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"President Francois Hollande may only manage a lightweight reform of France's indebted pension system, with trade unions preparing street protests and his own Socialist Party warning it would oppose painful measures. Fellow Europeans say France risks damaging its own standing and that of the euro zone among investors, and upsetting southern members struggling with harsh reforms, if it fails to address the deficit in its pension funding."  MORE >>

Excerpt: In the Netherlands, all citizens have access to 24/7 primary healthcare. The system is organized much like a health maintenance organization, so patients are required to get approval from their primary care provider before they can see a specialist or go to the hospital.  MORE >>

"The HIPAA privacy and security rules generally apply to protected health information of deceased persons as well as the living.... As with living persons, HIPAA allows providers to use or disclose protected health information of deceased persons for purposes of treatment, payment, or the provider's healthcare operations, unless the provider has agreed otherwise."  MORE >>

"The court declined to consider the settlor, rather than fiduciary, nature of the decision to offer a second medical plan option at the motion to dismiss stage even though there cannot be a fiduciary breach when there is no fiduciary action or inaction.... If this lawsuit is successful or spawns other similar lawsuits that survive motions to dismiss, employers that offer employees a choice among multiple medical plan options could decide that it is not worth the additional costs and exposure to provide employees with the choice of multiple medical plan options." [Barbich v. Northwestern Univ., No. 25-6849 (N.D. Ill. Apr. 2, 2026)]  MORE >>

"The proposed regulations do not resolve some of the key ERISA fiduciary issues associated with alternative investments: [1] The inherent lack of liquidity still presents an operational issue for 401(k) plans ... [2] The inherent valuation challenges still present an operational issue for 401(k) plans with respect to processing distributions ... [3] The inherent lack of transparency and complexity can make it challenging for plan fiduciaries to properly evaluate potential alternative investments.... [4] Plaintiffs' attorneys have already indicated they intend to hold plan fiduciaries accountable if plans offer alternative investments."  MORE >>

"It appears this lawsuit could have been avoided if the plan was drafted to specify that a surviving spouse had to be married to the participant when benefits commenced to be eligible for survivor benefits. Even if the lawsuit could not have been avoided, the employer's motion to dismiss may have been granted to end the lawsuit prior to discovery if the plan document was unambiguously drafted and the employer did not informally communicate to the participant and beneficiary that a survivor benefit was available." [Gervait v. The Coca-Cola Company, No. 25-2738 (N.D. Ga. Mar. 5, 2026)]  MORE >>

"Participants filed a proposed class action lawsuit ... claiming that the disclosures they were provided about the conversion of the pension plan to a cash balance plan in 1999 failed to inform them that the change could substantially reduce participants' benefits.... [The magistrate judge] determined that the plan satisfied its disclosure requirements at the time of the plan changes because participants were notified through a December 1998 letter of the conversion to a cash balance plan and the effective date. The plan's December 1999 summary plan description also disclosed the change and the impact on benefits." [Lorusso v. Northwell Health Pension Plan, No. 24-2785 (E.D.N.Y. mag. report Feb. 18, 2026)]  MORE >>

"As of February 16, 2026, the new rules governing the confidentiality of substance use disorder (SUD) records will be enforced. If they have not done so, federally assisted SUD programs (Part 2 Programs) who are covered entities under HIPAA will need to update their business associate agreements (BAAs) to ensure compliance with the new rules."  MORE >>

"It is critical for covered entities to understand what state laws, if any, may impose additional obligations upon them, and that merely complying with HIPAA is not enough. This is made even more important by the raft of state-specific privacy protection laws that states across the country have implemented within the last decade. The examples [in this article] illustrate when and where state law may impose burdens more demanding than HIPAA and the Privacy Rule, but also note where HIPAA preempts other, conflicting state laws."  MORE >>

"[F]our employers [have been ] sued ... for allegedly breaching ERISA fiduciary duties regarding their voluntary benefits insurance offerings.... The complaints ... allege that the named employers do not rely on the exemption and instead operate their voluntary benefit programs as subject to ERISA. Whether this allegation is true or not, it serves as a reminder to employers who do wish to avoid ERISA that the exemption for voluntary benefits is not automatic." [Brewer v. CHS/Community Health Systems, Inc., No. 25-15578 (N.D. Ill. complaint filed Dec. 23, 2025); Braham v. Laboratory Corp. of Am. Holdings, No. 25-15583 (N.D. Ill. complaint filed Dec. 23, 2025); Fellows v. Universal Serv. of Am, LP, No. 25-10659 (S.D.N.Y. complaint filed Dec. 23, 2025); Pimm v. United Airlines, Inc., No. 25-15581 (N.D. Ill. complaint filed Dec. 23, 2025)]   MORE >>

"HIPAA requires covered entities to post and provide individuals with a copy of the provider's NPP no later than the first day services are delivered. The NPP must contain the elements, information and statements specified in 45 CFR 164.520 ... By February 16, 2026, covered entities must update their NPP to also address the following: [1] Notice of Rights Concerning Substance Use Disorder Records.... [2] Limits on Use of SUD Records.... [3] Impact of Other Laws.... [4] Fundraising."  MORE >>

"It is important for plan fiduciaries to be mindful that a plan's selection of a QDIA must satisfy the QDIA regulation, so selection of a fund offering that is more unique than the typical target date fund may be challenged for not satisfying the regulation's requirements absent specific or broad-based approval by the DOL."  MORE >>

"On January 1, 2026, parents of newborns receiving inpatient care in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) will be eligible for up to 12 weeks of leave while their newborns are in NICU. This leave is in addition to the 12 weeks of parental bonding leave already available under Colorado's FAMLI Act. Colorado is the first state to offer special Neonatal Care Leave."  MORE >>

"The lawsuit alleges that plan fiduciaries breached their fiduciary duties of prudence and loyalty by selecting the Fidelity stable value fund ... and retaining it in the plan, even though it was significantly riskier and provided inferior returns than comparable funds." [Hensley v. Molson Coors Beverage Co. USA LLC, No. 25-1371 (E.D. Wis. complaint filed Sep. 9, 2025)]  MORE >>

"Plan fiduciaries should [1] understand the services their 401(k) plan recordkeeper is providing in its capacity as recordkeeper and any ancillary 'non-plan' services it intends to provide.... [2] understand how their recordkeeper is compensated for any ancillary 'non-plan' services ... [3] understand how their 401(k) plan's recordkeeper can utilize plan and participant data.... [4] negotiate to restrict the recordkeeper's use of plan and participant data for non-plan purposes to the extent the recordkeeper's use of the data will not benefit participants." [Williams‑Linzey v. Empower Advisory Group, LLC, No. 25‑14660 (D.N.J. complaint filed Aug. 15, 2025)  MORE >>

"The lawsuit alleges that the plan's fiduciaries violated ERISA and breached their fiduciary duties by offering employees a medical plan option that provided insufficient value compared to an alternative option offered to employees. The plaintiffs allege that the 'premium' plan option -- which charges higher premiums in exchange for lower deductibles and cost sharing -- is financially dominated by the 'value' plan option because the lower cost sharing does not sufficiently outweigh the higher premium." [Barbich, Lindvall & McFarland v. Northwestern Univ., No. 25‑06849 (N.D. Ill. complaint filed June 20, 2025)  MORE >>

"[T]he nonenforcement policy ... does not apply to the 2013 regulations or the MHPAEA statutory requirements, including the nonquantitative treatment limitation comparative analysis report requirement added by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021.... [P]lan sponsors should still ensure that they have obtained a thorough comparative analysis report, and that the plan complies with the mental health parity requirements specified in the statute and the 2013 regulations, including the quantitative treatment limitation and financial requirements."  MORE >>

"Regardless of the outcome of this lawsuit, the extensive allegations highlight the importance for 401(k) plan fiduciaries to follow best practices to best position the plan fiduciaries if faced with a lawsuit, or hopefully avoid a breach of fiduciary duties lawsuit altogether." [Rudasill v. Swiss Re American Holding Corp., No. 25-1403 (S.D.N.Y. complaint filed Feb. 19, 2025)]  MORE >>

"These lawsuits typically allege that the employer and its health plan fiduciaries breached their fiduciary duties under [ERISA] ... because of some combination of the following: [1] the wellness program does not provide a compliant reasonable alternative standard because the individual must become tobacco free, [2] a participant who completes the smoking cessation program (or other) alternative is not able to avoid the full amount of the surcharge for the plan year, and/or [3] a reasonable alternative standard, such as a smoking cessation program, was not disclosed to participants."  MORE >>

"To ensure compliance, providers, other covered entities, and business associates need to do the following before December 23, 2024: [1] Review and modify your HIPAA policies and procedures and train employees concerning the Rule. [2] Review and consider modifying authorizations or request for information forms to ask if the person is seeking RPHI. If no RPHI is sought, then the Rule does not apply.... [3] Draft and use a compliant attestation or adopt and use the OCR model attestation when the provider or business associate receives requests for RPHI."  MORE >>