The SECURE Act of 2019 made three statutory changes to ERISA regarding lifetime income benefit payments from defined contribution plans (e.g., 401(k), 403(b), profit sharing, and money purchase pension plans). This blog will cover one of those changes – an amendment to Section 105 of ERISA. Section 105 requires the plan administrator to issue periodic benefit statements to participants and requires the disclosure of certain information on those statements, such as the participant’s account balance, vesting, and the value of each investment in the account. The SECURE Act ...
The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (“COBRA”) became law on April 7, 1986. For most of its nearly 35-year history, litigation involving COBRA has been relatively quiet. Most COBRA claims are tag-alongs, added as an afterthought to various sorts of discrimination claims, and a few cases involving the definition of “gross misconduct” (essentially the one narrow exception where an offer of COBRA coverage is not required).
In the wake of the pandemic, this is changing. Recently, there have been a number of cases filed (most filed as class actions) involving ...
The U.S. Department of Labor (the “DOL”) recently released an information letter that concludes, if certain conditions are met, a plan fiduciary will not violate his fiduciary duties under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”) by offering a “professionally managed asset allocation fund with a private equity component as a designated investment alternative for an ERISA covered individual account plan.” This information letter (DOL Information Letter to Jon W. Breyfogle, June 3, 2020; hereinafter referred to as the ...
On April 29, 2019, the United States Department of Labor (the “DOL”) released a policy statement providing transitional relief from the potential adverse consequences arising from a District Court’s vacating portions of the DOL’s regulations on the alternative test of the definition of “employer” for Association Health Plan (“AHP”) purposes.
By way of background, on June 21, 2018, the DOL published regulations which established an alternative test that described in prior DOL guidance as to who can sponsor an ERISA-covered AHP as an “employer” (the ...
On April 23, 2018, the U.S. Department of Labor (the "DOL") released Field Assistance Bulletin No. 2018-01 ("FAB 2018-01") which provides guidance regarding (1) the exercise of shareholder rights and written statements of investment policy (addressed in Interpretation Bulletin 2016-01); and (2) economically targeted investments ("ETIs"; addressed in Interpretation Bulletin 2015-01). I have previously discussed certain issues arising with respect to the exercise of shareholder rights. See my article "DOL Updates Guidance on Proxy Voting by Plan Fiduciaries", January 19 ...