PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Multiemployer Plans
Even as high-priority issues such as diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), immigration, and Ukraine take center stage in the first months of the new presidential administration, many employers are wondering what the next...more
2022 INFLATION-ADJUSTED PENALTIES ANNOUNCED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR - The Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 2015 directs the US Department of Labor (DOL) to make annual inflation adjustments to...more
Presented below is our summary of significant Internal Revenue Service (IRS) guidance and relevant tax matters for the week of July 5, 2021 – July 9, 2021... July 6, 2021: The IRS—in conjunction with the US Department of...more
A global pandemic has not stopped multiemployer plans from conducting employer payroll audits. To the contrary, an uptick in the number of these payroll audits is noticeable. While employers are under no statutory mandates to...more
ERISA litigation tends to spike when economic uncertainty or turmoil rises. Although many things contribute to this historically verifiable trend, it is easiest for employers to think about just two of them. First, an...more
On June 18, 2020, the US Department of Labor (DOL) published a request for information (RFI), in advance of its potential proposal of a class exemption (PTE) providing relief for ERISA prohibited transactions arising in the...more
The beauty of the retirement plan business is that it isn't static, it's constantly changing. One of the reasons that it constantly changes is changes in the Internal Revenue Code, ERISA, and regulations. The SECURE Act is...more
In 2019, the Department of Labor (DOL) continued its trend of providing limited advance guidance under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA). By volume, the amount of 2019 guidance...more
Editor's Overview - Happy New Year. We wrap-up 2019 with an article that reflects on significant developments in ERISA litigation during 2019, and takes a look at what's on the horizon for 2020. The courts (at all levels)...more
The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (“SECURE”) Act was signed into law on December 20, 2019. The SECURE Act (the “Act”) is intended to incentivize employers to offer retirement plans, promote additional...more
On December 20, 2019, President Trump signed into law the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020 (the “Appropriations Act”), a comprehensive government funding bill that includes substantial employee benefits-related...more
The new Department of Labor final rule (DOL) concerning association retirement plans (ARP) is intended to pave the way for small businesses to offer retirement benefits comparable to those offered by large employers. The DOL...more
People have asked me about the possibility of new laws pertaining to multiple employer plans (MEPs) and other changes to 401(k) plans. Quite honestly, I’m not one to pay attention to any legislation unless it actually becomes...more
The Help Plan Providers Need And What They Don't. Avoid the people who want to sell you everything. When you're in business as a retirement plan provider, you will see that there is a surge of humanity that wants to...more
For many months, we have been speculating about how the results of the 2016 presidential election would impact employee benefits policy going forward. Now that Donald Trump has won the election and Republicans have secured a...more
As the U.S. continues to grapple with the retirement preparedness gap, policymakers on both sides of the aisle are increasingly focused on facilitating access to retirement plans. In the last few years, policy proposals...more
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published on July 1, 2016, an interim final rule adjusting the civil monetary penalties that it can enforce. These adjustments are the result of the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation...more
How Retirement Plan Providers Can Deal With The Fiduciary Rule Change. Adapt to this change. At its prime, Blockbuster Video had 9,000 stores and was actually bought by Viacom in 1994 for $8.4 billion. Then some...more
Editor’s Overview - In this issue of Proskauer's ERISA Litigation Newsletter, we review a recent ruling by the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals concerning the application of controlled group principles to the building...more
Editor's Overview - This month we feature three key developments. First, we review the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Gobeille v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., 136 S. Ct. 936, 947 (2016) wherein the Supreme Court held that a...more
Straight Talk for Retirement Plan Providers. Just like it is. When I had the idea of starting a National ERISA practice 8 years ago, I knew I would have a tough time in getting clients especially when the law firm I...more
Editor's Overview - This month, we review the Second Circuit's ruling in New York State Psychiatric Ass'n, Inc. v. UnitedHealth Grp. wherein the Second Circuit ruled that: (i) a provider association has associational...more
Editor's Overview - It has been a little more than one year since the U.S. Supreme Court altered the legal landscape for litigating ERISA breach of fiduciary duty claims relating to the investment in employer stock...more
Retirement Plans - IRS Issues Guidance on Benefit Suspension Voting under MPRA - As we have written in prior alerts, the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014 (MPRA) permits trustees of financially troubled...more
Central States Pension Fund Developing Rescue Plan - The Central States Pension Fund has announced that it will adopt a “rescue plan” under which certain participant benefits will be reduced. The Multiemployer Pension...more