11 Feb 2025
It’s Been Such a Long-Time: Addressing Long-term Part-time Employee Issues in Retirement Plans
Beginning in 2024, the SECURE Act rules required employers to allow covered long-term part-time (LTPT) employees to participate in the deferral feature of a 401(k) plan once these employees met applicable age and service thresholds, now requiring just 500 hours of service in an eligibility (and vesting) period. The SECURE 2.0 Act LTPT employee rules (extending coverage to ERISA-governed 403(b) plans and reducing the applicable threshold service period) take effect beginning in 2025. Count hours now!
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Reference this resource kit assembling all Practical Guidance content under the SECURE 2.0 Act and the SECURE Act. While the SECURE 2.0 Act built on the SECURE Act, each sought to improve retirement plan accessibility and incentivize individuals to save for retirement.
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Featuring the latest updates from your Practical Guidance account.
- Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Key Legal Developments Tracker (Current)
Stay informed on new developments.- ERISA. Trump Administration freezes issuance of proposed and final regulations pending review. The White House, Regulatory Freeze Pending Review.
- ERISA. DOL issues guidance permitting fiduciaries of an ongoing retirement plan to transmit missing participant moneys to a state unclaimed property fund if (1) the present value of the participant’s vested benefit (disregarding any outstanding loan balance) does not exceed $1,000; (2) the fiduciary determines that the transfer is a prudent destination for the participant’s vested retirement benefit; and (3) the fiduciary has implemented a prudent program to locate missing participants. DOL, Field Assistance Bulletin No. 2025-01.
- Retirement Plans. EBSA updates rules regarding its Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program (VFCP). 90 Fed. Reg. 4192 (Jan. 15, 2025). Coincident with the revised VFCP, EBSA amends PTE 2002-51, Prohibited Transaction Exemption 2002-51 to Permit Certain Transactions Identified in the Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program, to facilitate the VFCP amendments. 90 Fed. Reg. 3667 (Jan. 15, 2025).
- Health and Welfare Plans. DOL, HHS, Treasury, and Office of Personnel Management jointly release FAQs Part 69 which provide additional guidance on the federal independent dispute resolution (IDR) process and on the “gag clause prohibition” set forth in Section 201 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021. FAQs About Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 Implementation Part 69.
- Trump Transition Coverage in Practical Guidance
The Trump Transition Resource Kit is a consolidated listing of guidance related to new actions and orders, and the Presidential Executive Actions Tracker is a frequently updated listing and description of many of the recently implemented presidential orders and rescissions of previous administration orders. - Stay informed on SECURE 2.0 Act developments with our SECURE 2.0 Act Guidance Tracker.
- Document alerts allow you to stay current on legal developments that affect your practice. Find out how to set up your document alerts.
- New! Discover Practical Guidance Content and Resources
Review this link for recent updates and this link for the newest additions to Practical Guidance. This guide is designed to help you find the tools and insights you need to work more efficiently and effectively. - Review the Chevron Reversal Impact Resource Kit for analysis related to the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn four decades of deference to federal agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes.
- Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) Resource Kit is a frequently updated collection of current Practical Guidance materials on generative AI, ChatGPT, and similar tools.
- The Practical Guidance Journal 2025 Edition One features guidance on what attorneys need to know about deepfake technology, a look ahead at AI risk management, an artificial intelligence checklist, and a review of cautions and key AI legal issues in DEI and employment discrimination.
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- Legal Developments provide the latest updates and analyses of emerging topics impacting your practice area. Visit the Legal Developments page to see the latest topics, which also include breaking legal news and related Practical Guidance content.
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