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
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
On June 2, 2025, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced a significant expansion of its compliance assistance tools by launching an Opinion Letter Program across five key enforcement agencies, including the Employee...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
On January 14, 2025, the DOL issued Field Assistance Bulletin (FAB) 2025-01, providing sponsors and administrators of ongoing defined contribution plans with a new option for missing participant balances of $1,000 or less:...more
On January 14, 2025, the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) within the Department of Labor (DOL) updated its Voluntary Fiduciary Compliance Program (VFCP). The VFCP allows plan officials to correct certain...more
Strategic ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security Act) plan design and administration require more than just technical compliance—they call for foresight into how plans will hold up under legal scrutiny. In this...more
The January Monthly Minute highlights a recent Texas court decision holding ESG investing violated ERISA and a new development in the J&J prescription drug case that found plaintiff lacked standing to sue, and also digs into...more
There has been a recent uptick in ERISA class actions challenging the use of 401(k) plan forfeitures. Forfeitures are employer contributions that participants forfeit when they leave employment before those contributions vest...more
In many situations, practitioners recommend establishing a fiduciary committee to oversee ERISA-covered employee benefit plans. There are several reasons for this, including providing a well-defined process for...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 you are serving as a fiduciary for your employer’s retirement plan, you have a duty under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) to act prudently. Engaging in prudent behavior is only the first step a plan...more
In this episode of the Legal Marketing 2.0 Podcast, Guy is joined by Patrick Hayes. Patrick Hayes is a partner and chair of the Investment Management practice at Calfee, Halter & Griswold LLP where he supports investment...more
Investments in Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum are becoming more and more mainstream. Driven by outrageous returns, and presenting outrageous volatility and risk, both traditional institutional and individual...more
With the exception of certain small businesses, being an employer generally means offering an array of benefits to remain competitive in the worker marketplace. As the employer grows, typically so does the list of employee...more
It’s been, as the song goes, a long, long time coming. In April, the Department of Labor issued its first ever formal cybersecurity guidance for retirement plan sponsors and retirement plan fiduciaries, and for the service...more
In April, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), for the first time, issued cybersecurity guidance that was focused on retirement plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) but could be...more
The Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently announced its first cybersecurity guidance for retirement plans subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of...more
Health and retirement benefit plans subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”) have troves of personal information regarding plan participants and their beneficiaries - e.g., participants’ age, marital...more
If you are an ERISA fiduciary charged with management or investment of plan assets, and recent market activity has not tripped any alarm bells — or, if the alarm bells have been tripped, but you are are looking for a bit of...more
This is the eleventh in a series of articles about Best Practices for Plan Sponsors. To be clear, “best practices” are not the same as legal requirements. Instead, they are about better ways to manage retirement plans. In...more
Steering board members clear of being named plan fiduciaries is a start. Most board members don’t want to become 401(k) plan fiduciaries....more
If you help manage a retirement plan, you may be a fiduciary under federal law. Fiduciaries have significant legal duties, and may have personal liability for breaching those duties. Below are four best practices that can...more
Employer-sponsored retirement plans come in many varieties. For example, under 401(k) and other defined contribution plans, employees and, often, employers may make specific contributions to an employee’s plan account...more
Many employers historically were only concerned with privacy and security for health plans under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)1 and state laws; however, there are other references to...more
In This Issue: - Small Steps That Plan Sponsors Can Take To Limit Their Fiduciary Liability - "Plain" Advice to Retirement Plan Sponsors - Pick Plan Providers Just Because They Are Cheap Is A Bad Idea ...more