Business Better Podcast Episode: Bridging Campuses: Legal Insights on Education Industry Consolidation – Labor, Employment, and Benefits
How ERISA Litigators Strengthen Plan Compliance and Risk Management: One-on-One with Jeb Gerth
#WorkforceWednesday®: New DOL Guidance - ERISA Plan Cybersecurity Update - Employment Law This Week®
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - ERISA Forfeiture Litigation
ERISA Blog | Changes to the HIPAA Privacy Rules A Primer for Self-Insured Group Health Plans
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - What the J&J Case Means for Plan Administrators
The No Surprises Act: A Cost Saving Opportunity for Employer Plan Sponsors
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - New Federal Rule Aims to Hold Investment Advisors to a Higher Standard
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 - Partial Plan Terminations
Podcast Episode 189: Adding Context to Compliance and Color To Your Legal Practice
#WorkforceWednesday: SECURE Act 2.0 - What 401(k) Plan Sponsors Need to Know - Employment Law This Week®
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Plan Administrators’ 2022 Year-End Checklist
An Inside Look as a Juror - FCRA Focus Podcast
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Multiemployer Plans
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Court Decisions Impacting Plan Sponsors and Fiduciaries
(A)ESOP's Fables - The Income and Estate Tax-Free ESOP
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - What Constitutes Plan Assets Under ERISA?
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Group Health Plan Service Provider Compensation Disclosure Requirements
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 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
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
As I explained in my last post, Fiduciary Rule 51, I have been asked whether the Supreme Court’s decision in Loper Bright Enterprises et al. v. Raimondo, Secretary of Commerce et al. could affect the outcome of the litigation...more
The stay of the effective dates of the amended fiduciary regulation and amended exemptions means that the “old” fiduciary regulation (the 5-part test) and the amended exemptions continue in effect indefinitely. As a result,...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
The Department of Labor’s final regulation defining fiduciary status for investment advice to retirement investors will be effective this September 23. Where a fiduciary recommendation results in additional compensation for...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
Pension risk transfers (“PRTs”) continue to make the news. And well they should. Last year alone, over $100 billion in liabilities were transferred from defined benefit pension plans to insurance companies. And the trend...more
Over the last several years, numerous large pension plan sponsors have transferred billions of dollars in financial risk related to their pension plan benefit obligations to insurance companies through the purchase of group...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
The US Department of Labor has released its package of proposed changes to the regulation defining nondiscretionary fiduciary advice and to the exemptions for conflicts and compensation for investment recommendations to...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
UPDATE: On August 8, I posted this blog article in contemplation of the DOL sending a new fiduciary proposal package to the Office of Management & Budget (OMB) in the White House. One month later, to the day, the receipt of...more
The DOL has not appealed the decision in the Florida Federal District Court that vacated its fiduciary “re-interpretation.” That re-interpretation, in effect, said that ongoing investment advice to a rollover IRA could be...more
The Mitchell Williams Insurance Regulatory team of lawyers recently attended the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) 2022 Summer National Meeting which was held in Portland, Oregon on August 9-13th. We have...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
The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (“SECURE Act”) amended ERISA to require ERISA-covered 401(k) and other defined contribution plans to provide two estimated lifetime income (annuity)...more
Yet another battle in the actuarial equivalence fight has just been resolved—and is immediately headed for appellate review. In Belknap v. Partners Healthcare System, Inc., the Plaintiff argued that the annuity payment he...more
With a push for fixed income products, there is n shock that BlackRock is putting annuities in American workers’ 401(k)Plan....more
Lifetime Income Disclosure Requirement. The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (the “SECURE Act”), enacted December 20, 2019, added a new annual disclosure requirement for benefit statements to...more