How ERISA Litigators Strengthen Plan Compliance and Risk Management: One-on-One with Jeb Gerth
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Trends in Recordkeeper Consolidation and Due Diligence
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Exploring the Value of Qualified Default Investment Alternatives
The Form 5500: What All Employers and Plan Administrators Need to Know and How to Avoid Costly Fines
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Cautionary Tales for Preapproved Plan Documents
DOL Clarifies Timing of Lifetime Income Disclosures in Benefit Statements
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Payroll Integration for Plan Sponsors
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Plan Administrators’ 2020 Year-End Checklist
Cutting Costs With Employee Benefit Plans (Part 5 of 5) – Implementation
Cutting Costs With Employee Benefit Plans (Part 4 of 5) – Retirement Plan Costs
Cutting Costs With Employee Benefit Plans (Part 3 of 5) – Medical Benefit Costs
Cutting Costs With Employee Benefit Plans (Part 2 of 5) – Identifying Potential Targets
Cutting Costs With Employee Benefit Plans (Part 1 of 5) – Using Benefit Plans to Save Money
CARES Act – Retirement Plan Distributions and Loans: Troutman Sanders and Pepper Hamilton COVID-19 Issues for Employers Podcast Series
Blakes Continuity Podcast: COVID-19: The Regulatory Impact on Pensions
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Plan Administrators’ 2019 Year-End Checklist
What can employers do with non-vested employer contributions? Under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”), employers may require an employee to work for a set number of years before any company...more
Sometimes, in the strange world of ERISA litigation, you get a surprise. And in Hutchins v. Hewlett Packard, we got one: the Department of Labor, yes, that DOL, the one whose name alone strikes fear into the heart of many...more
You can cut corners in business. You can play fast and loose with your vendor contracts. You can even get away with sloppy recordkeeping—at least for a while. But when you mess with employee 401(k) contributions, you’re not...more
When a plan administrator selects an insurer to provide annuities for a retirement plan subject to ERISA, it is engaging in a fiduciary act that must be conducted prudently. Mistakes in this process can expose the plan...more
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
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
If you’re a 401(k) plan sponsor, you don’t need to be an ERISA expert—you just need to avoid doing dumb things. Here are a few quick tips to help you stay on the right side of your fiduciary duties and keep your participants...more
On July 9th, the Secretary of Labor filed an amicus brief with the Ninth Circuit relating to the appeal of Hutchins v. HP, Inc. In that case, a participant claimed that forfeitures should have been used to offset plan...more
A recent complaint (Dylan Handy v. Paychex, Inc.) highlights the potential for plan administrators, and their delegates, to continue monitoring distributions after being made. In this particular situation, the participant...more
As a plan fiduciary, I still can’t believe it. A Third Party Administrator (TPA) we terminated was trying to hold us up for valuations and a Form 5500 we paid for, as part of, annual administration. It was $80,000....more
On January 14, 2025, the DOL issued Field Assistance Bulletin (FAB) 2025-01, providing sponsors and administrators of ongoing defined contribution plans with a new option for missing participant balances of $1,000 or less:...more
The most recent wave of ERISA litigation is focused on the use of plan forfeitures in 401(k) plans, with the newest case, Armenta v. WillScot Mobile Mini Holdings Corp. being filed just last week. Although, for years, many...more
Our Unclaimed Property and Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation teams delve into the Department of Labor’s temporary ERISA enforcement policy for unclaimed retirement benefit payments of $1,000 or less....more
This month’s Friday Five explores recent decisions including the standard of review for ERISA benefit denials, whether structural conflict entitles a claimant to conflict-of-interest discovery, whether a “relative value...more
The SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 added new Section 523 to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”), requiring the Department of Labor (the “Department”) to establish an online database called the Retirement...more
The Department of Labor (DOL) recently issued new guidance on best practices for maintaining cybersecurity in connection with ERISA plans (the Guidance). The Guidance, which is intended for sponsors, fiduciaries, record...more
The Department of Labor (“DOL”) has undertaken a nationwide compliance initiative to ensure that retirement plan participants receive the benefits that they were promised when they reach their retirement age. To that end, the...more
The United States Department of Labor (DOL) finalized a new safe harbor rule for the use of electronic media to furnish information to participants and beneficiaries of employee retirement plans subject to the Employee...more
North Carolina District Court Permits Plan’s Lawsuit Against Third Party Administrator to Continue A federal district court in North Carolina has ruled that a plan subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of...more
Chutzpah is nerve, shameless audacity. The best example of chutzpah is someone who kills their parents and asks the court for leniency because they’re an orphan. I’ve been in this business of ours for the past 20 plus...more
As we head into the thick of summer, all eyes are on President Trump's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court to replace retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy and the impact the new Justice will have on shaping the law for...more
On April 23, 2018, the DOL released Field Assistance Bulletin (FAB) 2018-01 relating to (1) plan investment in “economically targeted investments (“ETIs”), (2) the exercise of shareholder rights and (3) investment policy...more
The Future Is Now For 401(k) Plan Sponsors. The future is here. When I was the head ERISA attorney at a New York based third party administrator (TPA), I left because I saw the future of the retirement plan...more
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has increased its examinations of the procedures of defined benefit and defined contribution retirement plans for locating and paying out benefits to terminated vested participants whom the...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