PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Exploring the Value of Qualified Default Investment Alternatives
Legal Alert | DOL Opens ESG Door: What Does It Mean for Plan Fiduciaries?
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - What Constitutes Plan Assets Under ERISA?
Corporate Fiduciaries Holding Cryptocurrency - Digital Planning Podcast
Legislation Discussion with PA State Senator Tom Killion
Discussion of PA’s Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) indicated in court documents that it intends to begin new rulemaking to replace a previous rule that permitted 401(k) plan fiduciaries to consider environmental, social, and governance (ESG)...more
As anticipated, the Department of Labor (DOL) recently changed its position with respect to certain investment choices that 401(k) plan fiduciaries sometimes consider or make available to plan participants, including...more
Two recent class action lawsuits charging a breach of fiduciary duty under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) have increased the stakes and raised important considerations regarding a plan fiduciary’s duty of...more
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
For 2025, the ESG rule will be history for now. Donald Trump as President will reverse the Department of Labor’s ESG rule that allows retirement plan fiduciaries to consider environmental, social, and governance (ESG)...more
Case Name and Number: Spence v. American Airlines, Inc., et al., No. 4:23-cv-00552 - INTRODUCTION - On June 20, 2024, Judge Reed O’Connor in the Northern District of Texas (the “court”) denied a motion for summary...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
On September 21, 2023, a federal judge in Texas granted summary judgment in, and thus dismissed, a lawsuit filed by the Attorneys General of 25 states and other interested parties challenging a final rule issued by the U.S....more
The United States is in the process of transitioning ESG disclosure from voluntary, market-led reporting to a regulatory-driven scheme, principally led by the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) anticipated (but...more
The Department of Labor (the DOL) has released its final rule clarifying how and when ERISA fiduciaries may consider ESG factors in making investment decisions for a plan. The rule also offers substantial guidance on the...more
Department of Labor (“DOL”) Secretary Walsh recently announced final regulations in a blog post titled “Removing Barriers to Considering ESG Factors in Retirement Plan Investments.” While the rules open the door to more...more
The U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) has issued a final rule (the “Final Rule) addressing how ERISA fiduciaries may consider environmental, social and governmental (ESG) factors in making investment decisions for retirement...more
The Department of Labor (DOL) issued a final rule that explicitly allows—but does not require—retirement plan fiduciaries to take climate change and other environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations into...more
Over the past year, the regulatory backdrop around environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing has shifted. As McDermott Partner Brian J. Tiemann explains in these slides, the US Department of Labor (DOL) under the...more
On October 14, 2021, the US Department of Labor (DOL) proposed changes to ERISA regulations that would again shift the analysis of consideration of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors in retirement plans...more
On October 13, 2021, the Department of Labor (DOL) released a new proposed regulation under ERISA that would replace the previous administration’s “pecuniary factors” rule – which is widely viewed as discouraging the use of...more
President Biden signed an executive order on May 20 on climate-related financial risk that seeks to change the rules regarding the use of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investments in retirement plans. The order...more
Welcome to Goodwin’s ERISA Litigation Update. Litigation involving ERISA-governed benefits plans has exploded in recent years. Lawyers in our award-winning ERISA Litigation practice have extensive experience litigating these...more
On November 13, 2020, the Department of Labor (the “Department” or the “DOL”) issued its final regulation entitled Financial Factors in Selecting Plan Investments (the “Final Regulation” or the “Final Rule”). The purpose of...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: DOL final regulation on fiduciary implications of investing in ESG under review by the Biden administration....more
On October 30, 2020, the Department of Labor (DOL) adopted the Final Rule amending the Investment Duties DOL Regulation, §2550.404a-1, which governs the obligations of ERISA fiduciaries when selecting investments for ERISA...more
On December 11, 2020, the United States Department of Labor (DOL) issued a pre-publication version of its final regulations with respect to proxy voting in plans that are subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act...more
Many plan committees will be holding their Q4 meetings soon, and should begin reviewing compliance with recently issued final rules governing investments in plans covered by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: On October 30, 2020, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) released a final regulation amending the fiduciary regulations governing investment duties under the Employee Retirement Investment Security Act of 1974...more
On October 30, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor (the “DOL”) released a Final Rule to “provide clear regulatory guideposts for fiduciaries of private-sector retirement and other employee benefit plans in light of recent...more