Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
In the wake of the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, many companies have announced plans to assist employees in accessing abortion services, including providing travel assistance to employees located in states where abortion is now illegal. There are important legal considerations for employers to weigh when considering whether […]
Retirement plan fiduciaries have a duty to monitor investment options continuously and remove all imprudent ones, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) recently ruled in a much-anticipated decision. In the opinion, the Court made it clear the fiduciaries can’t ignore imprudent investment options in 401(k)s or other retirement plans even if other, prudent choices are […]
The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals (which covers Michigan employers) recently issued a long-awaited decision about the appropriateness of interest rate assumptions used by union pension funds to calculate withdrawal liability. The court affirmed a district court’s opinion holding the Ohio Operating Engineers Pension Fund’s use of the “Segal Blend” violated the Employee Retirement […]
Three lawsuits against corporate retirement benefit plans involving the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) have been, and a fourth may be, granted certiorari by the U.S. Supreme Court for its next term, a relatively large concentration of these cases in the High Court’s recent history of hearing ERISA matters.
Many 401(k) plan sponsors seek to reduce their potential fiduciary liability by electing to be a Section 404(c) plan. Under Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) Section 404(c), a fiduciary is not liable for losses in the plan resulting from the participant’s selection of investments in his or her own account, provided that the participant […]
Several troublesome issues faced by Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) plan sponsors, service providers, and attorneys are likely to be resolved in court cases this year. These lawsuits, and the way they are settled, could potentially have widespread effects on plan participants and the retirement plan community for years to come.
The Strengthening Financial Security Through Short-Term Savings Accounts Act of 2018 is a bill introduced in the Senate in July 2018 (S. 3218). It proposes, in short, to “allow employers to offer short-term savings accounts with automatic contribution arrangements for financial emergencies.”[i] This bill has only been introduced; it has been referred to committee, and […]
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is proposing a mechanism to help small businesses offer retirement plans to their employees, but although the proposal may ease the way for some employers, it doesn’t eliminate all complications.
Employer groups will be able to start offering association health plans (AHPs) as soon as this September 1, under the final AHP rule announced June 19 by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL).
by Douglas R. Chamberlain Until recently, with the realities of America’s mobile society, it was quite possible to lose track of people—former employees included—especially if they didn’t particularly care to be found. However, the advance of modern technology, led by the Internet, first slowed and then reversed this trend—to the point where anonymity and obscurity […]