News & Analysis as of

Class Action Employee Benefits

A class action is a type of legal action where a representative individual or group of individuals can bring a claim on behalf of a larger group or class who share a common legal interest.
Holland & Hart - The Benefits Dial

Some Beach … Fiduciary Considerations As Recordkeeper Sued For Misusing 401(k) Participant Data

A proposed class action lawsuit filed against Empower last month highlights the importance for 401(k) plan fiduciaries to carefully negotiate their services agreements with recordkeepers and other services providers. The...more

Vedder Price

Health Plan Tobacco Surcharge Litigation

Vedder Price on

Employers are facing a surge in class action lawsuits challenging health plan premium surcharges imposed on smokers and other tobacco users, commonly referred to as “smoker surcharges.” Earlier this year Bass Pro Shops agreed...more

Carlton Fields

Painting Outside the Lines: New Strokes in ERISA Forfeiture Litigation

Carlton Fields on

ERISA forfeiture class action litigation has continued to see various developments and potential new theories emerging in 2025. As Carlton Fields has previously reported, starting in late 2023, a new trend of lawsuits emerged...more

Husch Blackwell LLP

Employers Continue to Face ERISA Tobacco Surcharge Lawsuits, With Mixed Results

Husch Blackwell LLP on

Recently, companies have seen a spate of class action lawsuits challenging the legality of tobacco cessation wellness programs and related tobacco surcharges imposed by their employer-sponsored health benefit plans....more

Bond Schoeneck & King PLLC

401(k) Forfeiture Litigation: Implications for Plan Sponsors

Background - In a wave of class-action litigation beginning around 2023, plaintiffs have alleged violations of fiduciary duties under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and prohibited transaction rules in...more

Mayer Brown

The Current State of the Law in ERISA Forfeitures Cases

Mayer Brown on

Since September 2023, ERISA plaintiff’s firms have filed approximately 60 class action lawsuits challenging the longstanding practice of plan sponsors using plan forfeitures to offset their employer contributions in 401(k)...more

Mayer Brown

US Supreme Court Grants Review in One ERISA Case, and Has Now Called for Views of the Solicitor General in Two Other ERISA Cases

Mayer Brown on

Fresh off its April 17, 2025 decision in Cunningham v. Cornell University, the US Supreme Court is setting the stage to delve back into ERISA issues next Term. On Monday, the Court granted certiorari to resolve a circuit...more

Jackson Lewis P.C.

Florida District Court Declines to Expand ERISA Disclosure Requirements

Jackson Lewis P.C. on

A Florida district court recently gave TECO Energy, Inc. another victory in an ERISA case when it dismissed Plaintiff’s proposed class action with prejudice. Roche v. Teco Energy, Inc., No. 8:23-cv-01571, 2025 U.S. Dist....more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

United Health is latest 401(k) forfeiture lawsuit

UnitedHealth Group is the latest big-name employer to get hit with a class action lawsuit over how it handles 401(k) forfeitures. The case, Kotalik et al. v. UnitedHealth Group Inc., accuses the company and its plan...more

Jackson Lewis P.C.

Sixth Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Excessive Fee Case Against DENSO International

Jackson Lewis P.C. on

The Sixth Circuit recently granted an employer win in an ERISA excessive fee case when it affirmed the dismissal of a proposed class action brought by current and former employees of DENSO International America, Inc., a...more

Kilpatrick

The Ninth Circuit Rejects Plaintiffs’ Challenge to 401(k) Investments in Private Equity

Kilpatrick on

On May 22, 2025, the Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court’s decision to reject a class action lawsuit brought against fiduciaries of Intel defined contribution retirement plans that challenged the plan managers’ decision...more

Keating Muething & Klekamp PLL

Benefits Monthly Minute - May 2025

The May Monthly Minute brings you up-to-date on mental health parity enforcement relief, as well as smoker surcharge and prohibited transaction litigation. Nonenforcement of 2024 Mental Health Parity Regulations - Earlier...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

Northrop Grumman is target for another Schlicter case

If there’s a Mount Rushmore of ERISA class-action litigators, you better believe Jerry Schlichter’s face is carved into it—probably right next to a 408(b)(2) disclosure and a stack of mutual fund fee charts. And once again,...more

Fox Rothschild LLP

Knowledge [Literally] Pays: Important Considerations for Massachusetts Employers

Fox Rothschild LLP on

Massachusetts is one of the most employee-friendly states in the nation when it comes to wage-and-hour laws. While the federal minimum wage is only $7.25 per hour, Massachusetts currently requires most employers to pay a...more

Morris, Manning & Martin, LLP

What is an Improper Use of Forfeiture Case Worth? Intuit Settlement Provides Perspective

On Friday, May 16th, plaintiff’s counsel in the Rodriguez v. Intuit Inc. case filed a motion to support a settlement of $1,995,000.  The motion appears to reflect a good compromise between the parties … and as they say, a...more

Troutman Pepper Locke

Republican-Backed Congressional Proposal in Congress Seeks to Allow Companies to Offer Benefits to Independent Contractors: April...

Troutman Pepper Locke on

Last month, the most significant legal development in the area of independent contractor (IC) compliance and misclassification was on Capitol Hill. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, a Senate Republican who chairs the Senate Health,...more

ArentFox Schiff

Mental Health Parity: In a Pair of Decisions, California Federal Court Rejects United’s Efforts to Kick Behavioral Health Class...

ArentFox Schiff on

Within the last month, the US District Court for the Northern District of California rejected efforts by United Behavioral Health (UBH) to dismiss and decertify two class actions seeking relief related to UBH’s processing of...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

Whole Foods settles class action case

Whole Foods Market has agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit that alleged the company failed to prudently manage the administrative fees of its $1.9 billion 401(k) plan, resulting in millions in losses for employees....more

Holland & Hart - The Benefits Dial

Truck on Fire … Supreme Court Relaxes ERISA Pleading Standards

by Alex Smith The Supreme Court recently issued a decision regarding the pleading standards for ERISA prohibited transactions claims in a case involving Cornell’s 403(b) plan to resolve a federal circuit court split. Under...more

Saul Ewing LLP

The Friday Five: Five ERISA Litigation Highlights - May 2025

Saul Ewing LLP on

This month’s Friday Five explores decisions from around the country discussing the concept of reasonableness in various forms. One court rejected the parties’ proffered definitions of the term “working” and instead determined...more

Carlton Fields

Faulty COBRA Notices Can Cost Big Bucks

Carlton Fields on

When COBRA cases survive motions to dismiss, big dollars are at stake. Marrow v. E.R. Carpenter Co., No. 8:23-cv-02959, is a class action lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida on behalf...more

Ropes & Gray LLP

Plan Sponsors Beware: The U.S. Supreme Court Just Eased Requirements to File ERISA Prohibited Transaction Suits

Ropes & Gray LLP on

Many sponsors and fiduciaries of ERISA retirement plans had been hoping that the U.S. Supreme Court’s opinion in Cunningham v. Cornell University (No. 23-1007) would articulate new pleading standards that would slow the...more

Keating Muething & Klekamp PLL

Benefits Monthly Minute - April 2025

The April Monthly Minute showers readers with some eye-opening case law updates, ranging from a $38.8M jury verdict in a 401(k) fee case, to a pair of cases involving Elevance (f/k/a Anthem) health plan coverage exclusions....more

Lowenstein Sandler LLP

Supreme Court Ruling Makes It Easier for Participants To Sue Plan Fiduciaries

Lowenstein Sandler LLP on

On April 17, the Supreme Court unanimously resolved a circuit split in Cunningham v. Cornell University, holding that plan participants need only allege that fiduciaries engaged in a “prohibited transaction” under the...more

DLA Piper

Supreme Court Opens the Door to Increased ERISA Litigation

DLA Piper on

The US Supreme Court has issued a unanimous opinion that could lead to an increase in litigation for prohibited transaction claims under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA)....more

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