DOL Investigations and Unsuspecting Plan Sponsors (2)

As explained in my last post, Things I Worry About (7), the DOL’s EBSA has a number of programs that can restore benefits to plans and participants. Those include: - Civil investigations. - Criminal investigations. -...more

Wiley Rein LLP

PBM Contracting and Administration: What Are the Rules of the Road for Self-Insured Employees?

Wiley Rein LLP on

In February 2024, a group representing (among others) the Johnson & Johnson Group Health Plan and its component plans (Plaintiffs) sued Johnson & Johnson and The Pension & Benefits Committee of Johnson and Johnson (J&J) over...more

Williams Mullen

Annual Employee Benefits Compliance Checklists: Plan Administrators of Governmental and Church Plans

Williams Mullen on

Administrators of governmental plans and church plans that are not subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) should review the following actions to be taken before the end of 2024 and address what...more

Snell & Wilmer

An Interesting Intersection: No Surprises Act Claims and the New Fee Disclosure Requirements for Group Health Plans

Snell & Wilmer on

As reported in our January 7, 2022 SW Benefits Blog “The DOL Asks and Answers Questions About the New Welfare Plan Fee Disclosure Rules,” group health plans must now comply with the ERISA Section 408(b)(2) disclosure...more

Verrill

How to Shoot Yourself in the Foot with Your SPD

Verrill on

Benefit plan sponsors sometimes send out Summary Plan Descriptions (SPDs) having given too little thought to the legal consequences. Two recent cases illustrate how an organization can end up in serious and costly litigation...more

Holland & Hart - The Benefits Dial

What Happens in a Small Town Stays in a Small Town … Until the DOL Doubles Down on Mental Health Parity Compliance

The Department of Labor (DOL), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Department of Treasury (collectively, the Departments) recently issued their joint report to Congress regarding their Mental Health...more

McAfee & Taft

New health plan disclosure requirements should bring more transparency

McAfee & Taft on

Ten years ago, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published a final regulation under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) that required retirement plan service providers to disclose information about...more

Morgan Lewis - ML Benefits

Qualified Retirement Plan Sponsors: Don't Forget About Summary Plan Descriptions

While considering year-end tasks and planning for the upcoming year, qualified plan sponsors should think about whether they need to revise and/or reissue their summary plan descriptions (SPDs) in 2022....more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

40% of plan participants don’t know what their fees are, most of the other 60% also have no clue

According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), about 40% of 401(k) plan participants don’t fully understand the fees they are paying. Even with fee disclosure rules implemented in 2012, 41% of participants...more

Verrill

Retirement Plan Administrators: Are You Ready to Comply with the New Lifetime Income Disclosure Requirement for Benefit...

Verrill on

Lifetime Income Disclosure Requirement. The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (the “SECURE Act”), enacted December 20, 2019, added a new annual disclosure requirement for benefit statements to...more

Holland & Hart - The Benefits Dial

In the Darkness at the Edge of Town…Cybersecurity Guidance for Plan Participants, Record-Keepers, and Plan Sponsors From The EBSA

On April 14, 2021, the Employee Benefits Security Administration (“EBSA”) published guidance for plan sponsors, plan fiduciaries, record-keepers, and plan participants on best practices for maintaining cybersecurity. This is...more

Dickinson Wright

Group Health Plan Transparency Disclosure Rules Finalized: What Plan Sponsors Should Know

Dickinson Wright on

The Department of Labor (DOL), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) (collectively, Agencies) issued final regulations in November 2020 requiring non-grandfathered group...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

ERISA Disclosure Requirements for Service Providers Extended to Group Health Plans

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

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

Consolidated Appropriations Act Requirements to Increase Health Plan Transparency

The Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA), 2021, which was signed into law December 27, 2020, includes provisions designed to increase transparency in employee health benefit plans in four key areas. Removal of Gag Clauses...more

Fisher Phillips

Labor Department Creates New Options For Employers To Electronically Distribute Retirement Plan Notices

Fisher Phillips on

The Department of Labor recently issued a new rule providing an additional safe harbor for electronic disclosure of pension plan notices effective July 27, 2020. Prior to the new rule, the DOL’s only safe harbor for...more

Burr & Forman

The Countdown Begins for Lifetime Income Disclosures

Burr & Forman on

The SECURE Act of 2019 made three statutory changes to ERISA regarding lifetime income benefit payments from defined contribution plans (e.g., 401(k), 403(b), profit sharing, and money purchase pension plans). This blog will...more

McDermott Will & Emery

DOL: Path for 401(k) Plans to Offer Private Equity Investment Options

McDermott Will & Emery on

The US Department of Labor (DOL) issued an information letter in June 2020 indicating that, in limited circumstances, it will allow defined contribution retirement plans (such as 401(k) plans) to indirectly invest in private...more

K&L Gates LLP

DOL Creates New E-Delivery Safe Harbor for Retirement Plan Disclosures

K&L Gates LLP on

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY - The Department of Labor (DOL) published final regulations that make significant strides in reducing barriers to the electronic delivery of a wide array of retirement plan disclosures. Specifically, the...more

Troutman Pepper Locke

Changes to Plan Distribution and Disclosure Information

Troutman Pepper Locke on

Updated Safe Harbor Special Tax Notice (402(f) notice) & Lifetime Income Illustrations – Five Key Points for Plan Fiduciaries - The IRS has updated its safe harbor Special Tax Notice required to be provided to plan...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Show Me the (Monthly) Money!

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on

Seyfarth Synopsis: On Tuesday, August 18, 2020, the Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) released an interim final rule related to a new disclosure that will need to be provided as a part of...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

E-disclosure should lower fees too

It’s great that the Department of Labor (DOL) has finally embraced the electronic disclosure of important ERISA notices. It took them a long time, but when your business is trying to protect participant rights, this is what...more

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