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U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) monetary recoveries on behalf of benefit programs and participants by its Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) unit topped $1 billion for fiscal year 2017, 42 % greater than the $777.5 million recovered in FY 2016, statistics from the department showed.
A multi-agency federal and state investigation has led to the guilty plea and imprisonment of Ohio businessman William M. Apostelos, who orchestrated a Ponzi scheme that included the theft of $1.9 million from an employee benefit plan. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) and Office of Inspector General (OIG) participated in […]
The year 2016 was a banner year for mental health parity enforcement, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) reported. The agency’s growing efforts to bring group health plans into line with the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) were summarized in a recent DOL release.
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), in late December 2016, reinstated earlier guidance on proxy voting for plan fiduciaries that encourages them to “responsibly” exercise their rights as shareholders.
Fiduciaries of a major Western lumber producer’s group health plan have agreed to settle the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) allegations that the plan violated claims procedure and other requirements of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).
The Children’s Place Inc. (CPI) may be a fun spot for kids, but it’s apparently a lousy place to be an employee covered under the company health plan.
More than two years into the regulation’s implementation, the U.S. Department of Labor wants industry and plan sponsor comment on its regulation that requires retirement plan service providers to disclose fee information to fiduciaries. ERISA Section 408(b)(2) requires covered service providers to give fiduciaries information they need to assess the “reasonableness” of the administrators’ total compensation, […]
Concerns about the effect of lump-sum retiree distributions on the funded status of defined benefit pension plans with ongoing obligations to future beneficiaries were prominent as members of the ERISA Advisory Council tackled issues of “derisking” at a June 5 open meeting at the U.S. Department of Labor. There was high interest in the topic […]
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL)’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) issued the final rule for pension and 401(k) plan fee disclosures on Feb. 2. The announcement was jointly made with the U.S. Department of Treasury, which issued a proposal at the same time to reduce regulatory burdens on retirement incomes. Secretary of Labor Hilda […]
Tuesday, January 4, the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) hosted a live Q&A Web chat to discuss its regulatory priorities for the next several months and to answer questions. Phyllis Borzi, assistant secretary for EBSA, started the session by stating that the focus of the chat would be on EBSA’s pension initiatives that appear in […]