News & Analysis as of

Fiduciary Duty Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)

Verrill

Coming Soon to Your 401(k) Plan: Tontines and Other Exotic Investments!

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Participants in 401(k) plans and other defined contribution retirement plans may soon have the opportunity to invest their plan accounts in a variety of high-risk and potentially high-return assets. Touted as an effort to...more

McGuireWoods LLP

The Thoughtful Fiduciary’s Guide to Alternative Assets for 401(k) Investors

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President Donald Trump issued an Executive Order on Aug. 7, 2025, expanding access for 401(k) plan investors to alternative assets. This alert provides a summary of what the order does and does not do, and offers fiduciaries...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

Even If You’re Right, You Can Still Get Sued

There’s a hard truth about being a plan sponsor or a plan provider: you can be doing everything right and still get sued. That’s the world we live in—especially in the retirement plan space. You can dot every “i,” cross every...more

Holland & Hart - The Benefits Dial

I Might Be In Oklahoma But I’m Not OK … Fiduciary Considerations Following Executive Order Allowing Private Equity in 401(k)s

Last week the White House issued an executive order directing the Department of Labor (DOL) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to facilitate 401(k) participants’ access to alternative investments, including private...more

Seward & Kissel LLP

Democratizing Access to Alternative Assets for 401(k) Investors

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On August 7, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order titled “Democratizing Access to Alternative Assets for 401(k) Investors,” which instructs the Department of Labor (DOL) and the Securities and Exchange Commission...more

Davis Wright Tremaine LLP

Is Your Defined Contribution Plan Ready for Alternative Assets?

President Trump has issued an Executive Order ("Order") to enable defined contribution plans (e.g. 401(k) and 403(b) plans) to invest in "alternative assets," such as private equity, real estate and digital assets. The Order...more

Mayer Brown

US Department of Labor Solicits Feedback and Provides Guidance to Smaller Employers on Pooled Employer Plans

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On July 28, 2025, the US Department of Labor (DOL) issued a Request for Information (RFI) regarding the current usage and operations of pooled employer plans (PEPs), as well as obstacles that are discouraging smaller...more

Carlton Fields

Plan Sponsor and Asset Manager Considerations Under 401(k) Alternatives Executive Order

Carlton Fields on

On August 7, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order titled “Democratizing Access to Alternative Assets for 401(k) Investors,” designed to open the use of alternative investments, including private equity and actively...more

Vicente LLP

How Cannabis Companies Use ESOPs for Tax Savings and Ownership Transition

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What Are ESOPs and Why Do They Matter for Cannabis Operators - Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) are federally authorized retirement benefit structures designed to hold company stock in a trust on behalf of employees....more

Ropes & Gray LLP

Planning to Take Advantage of Executive Order on Alternatives in 401(k)s: Five Key Takeaways and Five Action Items for Managers

Ropes & Gray LLP on

On August 7, 2025, President Trump issued a long-rumored executive order (the “Order”) that calls for expanded access to private equity and other alternative investments for 401(k) plans and their participants. The Order...more

King & Spalding

Executive Order Seeks to Promote Incorporation of Alternative Assets in 401(k) Plans

King & Spalding on

On August 7, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order entitled “Democratizing Access to Alternative Assets for 401(k) Investors” (the “Executive Order”),1 requiring the Department of Labor (“DOL”) and the Securities...more

Bond Schoeneck & King PLLC

The Trump Private Equity Order: What Plan Fiduciaries Need to Know Now

Background - On Aug. 7, 2025, the president issued an executive order that may result in an expansion in the types of holdings common in 401(k), 403(b) and other defined contribution plans....more

Saul Ewing LLP

Navigating the New Normal: Top Employee Benefits Risks for Healthcare Employers in 2025

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As the healthcare industry grapples with the impact of the 2025 Comprehensive Reform Act, which was signed into law on July 4, 2025, offering benefits to its own employees continues to be both a tool for employee retention...more

Haynes Boone

DOL Approves the Use of Forfeitures to Offset Employer Contributions

Haynes Boone on

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

Haynes Boone

Compliance Reminder for Executive Top Hat Plans

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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

Goodwin

Trump Administration’s Executive Order to Facilitate Availability of Alternative Assets in Defined Contribution Plans: What Does...

Goodwin on

On August 7, 2025, the Trump Administration issued a long-awaited executive order (the “Executive Order”) to encourage sponsors of 401(k) and other participant-directed defined-contribution plans that are governed by the...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

Trump Signs Executive Order Directing the DOL and SEC to Facilitate 401(k) Plan Access to Alternative Assets

On August 7, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order entitled “Democratizing Access to Alternative Assets for 401(k) Investors” (the “Executive Order”), which directs the Department of Labor (the “DOL”) and the...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

The Forfeiture Fiasco: Why the DOL and Common Sense are on the Right Side of the HP Case

It’s not often you see the U.S. Department of Labor jumping into the legal ring to back plan sponsors, but when they do, you know something bigger is at stake than just one plan participant’s gripe. That’s exactly what...more

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP

Democratizing Access To Alternative Assets For 401(K) Investors (Trump EO Tracker)

This executive order directs the Department of Labor to reevaluate and clarify its guidance under ERISA regarding fiduciary duties related to including alternative assets in 401(k) retirement plans. It aims to expand access...more

Lathrop GPM

New Executive Order Opens the Door for Alternative Assets as 401(k) Plan Options

Lathrop GPM on

On August 7, 2025, President Trump signed an Executive Order entitled, Democratizing Access to Alternative Assets for 401(K) Investors (“the EO”), which directs the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department...more

Haynes Boone

Money (It’s What Everyone Wants)

Haynes Boone on

As an old song covered by the Beatles goes, “the best things in life are free, but you can’t keep em for the birds and bees, now give me money, that’s what I want.”...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

Bitcoin Over $120K? That Doesn’t Mean It Belongs in Your 401(k)

Bitcoin has blown past $120,000 and, predictably, the buzz is back. Advisors are getting questions. Participants are curious. And yes, some plan sponsors are starting to wonder if it’s time to add crypto to their 401(k)...more

Jackson Lewis P.C.

Supreme Court Shows Interest in ERISA Pleading Standard Circuit Split

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Earlier this year, ERISA fiduciary breach defendant Parker-Hannifin filed a petition for a writ of certiorari to the United States Supreme Court that, if granted, could settle a circuit split created by the Sixth Circuit...more

Husch Blackwell LLP

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

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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

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

Misplaced Loyalty: When 401(k) Plan Sponsors Get It Wrong

When I worked at a third party administration (TPA) firm many years ago, I learned some valuable lessons, some about ERISA and some about human nature. I wasn’t exactly the favorite employee of the guy running the place....more

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