Benefits - Retirees

Retirement plan disclosures required by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) may be delivered by electronic media under the Department of Labor’s (DOL) updated electronic distribution regulation.

On November 4, 2021, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released the 2022 dollar limitations that apply to tax-qualified retirement plans. With few exceptions, the 2022 limitations published in Notice 2021-61 have been adjusted upwards.

In response to last year’s devastating hurricane season and other natural disasters, the Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act, which is a part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (the Act), included various relief provisions (similar to those under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and

On March 11, 2021, President Biden signed into law the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which includes the Butch Lewis Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act of 2021. This law is designed to forestall the insolvency of approximately 100 multiemployer pension plans that were expected to run

The Secretaries of the Departments of Treasury, Commerce, and Labor have been directed to review and report on the pension funding crisis in an October 22, 2020, Presidential Memorandum . The Memorandum brings renewed attention to a long-standing pension funding crisis and the failing backstops.

Last year, Congress passed the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 , often called the “SECURE Act”.

The Department of Labor (DOL) recently issued the long-awaited electronic disclosure final regulations providing employers with two new safe harbor methods for electronic delivery of retirement plan disclosures. The final rules are effective July 27, 2020; however, plan administrators may rely on th

On May 21, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced publication of its long-awaited guidance on electronic participant disclosures. The good news is that the DOL has taken a step in the right direction in easing some of the difficulties that were present in the prior electronic communicati

Following oral arguments that were held in February 2018, in a long-anticipated decision in the National Retirement Fund v. Metz Culinary Management Inc., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that a multiemployer pension fund’s use of a lower interest rate that was adopted after the

On Friday, December 20, 2019, President Trump signed into law the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Act of 2019 (the “SECURE Act”) as part of a spending bill to fund the government through September 30, 2020 (H.R. 1865, the “Further Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2020”). The SECURE Act,

Wrongful use of retirement plan participant data was among the claims made by a class of 40,000 participants against the plan sponsor and others in Cassell et al. v. Vanderbilt University et al. Specifically, the plan participants claimed that the University inter alia breached its “loyalty and prud

As reported by CBC, B.C. Pension Corporation announced a data breach involving pension plan records after discovering a box containing microfiche could not be found following a recent office move.

Collective bargaining agreements, including those that establish ERISA plans, should be interpreted according to ordinary principles of contract law, the U.S. Supreme Court has reaffirmed in a per curiam opinion. CNH Industrial N.V. v. Reese, No. 17-15 (Feb. 20, 2018).

According to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), one-third of American workers do not have the option to participate in a retirement savings plan through their employers.1 To help employees save for retirement, more states are passing or exploring legislation that requires employers to automatically

The Department of Labor (DOL) has issued a final rule to re-define who is rendered a "fiduciary" of an employee benefit plan under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) by providing investment advice to a plan or its participants or beneficiaries. More than five years in the making, is

Executive Summary: On April 6, 2016, the U. S. Department of Labor (DOL) released a long-awaited final rule expanding the definition of "fiduciary" under ERISA as well as the duties of investment advisors who qualify as fiduciaries thereunder. In addition, the DOL issued two related prohibited trans

An IRS plan audit uniquely focuses an employer’s mind on the core identity of its qualified retirement plan, which is that of a tax exempt organization, but one whose exemption (or “qualification”) requirements are far pickier than those applicable to one’s favorite charity. Any single material oper

Citing the threat of future insolvency, a New Jersey Teamsters Local Pension Fund has applied to the U.S. Treasury Department for permission to reduce by 40 percent the vested member benefits in the Fund.

On December 9, 2015, the IRS issued Notice 2015-87 [link below], which provides guidance on the application of the recent United States Supreme Court (“SCOTUS”) decision in Obergefell v. Hodges [link below] to qualified retirement and health and welfare plans.

All employers who are using a pre-approved form for their 401(k), profit sharing, or other defined contribution plan must sign updated documents on or before April 30, 2016 to preserve the tax-qualified status of the plan. Most employers who sponsor retirement plans are subject to this requirement.