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Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) Employee Benefits Corporate Counsel

Husch Blackwell LLP

Employers Continue to Face ERISA Tobacco Surcharge Lawsuits, With Mixed Results

Husch Blackwell LLP on

Recently, companies have seen a spate of class action lawsuits challenging the legality of tobacco cessation wellness programs and related tobacco surcharges imposed by their employer-sponsored health benefit plans....more

Fisher Phillips

Wave of Deregulation Hits DOL: What Employers Need to Know About the 60+ Rules on the Chopping Block

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The U.S. Department of Labor just quietly launched one of the most sweeping deregulatory efforts in recent memory, advancing over 60 proposals that could reshape workplace rules across industries. From overtime and minimum...more

Stark & Stark

United States Supreme Court Ruling Significantly Narrows Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act

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On June 20, 2025, the United States Supreme Court issued an important ruling in Stanley v. City of Sanford, Florida, which significantly narrows the scope of the protections under Title I of the Americans with Disabilities...more

Fisher Phillips

Federal Appeals Court Decision Reminds Employers About Their Duty to Monitor Service Providers of ERISA-Covered Health and Welfare...

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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&O Shearman

Supreme Court’s Cornell decision sets low pleading bar for ERISA claims

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In a decision poised to change the landscape of Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”) litigation, on April 17, 2025, the Supreme Court held in Cunningham et al. v. Cornell University et al. that a claimant...more

Foley & Lardner LLP

Benefits Basics - When an Employee Dies: A Resource Guide for HR & Benefits Professionals

Foley & Lardner LLP on

As a member of your company’s human resources or employee benefits department, one of the most difficult calls you may receive is from a colleague or an employee’s family member notifying you of the death of an employee. This...more

Snell & Wilmer

Five Things to Know about the DOL’s New VFCP Self-Correction Feature Taking Effect Next Week

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By Amberlee Lapointe On January 14, 2025, the DOL’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (“EBSA”) released updates to its Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program (“VFCP”), along with a News Release and Fact Sheet...more

Pullman & Comley - Labor, Employment and...

Retirement Plan Update – Forfeitures are New Focus of Fiduciary Breach Litigation

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

A&O Shearman

ESG Investing Takes A Blow In Texas Federal Court

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On January 10, 2025, Judge Reed O’Connor of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas ruled, following a four-day bench trial, that an airline breached ERISA fiduciary duties when investing...more

UB Greensfelder LLP

What Employers Should Know About Tobacco Surcharge Litigation

UB Greensfelder LLP on

Tobacco surcharges have become the focus of class action litigation in recent months. Although corporate wellness programs are commonplace, employers that impose a tobacco surcharge (or other premium discount) in connection...more

Nossaman LLP

Relying on Loper, Fifth Circuit Sends Chevron-based decision Back to District Court, calling ESG Rule into Question

Nossaman LLP on

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

Littler

July is Still the New January! Littler’s Workplace Policy Institute’s Mid-Year Legislative Report

Littler on

Hot off the press – here is Littler’s mid-year report!  As federal regulators, states and cities continue to pass new workplace regulations through the calendar year, we summarize each state’s notable labor and employment law...more

Tannenbaum Helpern Syracuse & Hirschtritt LLP

Second Circuit Casts Doubt on Overly Restrictive Arbitration Clauses in ERISA Plans

Employers in New York, Connecticut and Vermont should revisit their employee benefit plan documents if they believe that any of their plans may have an arbitration clause for the resolution of Employee Retirement Income...more

ArentFox Schiff

Airline 401k Decision Illustrates Continued Takeoff of ESG Litigation

ArentFox Schiff on

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

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

Coming to a Retirement Plan Near You in 2024 - Long-Term, Part-Time Employees

Beginning January 1, 2024, employers will be required to allow Long-term, part-time (LTPT) employees to make deferral contributions to qualified retirement plans that contain cash or deferred arrangements. Deferrals for LTPT...more

Groom Law Group, Chartered

Plaintiffs Target Use of 401(k) Plan Forfeitures

In the past month, plaintiffs have filed two separate lawsuits – Dimou v. Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. and Rodriguez v. Intuit, Inc – accusing plan fiduciaries of violating the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of...more

McDermott Will & Schulte

Takeaways from a Recent COBRA Notice Class Action Settlement

Recent years have seen a barrage of class action lawsuits alleging that group health plan continuation coverage election notices, required under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA), are deficient in one...more

Groom Law Group, Chartered

Seventh Circuit Affirms Plan Sponsor’s Discretion for Severance Benefits

A recent opinion out of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit provides additional support for ERISA-governed severance plans to incorporate a “discretionary component” as a factor in determining eligibility for...more

Frantz Ward LLP

Sixth Circuit Clarifies the Date on Which a Claim for Pension Benefits Under ERISA Accrues

Frantz Ward LLP on

In Gragg v. UPS Pension Plan, 55 F.4th 1059 (6th Cir. 2022), the Sixth Circuit held that the limitations period for an ERISA claim to recover benefits due under a plan did not expire before the alleged underpayment on which...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

Seventh Circuit Affirms Discretion Over Who Gets Severance Benefits

A recent Seventh Circuit decision affirms the principle that an ERISA severance plan can reserve to the employer discretion over who is eligible for severance benefits.  The case is Carlson v. Northrop Grumman Severance Plan,...more

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

ERISA Litigation Roundup: Seventh Circuit Sets Forth Pleading Standard in ERISA Duty of Prudence Claims in Hughes v. Northwestern...

On March 23, 2023, the Seventh Circuit issued a long-awaited decision in Hughes v. Northwestern University, the case remanded from the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision of the same name. See Hughes v. Northwestern University, 142...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

ERISA Case Signals New Theories for Plaintiffs’ Bar

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Seyfarth Synopsis: After focusing most of its attention on retirement benefit plans, a recent complaint filed in the District of Connecticut shows that the plaintiffs’ bar is turning to health and welfare plans as targets for...more

Robinson Bradshaw

Tenth Circuit Prohibits Class-Action Waivers in Benefit Plan Documents

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It is no secret that many businesses minimize risk by requiring arbitration of disputes on an individual basis. The exposure created by a single claim pales next to that presented by a class claim, asserted under Rule 23, on...more

Troutman Pepper Locke

Tenth Circuit Holds Arbitration Provision in ERISA Plan Document Unenforceable

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Recently, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals held an arbitration provision impermissibly blocked rights afforded to a retirement plan participant under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and was therefore...more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

Employers Prepare for Thawing ERISA Deadlines

With the pandemic winding down, deadlines for employee benefit plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) will be resuming. Two different emergencies affect employer-sponsored group health plans:...more

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