News & Analysis as of

Pensions Department of Labor (DOL) Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)

Verrill

Do We Have to Make It a Top Hat Plan?

Verrill on

Employers and their compensation advisors often assume that an arrangement to pay employees in the future for work done over time will be subject to the rules for ERISA pension plans unless it is limited to a “select group of...more

Latham & Watkins LLP

US Government Reopens Discussion of Private Pension Investments Expectations

Latham & Watkins LLP on

The Department of Labor has taken two recent actions that indicate where the approach to retirement investment policy may go under the new administration....more

Morgan Lewis - ML Benefits

DOL Issues Temporary Enforcement Policy for Small Amount Transfers to State Unclaimed Property Funds

The US Department of Labor recently issued Field Assistance Bulletin (FAB) 2025-01, a temporary enforcement policy regarding the transfer of small retirement plan benefits to state unclaimed property funds. This development...more

Jackson Lewis P.C.

Not So Fast: DOL Releases Annual Funding Notice Guidance Just Before the Distribution Due Date

Jackson Lewis P.C. on

On April 3, 2025, the Department of Labor (the DOL) issued Field Assistance Bulletin 2025-02 (the FAB) and updated model annual funding notices for single-employer and multiemployer plans. The FAB addresses conflicts between...more

Morgan Lewis - ML Benefits

Wait a Minute, Mister Postman: DOL Issues Annual Funding Notice Guidance

The US Department of Labor (DOL) has issued new guidance in the form of Field Assistance Bulletin No. 2025-02 (FAB 2025-02) and updated model annual funding notices (AFNs) for single-employer and multiemployer pension plans....more

Jackson Walker

2025 Regulatory Review: Implications for Retirement Plans and Employer Actions

Jackson Walker on

The first few months of 2025 brought the potential for many changes. On January 20, 2025, one of the Executive Orders pulled back all proposed regulations that had been issued in the last 60 days, including proposed...more

Alston & Bird

Department of Labor’s Temporary Policy Allows Voluntary Escheatment of Certain Retirement Benefits

Alston & Bird on

In this article, the authors delve into the Department of Labor’s temporary ERISA enforcement policy for unclaimed retirement benefit payments of $1,000 or less. The Department of Labor (DOL) has announced a temporary...more

Morgan Lewis

DOL’s VFCP Final Rule Adds Limited ‘Self-Correction’ Program for Late Contributions, Participant Loan Failures

Morgan Lewis on

The Employee Benefits Security Administration recently released its final rule amending and restating the Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program, along with corresponding amendments to a related class exemption, Prohibited...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

SECURE 2.0’s Required Changes to Annual Funding Notices Become Effective in 2025

SECURE 2.0 introduced many changes for retirement plans, including updated disclosure requirements for a defined benefit plan’s annual funding notice (AFN). These updated AFN disclosure requirements apply for all plan years...more

Groom Law Group, Chartered

DOL Finalizes Update to Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program

On January 15, 2025, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued notice amending its Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program (“VFCP”), along with related final amendments to Prohibited Transaction Exemption 2002-51 (“PTE 2002-51”),...more

McDermott Will & Schulte

Trump Places DOL’s ESOP Proposals in Regulatory Moratorium

On January 16, 2025, the US Department of Labor’s (DOL) Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) released two pieces of guidance that, if finalized, would dramatically change the landscape for fiduciaries responsible...more

Jackson Lewis P.C.

Exciting Update: Self-Correction for Delinquent Contributions Now Possible Under the DOL’s VFCP

Jackson Lewis P.C. on

On January 14, 2025, the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) within the Department of Labor (DOL) updated its Voluntary Fiduciary Compliance Program (VFCP). The VFCP allows plan officials to correct certain...more

Verrill

DOL Announces Temporary Enforcement Policy Regarding Transfer of Small Retirement Benefit Payments of Missing Participants to...

Verrill on

Retirement plan fiduciaries have a new option for handling small benefit payments owed to missing participants and beneficiaries thanks to a temporary enforcement policy announced by the Department of Labor (“DOL”) earlier...more

Carlton Fields

Sometimes, Pension De-Risking Makes Cents

Carlton Fields on

In a defined benefit plan, participants usually accrue a monthly benefit based on a formula that typically considers their last three years’ salary before retirement and years of service with their employer. For example, the...more

Holland & Hart - The Benefits Dial

Both Sides Now… Must Be Alert to Cybersecurity

by Becky Achten New guidance from the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) affirms that both sides—retirement plans and welfare plans—must take steps to secure participant data from cybercrime. In 2021 the...more

ArentFox Schiff

Biden Administration Issues Final Rule Expanding ERISA Fiduciary Definition, Enhancing Protections for Pension Plan Participants

ArentFox Schiff on

On April 23, the US Department of Labor (DOL) released a final rule significantly expanding the definition of who qualifies as a fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) (the Retirement Security...more

Hall Benefits Law

The DOL’s New “Economic Realities” Test to Determine Employee Status: ERISA Considerations for Benefit Plan Sponsors

Hall Benefits Law on

The Department of Labor (DOL) Wage and Hour Division issued final regulations, effective March 11, 2024, which are intended to serve as a practical guide to employers on how the DOL determines whether a worker is an employee...more

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP

DOL Issues Final Amendment to the QPAM Exemption

On April 2, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced its final amendment to prohibited transaction class exemption 84-14 (the QPAM Exemption). The QPAM Exemption is a broad-based class exemption relied upon by many...more

The Wagner Law Group

Pension Risk Transfers and the Continuing Concern About Buying a Pig in a Poke

The Wagner Law Group on

Pension risk transfers (“PRTs”) continue to make the news. And well they should. Last year alone, over $100 billion in liabilities were transferred from defined benefit pension plans to insurance companies. And the trend...more

Bricker Graydon LLP

Pension Risk Transfer Considerations and Recent Litigation - A Case of Imprudent “Passing the Buck” or Sound Risk Management?

Bricker Graydon LLP on

Over the last several years, numerous large pension plan sponsors have transferred billions of dollars in financial risk related to their pension plan benefit obligations to insurance companies through the purchase of group...more

Nossaman LLP

Federal Court Rejects States’ Challenge to DOL’s ESG Investing Rule

Nossaman LLP on

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

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

Final Changes Announced to Forms 5500 and 5500-SF

The Department of Labor (DOL) announced that it has finalized, together with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation (PBGC), the third and final round of revisions to the Form 5500 Annual...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

DOL proposes VFCP self-correction

The Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) proposed updates to their Voluntary Fiduciary Compliance Program (VFCP), which would allow a self-correction component. The EBSA proposal includes a...more

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP

DOL Issues Proposed Amendment to the QPAM Exemption

On June 26, 2022, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced a proposed amendment to the prohibited transaction class exemption 84-14 (the “QPAM Exemption”). The QPAM Exemption is a broad-based class exemption relied upon...more

Jackson Lewis P.C.

Private Equity Investments In 401(K) Plans – The DOL Says Not So Fast

Jackson Lewis P.C. on

Hot button ERISA fiduciary issues remain a focus for investment committees of 401(k) plans in 2022. From “excessive” fee litigation – including litigation over the duty to monitor the fees charged by various mutual funds...more

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