Great Women in Compliance: The Mind at Work with Lynette Buebird
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Cost, Care and Captives: A Mid-Size Employer’s Guide to Benefit Trends
Regulatory Rollback: Legal Challenges and Opportunities in Earned-Wage Access — Payments Pros – The Payments Law Podcast
Regulatory Rollback: Legal Challenges and Opportunities in Earned-Wage Access — The Consumer Finance Podcast
FTC and Florida Focus on Non-Competes, SCOTUS to Rule on Pension Withdrawal Liability - #WorkforceWednesday® - Employment Law This Week®
What the One Big Beautiful Bill Act Means for Employers - #WorkforceWednesday® - Employment Law This Week®
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) Explained
Taking the Pulse, A Health Care and Life Sciences Video Podcast | Episode 241: Fighting Nurse Burnout with Data-Driven Innovation with Dr. Ecoee Rooney of Indicator Sciences
Is the Four-Day Workweek Really a Benefit? What’s the Tea in L&E?
Work this Way: An Employment Law Video Podcast | Episode 50: Creating a Competitive Advantage Through Employee Benefits with Connor Shaw of Gallagher
Regulatory Ramblings: Episode 72 - Cultural Roots, Belonging, and the Fear of Change: What’s Next for Inclusion?
Summer Strategies for Work Success
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Gag Clause Prohibitions
Crafting Effective Flexible Leave Policies for Employers
Ampliación del fuero de paternidad
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Forfeitures Under Fire
Coffee Badging: Mastering the Art of Office Presence — Hiring to Firing Podcast
Navigating Legal Strategies for Covering GLP-1s in Self-Insured Medical Plans — Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Podcast
Exploring Carried Interest in Upper Tier Private Equity Structures — PE Pathways
Daily Compliance News: May 15, 2025, The Downfall in Davos Edition
When a plan administrator selects an insurer to provide annuities for a retirement plan subject to ERISA, it is engaging in a fiduciary act that must be conducted prudently. Mistakes in this process can expose the plan...more
In a world where retirement plan innovation often comes with more flash than substance, it’s refreshing to see a strategic alliance that actually addresses a fundamental challenge in defined contribution plans: providing real...more
On August 4, SEC staff updated guidance on the use of rate sheet supplements in disclosing changes to terms in insurance products. As revised, updated ADI 2018-05 enables insurers to use rate sheet supplements to notify...more
On August 7, 2025, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ Annuity Suitability (A) Working Group issued draft safe harbor regulatory guidance with a comment period that ends on September 22, 2025. The draft...more
Builder of Investment Models Deviates From Blueprints Employee’s Rogue Remodeling Costs Builder Plenty - The SEC’s recent order instituting administrative and cease-and-desist proceedings (OIP) against registered...more
At the NAIC Spring National Meeting, the Illustration Subgroup and the Suitability Working Group reported that they are building out the following additions...more
Contingent deferred annuities (CDAs) represent an interesting approach to securing lifetime income but have struggled for recognition in the marketplace since their introduction more than a decade ago. Recent developments,...more
The first two district court opinions deciding whether plaintiffs have Article III standing to challenge pension risk transfers have reached opposite conclusions. One case will proceed to discovery, and the other has been...more
Regulators are growing concerned about the delegation of various insurance company functions, prompting a closer examination of third-party vendors. Several groups within the National Association of Insurance Commissioners...more
The recent rule and form amendments adopted by the SEC to facilitate the registration of registered index-linked annuities (RILAs) and market-value adjustment annuities (MVAs) on Form N-4 have been broadly welcomed by the...more
The DOL’s fiduciary regulation was scheduled to become effective this September 23. The exemptions were scheduled to become partially effective this September 23 and fully effective September 23, 2025....more
On April 25, 2024, the Department of Labor published its final regulation defining fiduciary status for investment advice and the related exemptions—PTE 2020-02 and 84-24. The exemptions provide relief from prohibited...more
As recently noted by the US Department of Labor (“DOL”), since the passage of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”), “the retirement plan landscape has changed significantly, with a shift from defined...more
In Ross v. Venerable Insurance & Annuity Co., a Missouri appellate court reversed judgment in favor of the named beneficiary of a flexible premium deferred annuity contract. Following the annuitant’s death, the beneficiary...more
Regulators Hit Jackpot: Off-Channel Communications - Several years before announcing the first “off-channel” communications enforcement action, the SEC and FINRA cautioned broker-dealers and investment advisers about...more
I always say a retirement plan provider needs to find its niche to stand out in the retirement plan marketplace. A new firm, Annuity Research & Consulting, has been created to help 401(k) retirement plan sponsors and their...more
SECURE 2.0, which was included as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, was signed into law in late December 2022. The statute contains 92 substantive sections making reforms to a broad array of...more
There has been a push to add annuities to retirement plans, but I don’t see it gaining ground. According to Alight, plan sponsors are hesitant to add it, which was part of the 2019 SECURE Act. ...more
The U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts recently diverged from other decisions interpreting the term “actuarial equivalent” in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) class action, finding that...more
When it comes to plan design, I believe in the idea of KISS: keep it simple, stupid....more
With a push for fixed income products, there is n shock that BlackRock is putting annuities in American workers’ 401(k)Plan....more
Earlier this year, we discussed the lifetime income disclosure requirement that was included in the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (the “SECURE Act”). When the disclosure requirement becomes...more
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
In a little more than 35 years, 401(k) plans have become the dominant employer-sponsored retirement plan. 401(k) plans place the investment risk and reward squarely on the participant. The employee’s ultimate benefit is...more
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas dealt a major blow to the putative class action Torres v. American Airlines, Inc., finding that the four named plaintiffs are not adequate class representatives for...more