News & Analysis as of

Fiduciary Duty Investment Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)

Jackson Lewis P.C.

Harnessing AI Under ERISA: A Compliance and Oversight Guide for Retirement and Health Plan Fiduciaries

Jackson Lewis P.C. on

It is increasingly evident that artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping all facets of business, and its impact on employee benefit plans is no exception. From automating plan administration to personalizing participant...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

The Most Absurd Things About 401(k) Plans That Sponsors Have No Idea About

Fifteen years into my solo practice, you’d think I’d be desensitized to the absurdities of the 401(k) world. But no. Every time I think I’ve seen it all, a plan sponsor, or more accurately, the people advising them, reminds...more

Mayer Brown

US Supreme Court Grants Review in One ERISA Case, and Has Now Called for Views of the Solicitor General in Two Other ERISA Cases

Mayer Brown on

Fresh off its April 17, 2025 decision in Cunningham v. Cornell University, the US Supreme Court is setting the stage to delve back into ERISA issues next Term. On Monday, the Court granted certiorari to resolve a circuit...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

The 3 Cs: Why 401(k) Plan Sponsors Can’t Afford to Be Cheap, Controlling, and Clueless

After close to 30 years in this business—wearing the hats of TPA employee, ERISA attorney, plan document drafter, and occasional therapist to frantic plan sponsors—I’ve seen it all. The horror stories, the lawsuits, the...more

Holland & Hart - The Benefits Dial

How Do You Like Me Now… Plan Fiduciary Considerations Following New DOL Crypto Guidance

The Department of Labor recently issued Compliance Assistance Release No. 2025-01 rescinding Compliance Assistance Release No. 2022-01 that directed 401(k) plan fiduciaries to exercise “extreme care” before adding...more

Alston & Bird

Navigating the Complexities of VEBA Asset Reallocation: Comprehensive Tax and ERISA Fiduciary Considerations

Alston & Bird on

Our Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Group discusses how employers can use voluntary employees’ beneficiary association (VEBA) asset reallocations while meeting ERISA fiduciary obligations....more

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP

U.S. Department of Labor Withdraws 2022 Crypto Guidance—What It Means for 401(k) Plan Fiduciaries

Crypto may be back on the table for 401(k) plans, but fiduciary duties remain as demanding as ever. On May 28, 2025, the U.S. Department of Labor Employee Benefits Security Administration (DOL) issued Compliance Assistance...more

Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP

New DOL Guidance for Retirement Plans on Cryptocurrency and ESG Investments

The new administration has recently taken steps to revise guidance with respect to two retirement plan investment options: cryptocurrency, and funds focusing on environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) factors. These two...more

Seward & Kissel LLP

401(k) Plan Investments in Digital Assets

Seward & Kissel LLP on

The Department of Labor (“DOL”) recently issued Compliance Assistance Release No. 2025-01 (the “Release”), reversing previous guidance that cautioned plan fiduciaries offering investments in digital assets in...more

Husch Blackwell LLP

ESOP Fiduciary Duties When Investing in Non-Stock Assets

Husch Blackwell LLP on

On February 6, 2025, a Pennsylvania federal judge gave preliminary approval to a $2.1 million settlement resolving a class action involving the Pride Mobility ESOP. This case is one of six brought so far—and the second to...more

A&O Shearman

Texas court upholds Biden administration’s rule on ESG Investing for ERISA fiduciaries

A&O Shearman on

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

Morris, Manning & Martin, LLP

A Plan Win in an ESG Case … For the Most Part

A New York Appellate court affirmed a dismissal of a fiduciary breach claim against the New York City Employees’ Retirement System, Teachers’ Retirement System of the City of New York, and Board of Education Retirement System...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

Eleventh Circuit Confirms Foreign Tax Credits Owned by Insurance Company Not “Plan Assets” of 401(k) Plan Under ERISA

In late October 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ruled in Romano v. Hancock Life Insurance Company, F.4th 729 (11th Cir. 2024) that certain foreign tax credits that were generated as a result...more

Mintz

Biden Administration's DOL Rule Permitting ESG Investments Survives Legal Challenge

Mintz on

4 Last week, a federal district judge in the Northern District of Texas upheld a rule promulgated by the Biden Administration's Department of Labor enabling ESG-focused investing. Specifically, the court determined that the...more

Carlton Fields

Expect Focus - Volume I, January 2025

Carlton Fields on

The Mysterious Boundary Beyond Which “Personal” Relationships Jeopardize a Director’s Independence - In a recent enforcement action, the SEC concluded that the relationship between James Craigie and an officer of Church &...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

When Your 401(k) Financial Advisor May Have To Be Fired

401(k) financial advisors are often handicapped by the fact that the nature of their position requires them to have an ERISA background when they don’t. It’s hard to fake an ERISA background when you don’t and it’s pretty...more

Paul Hastings LLP

Federal Court Determines American Airlines, Inc., 401(k) Plan Fiduciaries Breached Their ERISA Fiduciary Duty of Loyalty to...

Paul Hastings LLP on

On January 10th, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas (the court) ruled that American Airlines, Inc. (American) and the American Airlines Employee Benefits Committee (together, the Defendants)...more

A&O Shearman

Texas District Court ESG ruling has broader implications for ERISA plan fiduciaries

A&O Shearman on

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

Keating Muething & Klekamp PLL

Benefits Monthly Minute - January 2025

The January Monthly Minute highlights a recent Texas court decision holding ESG investing violated ERISA and a new development in the J&J prescription drug case that found plaintiff lacked standing to sue, and also digs into...more

A&O Shearman

ESG Investing Takes A Blow In Texas Federal Court

A&O Shearman on

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

Ropes & Gray LLP

Practical Takeaways from Spence v. American Airlines, Inc. for ERISA Plan Fiduciaries

Ropes & Gray LLP on

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

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

Don’t Fall For These 401(k) Plan Provider Gimmicks

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

Mintz

Federal Court Rules ESG-Guided Investing of 401(k) Plan Is a Breach of Fiduciary Duty

Mintz on

Following a bench trial, Judge O'Connor (N.D. Tex.) held that “that Defendants breached their fiduciary duty by failing to loyally act solely in the retirement plan's best financial interests by allowing their corporate...more

K&L Gates LLP

QPAM Amendments Impact on CITs: What Banks and Their Advisers Need to Know

K&L Gates LLP on

Effective 17 June 2024, the US Department of Labor (DOL) adopted comprehensive amendments to Prohibited Transaction Exemption (PTE) 84-14, also known as the “QPAM exemption” (Exemption)....more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

Massachusetts District Court Permits 403(b) Plan Fiduciary Breach Claims to Proceed

A federal district court in Massachusetts recently denied a motion to dismiss a complaint filed by plan participants in the Cape Cod Healthcare, Inc. 403(b) plan, which alleged that the plan’s fiduciaries breached their ERISA...more

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