Plan sponsors and their administrators have loads of issues to address in sponsoring qualified retirement plans. Keeping up with participant notifications is one of them. Much of the chore is handled by recordkeepers—but are you complying with the rules?...
Corporations involved in mergers and other corporate transactions vary their treatment of outstanding equity awards to their C-suite executives. This includes how they handle vested and unvested outstanding equity-based awards, including stock options, stock appreciation...
Several recent cases found dismissal appropriate in ERISA litigation alleging fiduciary breach for failing to adequently review (and eliminate allegedly underperforming) plan investments. The Beldock v. Microsoft Corp. court applied a heightened standard for pleading...
Some ERISA sections just keep giving. Take Section 404(c). It’s commonly relied on in plans providing for participant-directed investment, like most 401(k) and 403(b) plans. True—following the rules isn’t absolute protection from fiduciary liability...
A recent case in the Eighth Circuit makes clear that plan documents, and what they say, are important. We know this, but sometimes, especially in welfare benefit plans, the particulars aren’t always spelled out. ERISA plans often require participants to exhaust...
Handling 401(k) plans in mergers and acquisitions can be complicated. In a stock purchase acquisition, the question is—should the buyer require the target to terminate its 401(k) plan before closing or keep the plan in place, at least for a short time following...
It’s a common scenario—a participant takes a loan in a 401(k) plan, then leaves that employer, rolls the plan account to an IRA, and is subsequently surprised when their Form 1099-R arrives showing the plan loan as a taxable distribution. This is because...
Employees have been given the option (if employers let them) to pay for qualified transportation fringes pre-tax since 1998. I.R.C. Section 132(f) provides the mechanism. Employers have been able to contribute to the benefit since 1992. Qualified transportation...
We buy life insurance to protect our beneficiaries. With employee benefits, automatic payroll deduction makes the selection of group life insurance an easy annual election—then we can feel protected. Sometimes employers offer minimum coverage (maybe one-times...
For plan years starting on or after January 1, 2024, 401(k) plans can permit participants to access up to $1,000 of their account balance without penalty, in the event of an unforeseeable or immediate financial need that relates to necessary personal or family...
Last August, the SEC issued a release adopting new pay-versus-performance (pay-for-performance) rules on proxy disclosures for principal executive officers (PEOs) and other named executive officers of companies with reporting obligations under Section 12 of the...
If the Affordable Care Act (ACA) were a tree, it would bear the marks of the swings taken at dismantling or disassembling it. From outright repeal, elimination of the individual taxpayer mandate, and now to eliminating goods and services treated as “preventive...
New regulations dealing with Form 5500 filings (for 2023 plan years and after) could reduce filing requirements for small employer plans. 88 Fed. Reg. 11,984 (Feb. 24, 2023) . The agencies modified the participant counting methodology for small/large plan status...
Qualified plan forfeitures occur when a participant severs employment before vesting fully in employer contributions, in accordance with the plan’s relevant vesting schedule. Leave too early and you leave something on the table—which is definitely unfortunate...
Learn more about the problems that can arise during C-suite investigations of executives. Routine and typical questions, such as who is the client, who has a need to know, how to protect privilege, and how best to close the investigation, can quickly present atypical...