Mid-Year Labor & Employment Law Update: Key Developments and Compliance Strategies
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Gag Clause Prohibitions
DOL Restructures: OFCCP on the Chopping Block as Opinion Letters Expand - #WorkforceWednesday® - Employment Law This Week®
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Forfeitures Under Fire
Independent Contractor Rule, EEO-1 Reporting, and New York Labor Law Amendment - #WorkforceWednesday® - Employment Law This Week®
Navigating Contractor vs. Employee Classification
Work This Way: A Labor & Employment Law Podcast | Episode 45: New Leadership at Employment-Related Federal Agencies with David Dubberly of Maynard Nexsen
Multijurisdictional Employers, Part 1: Independent Contractors vs. Employees
Non-Competes Eased, Anti-DEI Rule Blocked, Contractor Rule in Limbo - Employment Law This Week® - #WorkforceWednesday®
#WorkforceWednesday®: New DOL Leadership, NLRB Quorum, EEOC Enforcement Priorities - Employment Law This Week®
The Labor Law Insider: What's Next for Labor Law Under the Trump Administration, Part I
The Implications of President Trump's EO on Gender Ideology: What's the Tea in L&E?
#WorkforceWednesday®: Federal Agencies Begin Compliance Efforts Under Trump Administration - Employment Law This Week®
Fostering Teamwork: Lessons From the Dynamic Duo of Monsters, Inc. — Hiring to Firing Podcast
#WorkforceWednesday®: Employment Law Changes Under President Trump - Employment Law This Week®
Employment Law Now VIII-158 - DEI Developments and Executive Coaching
Now Is the Time to Conduct I-9 Audits: What's the Tea in L&E?
Employment Law Now VIII-157 - Top 5 L&E Issues to Watch in 2025
Constangy Clips Ep. 6 - Federal Court Blocks DOL Rule: What Employers Need to Know
The Labor Law Insider - Elections Have Consequences: Labor Law Changes Anticipated Under Trump Administration, Part II
In a lawsuit currently under appeal at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the court has been asked to decide whether the plan administrator violated its fiduciary duties of prudence and loyalty under ERISA when...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
Last week, Judge Reed O’Connor of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, issued the first-of-its-kind ruling on the merits pertaining to environmental, social, and corporate governance (“ESG”) investing...more
All qualified retirement plans are subject to a myriad of requirements of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA). The United States Department of Labor (DOL) is charged with enforcing the...more
The Employee Retirement Income Security Act ("ERISA") plaintiffs' bar has found a new way to allege that 401(k) plan sponsors have breached their fiduciary duty....more
A Texas federal judge recently permitted an environmental, social, and governance- (ESG) related Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) case filed by an airline pilot against his employer and its benefits plan to...more
A handful of new ERISA litigation cases (including McManus v. Clorox Co., N.D Cal. No. 4:23-cv-05325) are taking aim at forfeiture accounts and trying to pull them into the never-ending list of ways in which retirement plan...more
In Su v. Fensler, No. 22-cv-01030, 2023 WL 5152640 (N.D. Ill. Aug. 10, 2023), the court granted the Department of Labor’s motion for a preliminary injunction to replace with an independent fiduciary the trustees of the United...more
Welcome to Goodwin’s ERISA Litigation Update. Litigation involving ERISA-governed benefits plans has exploded in recent years. Lawyers in our award-winning ERISA Litigation practice have extensive experience litigating these...more
The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CAA) generally requires group health plan sponsors to request and review fee information from their plan service providers who provide brokerage services or consulting. This fee...more
The Federal District Court for Hawaii recently determined that no violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”) were established by the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) in a breach of...more
Abbott Laboratories beat back a 2020 lawsuit from a 401(k) participant whose account was fraudulently raided of $245,000. The plaintiff, Heide Bartnett, also sued Alight Solutions, the plan’s recordkeeper, and that case...more
Multiple new lawsuits have been filed since the start of 2020. Complications caused by the Coronavirus have not slowed the onslaught of 401(k) fee litigation across the country. Last month, Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. was...more
Editor's Overview - Happy New Year. We wrap-up 2019 with an article that reflects on significant developments in ERISA litigation during 2019, and takes a look at what's on the horizon for 2020. The courts (at all levels)...more
In this issue: Has DOL Put Final Nail In Coffin of ‘Substantial Compliance’ Doctrine for Disability Claims? Analysis of the most recent revisions to the ERISA Claims Procedure regulations, asking whether the amendments...more
A recently released case highlights the protection afforded by a retirement plan committee that takes its role seriously. In Scalia v. WPN Corp., No. 2:14-cv-01494, 2019 WL 4748052 (W.D. Pa. Sept. 30, 2019)), a Pennsylvania...more
In one of the first ERISA cases to address claims against fiduciaries for excessive health plan fees, the court entered judgment in favor of the defendants on all counts. The decision addresses health plan fiduciary standards...more
WHAT’S THE EXPOSURE? • Settlements up to $140 million • Last year alone, settlements of $17 million, $22 million, $24 million, and among others • Plaintiffs’ lawyers generally get 1/3 of the settlement amounts • Plaintiffs’...more
As we head into the thick of summer, all eyes are on President Trump's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court to replace retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy and the impact the new Justice will have on shaping the law for...more
Despite the change in seasons, there appears to be no change in the pace of complex and class action ERISA litigation. Investments in defined contribution plans—both 401(k) and 403(b) plans—continue to be the leading target...more
Last month, we wrote about potential litigation issues under the “revised temporary” DOL Rule involving the offer and sale of annuities in the IRA market. This paper continues that discussion. I emphasize to the reader that...more
Editor's Overview - As we have observed on other occasions, the ERISA class action plaintiffs' bar has, for several years now, honed in on 401(k) plan fiduciaries and their decisions to select and retain investment options...more
In light of the recent settlement between the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and a health plan third-party administrator (TPA), plan fiduciaries and TPAs should re-examine, or even re-negotiate, portions of their current TPA...more