News & Analysis as of

Retirement Plan Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) Financial Services Industry

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

Are We Robbing Peter to Pay Paul?

The 401(k) match has long been one of the most powerful tools for building retirement savings. It’s the “free money” we’ve all been trained to chase—and advise our clients to chase. So when Fidelity, Schwab, and others start...more

Polsinelli

DOL Rescinds 2022 Guidance Concerning Cryptocurrency Investments in 401(k) Plans

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On May 28, 2025, the Department of Labor (DOL) rescinded its 2022 guidance that cautioned retirement plan fiduciaries to exercise “extreme care” in permitting cryptocurrency and other digital asset investments in retirement...more

Troutman Pepper Locke

Texas Federal Court Allows an ERISA Fiduciary Challenge Against Alleged "ESG Investing" Without Any ESG Funds

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On January 10, 2025, in Spence v. American Airlines, a federal district court in Texas ruled that American Airlines (the company) and the committee overseeing its 401(k) plans (the committee) breached their duty of loyalty...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

The Intangibles You Need To Succeed In The 401(k) Business

The most disappointing part of going to law school was the lack of practicality. Sure, it helps you think like a lawyer and teach you the basics of the law, it never helped with becoming a successful lawyer or how to draw a...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

Jackson Lewis P.C.

Missing Participants – New State Unclaimed Property Fund Option for Small Balances

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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

Pullman & Comley - Labor, Employment and...

Retirement Plan Update – Forfeitures are New Focus of Fiduciary Breach Litigation

Many employer-sponsored defined contributions plans, including 401(k) profit sharing plans and money purchase pension plans include a vesting schedule – a period over which a plan participant earns a nonforfeitable right to...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

The DOL May Not Actually Want to Hear From You: New Guidance Streamlining the Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program

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The DOL updated its voluntary fiduciary correction program (“VFCP”) which was introduced over 20 years ago to allow plan sponsors to corrected enumerated fiduciary breaches. The amended VFCP now allows for self-correction of...more

A&O Shearman

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

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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

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

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

The Department of Labor’s Expanded Cybersecurity Guidance: What ERISA Plan Sponsors and Fiduciaries Need to Know

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on

On September 6, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued Compliance Assistance Release No. 2024-01, titled “Cybersecurity Guidance Update.” The updated guidance clarifies that the DOL cybersecurity guidance applies to...more

Carlton Fields

Sometimes, Pension De-Risking Makes Cents

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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

Carlton Fields

DOL Fiduciary Rule Saga Continues: 2024 Fiduciary Rule Halted by Texas District Courts

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The Federation of Americans for Consumer Choice v. Department of Labor case was the first case challenging the Department of Labor’s 2024 retirement security rule defining who is an investment advice fiduciary. It was...more

Holland & Knight LLP

Department of Labor Releases New ERISA Fiduciary Rule

Holland & Knight LLP on

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) on April 23, 2024, issued the Retirement Security Rule (the Final Rule), which expands who qualifies as an investment advice fiduciary for purposes of the Employee Retirement Income Security...more

Carlton Fields

The DOL Fiduciary Rule Is Here – Are You an Investment Advice Fiduciary?

Carlton Fields on

The Department of Labor’s final definition of “investment advice” fiduciary regulation makes many more individuals fiduciaries under both the Employee Retirement Income Security Act and the Internal Revenue Code. Where for...more

Polsinelli

New Final Department of Labor Rules on Investment Advice are Immediately Challenged in Court

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The U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) recently issued final, new regulations (the “rules”) regarding who is considered an investment advice fiduciary that are slated to become generally effective on September 23, 2024, as well...more

K&L Gates LLP

QPAM Exemption Amendment—Key Takeaways and Action Steps for Advisors and Other Stakeholders

K&L Gates LLP on

Executive Summary - Many investment advisers and other financial institutions rely on the Department of Labor’s QPAM Exemption when providing services to, and transacting with, employer-sponsored retirement plans, individual...more

Carlton Fields

DOL Releases New Fiduciary Rule, Broadens Definition of Investment Advice Under ERISA

Carlton Fields on

On April 23, 2024, the Department of Labor published its long-awaited final retirement security rule broadening the definition of who is an “investment advice fiduciary” under section 3(21) of the Employee Retirement Income...more

Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck

Fiduciary Rule 4.0 Released

On April 23, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published the “Retirement Security Rule: Definition of an Investment Advice Fiduciary,” which makes changes to the definition of “ fiduciary” for purposes of the Employee...more

A&O Shearman

DOL Issues Final Rule Amending QPAM Exemption

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On April 3, 2024, the Department of Labor (DOL) released its final rule amending Prohibited Transaction Exemption 84-14 (PTE 84-14). PTE 84-14 exempts from ERISA’s prohibited transaction rules certain transactions between...more

Carlton Fields

New DOL Fiduciary Rule Proposal: Still the Same Old Act…

Carlton Fields on

On November 3, 2023, the Department of Labor proposed yet another fiduciary rule, the latest in more than a decade of DOL efforts to ensure that every financial professional who sells an investment product to a retirement...more

Williams Mullen

PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - New Federal Rule Aims to Hold Investment Advisors to a Higher Standard

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On this episode of Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion, host Brydon DeWitt is joined by Ali Pino, a principal and retirement plan consultant with Spherient Advisors, who discusses the proposed Department of Labor rule...more

Troutman Pepper Locke

DOL Proposed Rule: New Definition of "Investment Advice Fiduciary"

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On October 31, the Department of Labor (DOL) released a proposed rule (the Proposed Rule) aiming to redefine and expand who qualifies as an “investment advice fiduciary” under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of...more

A&O Shearman

DOL Proposes New Fiduciary Rule Aimed at Investment Advice to Individual Retirement Investors

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More than five years after the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decision to vacate the Department of Labor’s (DOL) 2016 fiduciary rule, the DOL has proposed a new rule that, once again, attempts to re-define when financial...more

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP

Texas Federal Judge: DOL ESG Investing Rule Does Not Violate ERISA

On September 21, 2023, a Texas federal court dismissed an action commenced by more than two dozen Republican state attorneys general challenging a 2022 Department of Labor (DOL) Rule that addressed consideration of ESG...more

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