News & Analysis as of

Retirement Plan Employee Stock Ownership Plans Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)

Husch Blackwell LLP

ESOPs for Cannabis Companies

Husch Blackwell LLP on

Employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) have been used as a business succession strategy by employers across many industries. In the cannabis industry, ESOPs have come and gone and come again as a trendy topic promising to fix...more

Morgan Lewis - ML Benefits

Long Awaited ESOP Proposals Issued and Then Quickly Withdrawn

On January 20, 2025, an executive order froze two new pieces of proposed employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) guidance announced in a notice of proposed rulemaking and originally set for publication in the Federal Register on...more

Husch Blackwell LLP

ESOP Fiduciary Duties When Investing in Non-Stock Assets

Husch Blackwell LLP on

On February 6, 2025, a Pennsylvania federal judge gave preliminary approval to a $2.1 million settlement resolving a class action involving the Pride Mobility ESOP. This case is one of six brought so far—and the second to...more

Lathrop GPM

The “Deregulatory Initiative” Executive Order: Impact on Employee Benefit Plans

Lathrop GPM on

A February 19 Executive Order, titled “Ensuring Lawful Governance and Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ Deregulatory Initiative,” is aimed at directing the “Administration to focus the...more

Holland & Knight LLP

The Rise and Fall of the DOL's Long-Anticipated Proposed Regulation on "Adequate Consideration"

Holland & Knight LLP on

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) on Jan. 16, 2025, released its long-awaited proposed regulation interpreting the definition of "adequate consideration" as applied to private company stock acquired or sold by an employee...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

Kaufman & Canoles

ESOPs, Benefits & Compensation Client Alert - January 2025

Kaufman & Canoles on

On January 16, the Department of Labor released long-awaited guidance on how to determine the value of employer stock in purchase and sale transactions involving an ESOP. Unfortunately for those in the ESOP community hoping...more

Polsinelli

Department of Labor Proposes Rule on Valuing Stock for ESOP Stock Purchase and Sale Transactions

Polsinelli on

On January 16, 2025, the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) at the Department of Labor (DOL) released drafts of long-awaited proposed regulations seeking to clarify the definition of “adequate consideration” as...more

Snell & Wilmer

Cheers to 50 Years of ERISA: A Major Milestone in Employee Protection

Snell & Wilmer on

As the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”) celebrates its 50th anniversary, it offers us an opportunity to reflect on its transformative impact on employee benefits and retirement security. Signed into law on...more

Kaufman & Canoles

ESOPs & Employee Benefits Q1 2024 Client Update

Kaufman & Canoles on

On behalf of the ESOPs & Employee Benefits team, we hope you’re enjoying the first days of Spring, when the longer days allow more time to ponder the ever-changing landscape of employee benefits compliance. Please find below...more

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

Thinking ESOPs: Fourth Circuit Narrows Equitable Relief Under ERISA

In Rose v. PSA Airlines, Inc., 80 F.4th 488 (4th Cir. 2023), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held that ERISA § 502(a)(3), which permits a claim for “other appropriate equitable relief,” does not allow claims...more

Holland & Hart - Employers' Lawyers

10th Circuit Rejects ERISA Arbitration Provision

Courts have been mixed regarding the enforceability of arbitration provisions in Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) retirement plans since the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals’ 2019 decision in Dorman v. Charles...more

Robinson Bradshaw

Tenth Circuit Prohibits Class-Action Waivers in Benefit Plan Documents

Robinson Bradshaw on

It is no secret that many businesses minimize risk by requiring arbitration of disputes on an individual basis. The exposure created by a single claim pales next to that presented by a class claim, asserted under Rule 23, on...more

Levenfeld Pearlstein, LLC

How the Secure Act 2.0 Affects ESOPs, 401(k)s, and Other Retirement Plans

The Secure Act 2.0 of 2022, enacted in the closing days of 2022, makes a substantial number of changes to tax-qualified retirement plans, most of which are intended to increase plan coverage and retirement savings. Although...more

Holland & Hart - The Benefits Dial

What Happens In A Small Town Stays In A Small Town … Until The Tenth Circuit Rejects ERISA Arbitration Provision

While case law regarding the enforceability of arbitration provisions in ERISA retirement plans has been mixed, since the Ninth Circuit’s 2019 decision in Dorman v. Charles Schwab Corp. enforcing a 401(k) plan’s arbitration...more

Morgan Lewis - ML Benefits

SECURE Act 2.0: Impact on ESOPs

The SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (SECURE Act 2.0) makes far-reaching changes to the US retirement plan system. Our initial SECURE Act 2.0 LawFlash provided a general overview of its significant provisions. This blog post—one in our...more

Keating Muething & Klekamp PLL

What Employers Need to Know About SECURE 2.0

The Senate ushered in the New Year with a bang by passing SECURE 2.0 on December 22, 2022. SECURE 2.0 includes many updates to the sweeping changes brought about under 2019’s original SECURE Act legislation...more

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

Thinking ESOPs: Why Aren’t Courts Conducting the 'Context-Specific' Inquiry Into Complaints That the Supreme Court Requires?

Recently, several appellate-level court decisions have affirmed dismissals of ERISA fiduciary-breach claims involving 401(k) plans. These decisions followed the Supreme Court’s decision earlier this year in a 403(b) case, in...more

Kaufman & Canoles

ESOPs & Employee Benefits Q3 2022 Client Update

Kaufman & Canoles on

Happy Fall from the K&C ESOPs & Employee Benefits practice group. We’ve compiled a short list of employee benefits updates from the third quarter of 2022....more

Kaufman & Canoles

ESOPs & Employee Benefits Client Alert

Kaufman & Canoles on

Retirement Plan RMD Updates Bring Employers New Challenges - Among the many other tasks retirement plan sponsors must navigate, they need to focus on a few new rules aimed at required minimum distributions (or “RMDs”). While...more

Kaufman & Canoles

ESOPs & Employee Benefits Update – Q1 2022 Client Update

Kaufman & Canoles on

Happy Spring from the K&C ESOPs & Employee Benefits practice group. We’ve compiled a short list of employee benefits updates from the first quarter of 2022....more

Williams Mullen

ESOP Essentials: Can My Company Offer An ESOP? Selected Tax Guidance on Choice of Entity, Business Structure and ESOPs

Williams Mullen on

An employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) is a type of tax-qualified retirement plan. ESOPs are designed to invest primarily in qualifying employer securities, as defined in applicable tax rules....more

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

ERISA Litigation Roundup: Northern District of Illinois Dismisses ERISA Stock-Drop Suit

On August 23, 2021, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois dismissed an ERISA stock-drop lawsuit brought against fiduciaries of Kraft Heinz Food Company’s employee stock ownership plan (ESOP), holding...more

Jackson Lewis P.C.

Failure To Identify Specific Viable Alternative Action Dooms Stock Drop Claim

Jackson Lewis P.C. on

The Ninth Circuit recently affirmed the dismissal of an ERISA employer-stock drop putative class action, holding that the plaintiff’s failure to identify specific, viable alternative actions that plan fiduciaries should have...more

Morrison & Foerster LLP - Left Coast Appeals

This Week at the Ninth: Falsity and Fiduciaries

This week, we examine a pair of Ninth Circuit decisions addressing when opinions are materially false under securities law, and what a plaintiff must plead to establish a duty-of prudence violation under the Employee...more

48 Results
 / 
View per page
Page: of 2

"My best business intelligence, in one easy email…"

Your first step to building a free, personalized, morning email brief covering pertinent authors and topics on JD Supra:
*By using the service, you signify your acceptance of JD Supra's Privacy Policy.
- hide
- hide