Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Preparing employer benefit plans’ annual filings to federal agencies can be detailed and time-consuming. A review of recent changes to the 2014 Form 5500 series indicates this process could become even more laborious for some plans, as the government seeks more data disclosure. The Form 5500 is used by multiple government agencies (the U.S. Department […]
Plan participants can recover personal, rather than plan, losses under arguments of “surcharge,” the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled, reversing an earlier opinion, which had been at odds with other federal circuits. On Dec. 16, the circuit court handed down the new ruling in Gabriel v. Alaska Elec. Pension Fund, 2014 WL 7139686 (9th […]
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, […]
The next three months are crunch time. Employers have to get moving on several deadlines, most of them required under health care reform. Some reform rules should have taken effect in 2014, but were subject to the year-long delay instituted by the Obama administration. Health Plan Identifiers Nov. 5, 2014 is the deadline for large group […]
Retirement plan sponsors that have agreements with service providers should be aware of a recent appellate court decision that absolved such providers of fiduciary duty — if a plan trustee exercised final control over the terms of their agreement. Background In Santomenno v. John Hancock Life Insurance Co., 2014 WL 4783665 (3rd Cir. Sept. 26, […]
One of the most sensitive — and often misunderstood — aspects of being an executive of a company with a retirement plan is knowing when senior leaders are fiduciaries for the plan. A recent federal case added some clarity when it determined that a chief executive with signature authority over the company’s finances was indeed […]
A federal district court judge on Aug. 12 dismissed a suit by current and former employees of a Maryland construction company who alleged that the company failed to comply with ERISA disclosure requirements and to provide retirement plan documents upon request because the Spanish-speaking plaintiffs couldn’t understand the English documents. ERISA requires that plan sponsors […]
Fidelity Investments agreed to pay a class of its own employee 401(k) plan participants and beneficiaries $12 million to settle ERISA violation allegations of excessive fees and committing prohibited transactions with their retirement accounts. The settlement, filed July 3 with the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, ended two lawsuits brought by employees: […]
In a decision sharply at odds with a recent Illinois ruling, a federal district court in Arizona held that health care providers cannot be characterized as plan beneficiaries who can sue to compel payment of ERISA benefits. The court rejected the view that a direct payment for services is an ERISA benefit that give providers […]
The Self-Insurance Institute of America has lost a round in its battle against a state-imposed tax on ERISA health plans. In a new ruling, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that Michigan’s health care claims tax withstood SIIA’s preemption arguments, because the law doesn’t interfere with the parts of plan administration reserved exclusively […]