DE Under 3: Court Held That Workday Was an “Agent” to Employers Licensing its AI Applicant Screening Tools
Business Associates Here, There, and Everywhere: When Does Your Service Provider Really Need to Sign a HIPAA Business Associate Agreement?
In House Counsel: How To Measure the Effectiveness of Your Staffing Strategy
Sitting with the C-Suite: Identifying Opportunities to Leverage Human Capital
The CCPA for the Land Title Industry: Service Providers and Sale of Data Under the CCPA
Podcast - Risk Management: Troubleshooting & Problem Solving
Cybersecurity in the investment management industry
FCPA Compliance and Ethics Report-Episode 157-Training of Third Parties Under the FCPA
Special Report: The Hot-ish Swag at LegalTech New York 2015
A proposed class action lawsuit filed against Empower last month highlights the importance for 401(k) plan fiduciaries to carefully negotiate their services agreements with recordkeepers and other services providers. The...more
One of my favorite sayings is: “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” To me, it’s a reminder that even when we mean well, things don’t always turn out the way we hoped....more
In a decision about ERISA’s fiduciary duties and transparency, the Sixth Circuit in Tiara Yachts, Inc. v. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan held that Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBSM), a third-party administrator...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
In many situations, practitioners recommend establishing a fiduciary committee to oversee ERISA-covered employee benefit plans. There are several reasons for this, including providing a well-defined process for...more
As we bid farewell to 2024 and look ahead to the new year, we reflect on the many evolving compliance obligations that health and welfare plan sponsors tackle each year. Although this list is by no means exhaustive, it...more
As summarized in our prior article on this topic, individual coverage health reimbursement arrangements (ICHRAs) are gaining popularity and constituting a larger part of the overall employer-provided health coverage market. ...more
We are pleased to present our annual End of Year Plan Sponsor “To Do” Lists. This year, we present our “To Do” Lists in four separate SW Benefits Updates. This Part 1 covers year-end health and welfare plan issues. Parts 2,...more
On April 14, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor’s (“DOL”) Employee Benefits Security Administration (“EBSA”) issued its first cybersecurity best practices guidance for retirement plans. The EBSA guidance was highly...more
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
A little more than three years ago, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) posted cybersecurity guidance on its website for ERISA plan fiduciaries. That guidance extended only to ERISA-covered retirement plans, despite health and...more
On December 30, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued Field Assistance Bulletin No. 2021-03 (“FAB”), announcing its temporary enforcement policy for group health plan service provider disclosures under ERISA...more
Attorneys have a bad reputation and a lot of times, it’s warranted. I jokingly said I knew why people hated lawyers just by going to law school....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
To increase protections for the estimated $9.3 trillion in American retirement assets, the Department of Labor (DOL) has begun a new cybersecurity audit initiative for retirement plans. After providing its first set of...more
For the first time, the U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL) Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) has released cybersecurity guidance aimed at protecting workers' retirement benefits. The guidance, which was released...more
In a June 14, 2021 information letter, the US Department of Labor (DOL) opined that a claimant appealing an adverse benefit determination under a plan covered by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended...more
In light of a new DOL audit initiative and increasing cybersecurity threats to ERISA benefit plans, ERISA plan sponsors and fiduciaries should be prepared to answer some important questions: Do the cybersecurity programs of...more
It’s been, as the song goes, a long, long time coming. In April, the Department of Labor issued its first ever formal cybersecurity guidance for retirement plan sponsors and retirement plan fiduciaries, and for the service...more
Retirement plans are increasingly subject to cybersecurity issues, and the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is taking notice. On April 14, 2021, the DOL published cybersecurity guidance “for plan sponsors, plan fiduciaries,...more
On April 14, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) released three-part guidance on cybersecurity issues for employee benefit plans, marking its first significant commentary on the issue since its comprehensive but...more
Today, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) issued much anticipated cybersecurity guidance for employee retirement plans. This comes more than four and a half years after the ERISA...more
One of the last things pension plan participants would want to learn as they get ready to celebrate the Christmas holiday is that personal data from their pension accounts may have been compromised. This is the case,...more
Employers’ engagement and use of various types of vendors has expanded recently, to include vendors who assist with office re-entry screening and contact tracing as employees return to work during the COVID-19 pandemic. ...more
In Hansen v. Group Health Cooperative, 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 25033, (9th Cir. Sep. 4, 2018), two psychotherapists (“Providers”) sued Group Health Cooperative (“GHC”) in Washington state court, alleging GHC engaged in unfair...more