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
In Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, the U.S. Supreme Court knocked down Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council Inc., leaving the doctrine of Chevron deference in rubble. The doctrine stated that, when a...more
In a recent decision by the U.S. District Court Northern District of Texas, Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk ruled that the U.S. Department of Labor’s 2022 Rule (the 2022 Rule) on environmental, social, and governance (ESG)...more
A Biden-era US Department of Labor (DOL) Rule permitting consideration of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors when choosing investments as a “tiebreaker” was recently upheld by Texas federal Judge Matthew...more
The Wagner Law Group continues to monitor the recent flood of retirement plan “forfeiture” litigation. This alert is our eighth update reporting on and analyzing the nature of the claims raised by plaintiffs, the defenses...more
Although the Department of the Treasury, Department of Labor, and Department of Health and Human Services believe that wellness programs are delivering on their promise of improving health and reducing costs, one type has...more
As we discussed in our white paper “ESG and Public Pension Investing in 2023: A Year-to-Date Recap and Analysis”, there was a surge in legislative activity in 2023 among red states curtailing the use of environmental, social...more
We are pleased to present our annual End of Year Plan Sponsor “To Do” Lists. This year, we present our “To Do” Lists in four separate SW Benefits Updates. This Part 1 covers year-end health and welfare plan issues. Parts 2,...more
As a wave of litigation tests the enforceability of various federal regulations following the Supreme Court’s June 28, 2024, Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision, which overturned Chevron deference, one federal court...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
A U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit panel appeared skeptical during oral arguments in which conservative states and Texas-based energy interests sought to reverse a district judge’s order upholding an environmental,...more
In Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and Relentless Inc. v Department of Commerce, the Supreme Court held that both the United States’ constitutional structure and the Administrative Procedure Act preclude a court from...more
Since 1984, citation to Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council ("Chevron") has meant that courts should defer to an agency's interpretations of an ambiguous statute—as long as the agency's interpretation is...more
Under recently finalized federal regulations (commonly referred to as the “Fiduciary Rule”) that were scheduled to become effective on September 23, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor intended to expand the fiduciary...more
In its recent decision in State of Utah v. Su, the Fifth Circuit remanded a challenge to the Department of Labor’s (DOL) environmental, social, and governance (ESG) rule for investing in defined contribution retirement plans...more
On behalf of the ESOPs, Benefits & Compensation team, we hope your Summer is off to a great start. In the time of family vacations and out-of-office replies, the pace of employee benefits changes—both large and small—remains...more
Regulatory Updates - Governor Newsom (D-CA) recently proposed a two-year delay to California’s sweeping new mandatory climate disclosures, which apply to all large companies—public or private—doing business in California....more
The July Monthly Minute considers the impact of the Supreme Court’s Loper decision in overturning the longstanding Chevron deference standard, along with a district court case awarding penalties for failing to produce plan...more
On July 18, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (“Fifth Circuit”) vacated a decision by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas (“District Court”) that upheld the U.S. Department of Labor’s...more
On June 28, 2024, the Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo that upends a longstanding feature of administrative law—Chevron deference. In Loper Bright, the Court expressly overruled...more
Last week, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated and remanded the appeal from a lower court's decision upholding the Biden Administration's Department of Labor rule enabling ERISA plans to consider ESG factors, ordering...more
For the last 40 years, judges were required to defer to administrative agencies’ reasonable interpretations of ambiguous federal statutes under Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council. The Supreme Court upended that...more
The US Supreme Court heard arguments on January 17 in Relentless v. Department of Commerce and Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo. In both cases, a commercial herring fishing company challenged a regulatory requirement that...more
On September 21, 2023, Judge Kacsmaryk (N.D. Texas), a famously conservative Trump-appointed jurist, upheld a Department of Labor rule promulgated by the Biden Administration that enables employee retirement plans to consider...more
In June 2019, a unanimous Supreme Court in Kisor v. Wilkie retained but limited the scope of Auer deference – the court-created doctrine that courts should defer to an agency’s interpretation of its own regulations or other...more
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals’ rejection of the DOL’s Fiduciary rule reintroduces the 1975 five-factor fiduciary test and creates uncertainty for plan sponsors, plan fiduciaries and investment advisors. After years of...more