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
Sometimes, in the strange world of ERISA litigation, you get a surprise. And in Hutchins v. Hewlett Packard, we got one: the Department of Labor, yes, that DOL, the one whose name alone strikes fear into the heart of many...more
Tom Cruise doesn’t age, and apparently neither do the problems that plague 401(k) plan sponsors. The plotlines may change—market volatility, regulation updates, SECURE 2.0—but one thing remains constant: fiduciary liability...more
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 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
Plan sponsors of nonqualified deferred compensation plans (often referred to as “top hat” plans) maintain such plans because they provide tax and economic benefits to covered executives without being subject to many of...more
If you’re a 401(k) plan sponsor, you don’t need to be an ERISA expert—you just need to avoid doing dumb things. Here are a few quick tips to help you stay on the right side of your fiduciary duties and keep your participants...more
On July 9th, the Secretary of Labor filed an amicus brief with the Ninth Circuit relating to the appeal of Hutchins v. HP, Inc. In that case, a participant claimed that forfeitures should have been used to offset plan...more
A recent Québec Superior Court decision (Bernard c. Association de bienfaisance et de retraite des policiers et policières de la Ville de Montréal (“Bernard”)) highlights the importance of clear communications with pension...more
A federal appeals court just illustrated the importance of an employer’s duty to monitor service providers that assist with the administration of employee welfare benefit plans. In the May 21 decision of Tiara Yachts v. Blue...more
A recent complaint (Dylan Handy v. Paychex, Inc.) highlights the potential for plan administrators, and their delegates, to continue monitoring distributions after being made. In this particular situation, the participant...more
As a plan fiduciary, I still can’t believe it. A Third Party Administrator (TPA) we terminated was trying to hold us up for valuations and a Form 5500 we paid for, as part of, annual administration. It was $80,000....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
The most recent wave of ERISA litigation is focused on the use of plan forfeitures in 401(k) plans, with the newest case, Armenta v. WillScot Mobile Mini Holdings Corp. being filed just last week. Although, for years, many...more
This month’s Friday Five covers an appellate ruling on a complicated case raising both state and federal claims, an instance of procedural improprieties in the administrative review process informing the court’s substantive...more
There have been 25 cases where plan sponsors have been sued over their right to use forfeitures to reduce employer contributions. 7 cases have had motions for summary judgments made by the plan sponsors. 2 cases have survived...more
Our Unclaimed Property and Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation teams delve into the Department of Labor’s temporary ERISA enforcement policy for unclaimed retirement benefit payments of $1,000 or less....more
Many employer-sponsored defined contributions plans, including 401(k) profit sharing plans and money purchase pension plans include a vesting schedule – a period over which a plan participant earns a nonforfeitable right to...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
On January 10, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas (the “Court”) held, in Spence v. American Airlines, Inc., that American Airlines (“American”) and the American Airlines Employee Benefits...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
As many of you know, a substantive part of my income is independent fiduciary work. Whether it’s an ERISA §3(16) administrator, trustee, or Pooled Plan Provider (PPP), my other business Austin 3(16) Fiduciary Limited, is...more
On January 10, 2025, Judge Reed O’Connor of the Northern District of Texas issued a much-anticipated ruling in Spence v. American Airlines, Inc., which marks the first time that a federal judge has written an on-the-merits...more
A “sales gimmick” is a term that refers to a method a business employs to immediately generate demand for its product or service. I just bought Fan Fest tickets 6 months in advance because they were giving me a $30...more
This month’s Friday Five explores recent decisions including the standard of review for ERISA benefit denials, whether structural conflict entitles a claimant to conflict-of-interest discovery, whether a “relative value...more
The SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 added new Section 523 to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”), requiring the Department of Labor (the “Department”) to establish an online database called the Retirement...more