News Archive

"The extended deadline applies to IRAs under Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 408(a), (b) and (h) as well as Simplified Employee Pension (SEP) arrangements and Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees (SIMPLE) IRAs. It covers all amendments -- required or discretionary -- related to these laws and any associated regulations."  MORE >>

"[T]he Seventh Circuit reversed a district court's sua sponte summary judgment ruling and held that a plan participant did not effectively remove his ex-spouse as the primary beneficiary of an ERISA-governed retirement plan where he failed to comply -- substantially or otherwise -- with the plan's prescribed beneficiary-change procedures." [Packaging Corp. of Am. Thrift Plan for Hourly Emps. v. Langdon, No. 25-1859 (7th Cir. Feb. 2, 2026)]  MORE >>

"Following Arkansas's efforts last year, several states are considering or advancing proposals that would restrict or prohibit [PBMs] and affiliated entities from owning or controlling pharmacies. While the proposals vary in structure and timing, each reflects ongoing state‑level interest in limiting PBM pharmacy ownership, with some measures drawing from aspects of the Arkansas approach."  MORE >>

"The proposed regulations would only apply to ERISA plans, not governmental or church plans, and for now are limited in scope to self-funded plans, though the DOL has left space in the proposed regulations to expand to fully insured plans in the future.... The rules build upon the statutory framework established by ERISA Section 408(b)(2)(B), which requires group health plan sponsors to request and review fee information from 'covered service providers' to demonstrate the reasonableness of the arrangement under ERISA's prohibited transactions requirements."  MORE >>

"[T]here have been glimmers of hope signaling that the Supreme Court's decision in Cornell, despite its initial impact, may actually provide an unexpected playbook for fighting back against meritless litigation.... In recent weeks, two courts have applied two of Cornell's so-called screening tools to dismiss meritless claims, and a third court is considering whether to implement another."  MORE >>

"Though the DOL argued in its filing that the plaintiffs continue to receive benefits following the PRT, the former DOL officials argued that insisting the plaintiffs lacked standing would disrupt the balance of ERISA and that the PRT substantially increased the risk of nonpayment of benefits, thereby giving the plaintiffs standing in the case." [Konya v. Lockheed Martin Corp., No. 24-0750 (D. Md. Mar. 28, 2025; on appeal to 4th Cir. No. 25-2061)]  MORE >>

"An expansion of the New York City Earned Safe and Sick Time Act will take effect February 22....[E]mployers in the City will be required to allow employees to use ESSTA leave for these additional reasons: [1] To provide care for a minor child or care recipient. [2] To attend legal proceedings for subsistence benefits or housing. [3] For certain reasons related to a public disaster or workplace violence."  MORE >>

"[A] key question that courts will have to grapple with in each of these cases is whether the plans fall outside the ambit of ERISA in accordance with the [DOL's] 'voluntary plan' safe harbor ... Plaintiffs maintain that the employers lacked any process to review, select or monitor carriers and brokers or to confirm that broker commissions were reasonable. They further allege ERISA prohibited transactions, asserting that employers and brokers caused the payment of excessive commissions from plan assets."  MORE >>

"The Department of Labor filed its fourth amicus brief supporting employers in 401(k) plan forfeiture disputes, offering its starkest warning yet that a pro-plaintiff ruling could jeopardize employee benefits." [Barragan v. Honeywell Int'l, Inc., No. 24-4529 (D.N.J. Aug. 18, 2025; on appeal to 3d Cir. No. 25-2509)]   MORE >>

"EBSA's enforcement program helped 8,015 terminated vested participants in defined benefit pension plans collect benefits of $512.5 million owed to them.... EBSA says that in FY 2025, it helped improve missing participant procedures for 49 plans.... EBSA reports that it held more than 1,300 education and outreach events in FY 2025."  MORE >>

"PMCA's arguments in favor of ERISA preemption of the fiduciary standards provision for self-funded employer plans center around three main points: [1] It makes an impermissible reference to ERISA plans because it specifically references 'self-insured employer plans'; p2[ It regulates in a field already fully occupied by federal standards ... and [3] It requires plan sponsors to design or structure their plan in a particular way[.]" [Pharmaceutical Care Management Association v. Bonta, No. 26-0012 (C.D. Calif. complaint filed Jan. 2, 2026)]  MORE >>

"Healthcare affordability for employers in 2026 requires a three-pronged approach: [1] Active management of high-cost pharmacy drivers like GLP-1s. [2] Optimized Health Savings Account (HSA) plan designs. [3] Integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to streamline benefits education."  MORE >>

"While year-end is a natural checkpoint, reassessing your retirement plan at the start of the year offers several advantages:[1] Tax efficiency ... [2] Regulatory compliance ... [3] Employee engagement ... [4] Strategic alignment."  MORE >>

"The cost for a patient with one chronic condition was nearly double that for a patient with no chronic conditions ... The average allowed amount for a patient with no chronic conditions was $1,590, while the average allowed amount for a patient with one chronic condition was nearly double ($3,039). Of 44 common chronic conditions studied, hyperlipidemia, or high cholesterol, was the most common, with a crude prevalence of 21.2 percent."  MORE >>

"Rising healthcare costs and unpredictable renewals are pushing more employers to explore self-funded insurance as a smarter alternative to fully insured plans.... A typical self-funded plan includes: [1] Third Party Administrator (TPA) ... [2] Stop-Loss Insurance ... [3] Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) ... [4] Targeted support for areas like diabetes, MSK, or mental health ... [5] Alternative pricing strategies including reference-based pricing."  MORE >>

"[FASB] approved the recommendation of its Emerging Issues Task Force earlier this month that benefits for market-based cash balance plans, which are legally classified as defined benefit plans, be valued by setting the discount rate equal to the assumed interest crediting rate.... [T]he proposed new accounting calculation would make it simpler and more sensible for plan sponsors to estimate their market-based cash balance pension obligations."  MORE >>

"The IRS and Treasury Department encourage plans to customize a safe harbor explanation by omitting any information that does not apply to the plan. This article highlights the changes that qualified governmental plans should consider making to their Special Tax Notices."  MORE >>

"The Proposed Rule attempts to provide ... transparency by: [1] Requiring PBMs to provide written disclosures of the PBM's direct and indirect compensation ... reasonably in advance of entering into or renewing a service arrangement ... [2] Establishing audit provisions designed to ensure that plan fiduciaries can verify the accuracy of the disclosures; and [2] Providing relief for plan fiduciaries if the PBM fails to meet its disclosure obligations.... [T]he Proposed Rule would require PBMs to disclose compensation as a monetary amount (even if estimated), rather than providing formulas, which are notoriously difficult for fiduciaries to assess when evaluating reasonableness."  MORE >>

"The new schedule reduces the number of vaccines universally recommended for children and adolescents from birth to 18 years old.... Importantly, all vaccines remain available and covered under federal requirements, meaning families should not face out-of-pocket costs for preventive immunizations."  MORE >>

"[T]he department argues that the district court correctly held that the plan sponsor did not breach its fiduciary duties of prudence and loyalty because the plaintiff's argument only included a bare allegation that forfeitures were not allocated to pay plan expenses, even though the plan at issue provided for fiduciary discretion over that decision. Instead, the brief explains how a prudent and loyal fiduciary might have concluded that it was important to ensure that plan participants received the contributions expressly promised by the plan in a timely manner." [Barragan v. Honeywell Int'l, Inc., No. 24-4529 (D.N.J. Aug. 18, 2025; on appeal to 3d Cir. No. 25-2509)]  MORE >>

"The [DOL's amicus brief], which argued the Lockheed retirees lack standing to challenge the company's pension de-risking transaction, is inconsistent with [ERISA] and would undermine the statute's standards by 'insulating fiduciary conduct from review precisely when judicial oversight is most needed,' Phyllis Borzi and Ali Khawar told the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in a Jan. 30 amicus brief backing the Lockheed workers." [Konya v. Lockheed Martin Corp., No. 24-0750 (D. Md. Mar. 28, 2025; on appeal to 4th Cir. No. 25-2061)]  MORE >>

"The minimum penalty for each violation of a particular HIPAA requirement or prohibition increases to $145 (up from $141) for a covered entity or business associate that did not know -- and could not have known by exercising reasonable diligence -- about the violation. For violations due to reasonable cause and not willful neglect, the minimum penalty increases to $1,461 (up from $1,424).... The calendar-year penalty cap increases to $2,190,294 (up from $2,134,831) for all violations of an identical HIPAA provision."  MORE >>

"The IRS now gives employers 90 days to respond to Letter 226J. Prior to 2025, the IRS only gave 30 days which may likely resulted in employers scrambling to investigate the tax assessments or asking for extensions. The deadline is 90 days from the date on the Letter 226J, not from when you received it."  MORE >>

"The industry will likely see a multi-pronged approach to developing alternative investment solutions for the DC Plan marketplace. Plan sponsors contemplating a move into alternatives should expect to see iterations of popular asset allocation strategies such as target-date and target-risk funds coming to market with alternative investment exposures already embedded[.]"  MORE >>

"In the last five filing years, the number of ESOPs at privately-held companies has been trending upward. During the same period, the number of ESOPs at publicly-held companies has decreased by 18%. The number of active participants at all ESOPs has grown by 781,872, with most of that coming from privately-held ESOPs."  MORE >>