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Special Financial Assistance Is Good News for Fund Participating Employers, But It's Not a Free Exit Pass

"What SFA does not do ... is make it any less expensive to exit these funds -- at least initially. While the Central States Pension Fund, for example, may have just gone from being 17% funded to roughly 78% funded, that is not going to equate to a similar immediate reduction in employer withdrawal liability. This is due to two new PBGC withdrawal liability rules for funds receiving SFA."

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9 Free Online DOL Resources for 401(k) Plan Sponsors

Excerpt: The DOL has put together several free on-line 'booklets' and 'fact sheets' to assist and inform 401k plan sponsors and fiduciaries. Here's the sticking point every fiduciary must know. Since the DOL specifically warns their booklets are not intended to provide legal, tax or investment advice, these generic summaries do not replace the need to hire appropriate consultants.

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For High-Risk Women, ACA Now Requires Some Breast Cancer Drugs to Be Free

"Insurers are given a year to make the change.... A spokesman for the insurance industry noted that while helping breast cancer patients get care is 'a top priority for health plans,' prescription drugs are not 'free,' and the costs of those drugs would be reflected in the premiums that all consumers pay for coverage. In addition, 'we are concerned about the precedent of expanding the definition of prevention to now include some treatments that must be covered with no cost-sharing,' said ... Robert Zirkelbach of America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP)."  MORE >>

On Free Trade and Social Security Investment Choices

Excerpt: Chile is the first South American nation to sign, with complete bipartisan support within the country, a Free Trade Agreement with the United States. Now, why do Chilean workers support free trade policies? Because while the nation in the 1970s was initiating its free-trade development strategy it was also establishing a pioneering system of personal retirement accounts as the foundation of its Social Security policy.

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Your 401(k) Plan 'Brokerage Window' May Require An S-8 Registration

"[T]he SEC set out standards a 401(k) plan sponsor should follow to keep its involvement from constituting an 'offer for sale' of a security such that registration would be required. Under these standards, plan sponsors should do no more than: [1] announce the existence of the 401(k) plan (sponsors may describe the self-directed 'brokerage window' as part of the investment alternatives but should take no action to draw employees' attention to the possibility of investing in employer securities); [2] make payroll deductions; and [3] pay administrative expenses, which cannot be tied to particular investments selected by employees. All communications of a soliciting nature should come from the broker."  MORE >>

A Huge Bargain in Retirement Investments: Free Asset Management in Some Target Date Funds

"Some target date funds offer free asset management by waiving costs for underlying funds in both mutual fund and CIT TDFs.... If it's a trap, what is it? These free funds are not advertised and are used to compete in the race to lower TDF fees. TDF fees have halved in the past decade due to lawsuits that make low fees a top criterion for choosing a TDF."  MORE >>

Guaranteed or Tax-Free Retirement Income? That's the Choice with Two New 401(k) Investment Options

Excerpt: Recently it has been dawning on the folks who design 401(k)s that the ultimate goal of the plans is to provide a living income in retirement. And that the best time to start planning for that eventuality is when you put the money in. The result is two new 401(k) investment options that may show up in your plan soon.  MORE >>

Free Curriculum on Investor Education & Protection May Be Helpful in Workplace Investment Education (PDF)

At p. 4 of 5-page document. Excerpt: The Investor Protection Trust (IPT) recently released 'The Basics of Saving and Investing: Investor Education 2020,' a curriculum entirely focused on investor education and protection. 'The Basics' guide is geared towards high school teachers; however, its content and language lends itself to all kinds of investor education and protection initiatives including college courses, workplace education, after school programs, seminars for adults[.]

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Text of Policy Statement by Massachusetts Securities Division: Robo-Advisers and State Investment Adviser Registration (PDF)

"[T]he Division is tasked with ensuring that all investment advisers meet the fiduciary obligations they assume when they provide investment advice for compensation. This policy statement is intended as guidance to robo-advisers seeking registration in the Commonwealth.... [It] is the position of the Division that fully automated robo-advisers, as currently structured, may be inherently unable to carry out the fiduciary obligations of a state-registered investment advisers."  MORE >>

Text of Final Reg on Electronic Registration of ERISA Investment Advisers (PDF)

7 pages. Excerpt: Under the final regulation, in lieu of filing a copy of their state registration forms with the Secretary of Labor, stateregistered investment advisers seeking to obtain or maintain investment manager status under Title I of ERISA must electronically register through the Investment Adviser Registration Depository (IARD) as an investment adviser with the state in which they maintain their principal office and place of business.

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DOL Proposes Rules for Electronic Registration of ERISA Investment Managers (PDF)

7 pages. Excerpt: Under the proposed regulation, in lieu of filing a copy of their state registration forms with the Secretary of Labor, state-registered investment advisers seeking to obtain or maintain investment manager status under Title I of ERISA would have to electronically register through the Investment Adviser Registration Depository (IARD) as an investment adviser with the state in which they maintain their principal office and place of business.

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ICI Comment Letter to DOL on Proposed Registration Requirements for Pooled Plan Providers (PDF)

"[ICI believes] that both PEP providers and participating employers would benefit considerably if the requirements were streamlined in a way that eliminates information that is superfluous and irrelevant to the Department's oversight role, or too detailed to be effectively used by prospective employers. [ICI recommends] that the Department's registration requirements focus on more basic information and, when the need arises, the Department reserve itself the ability to seek more detailed information from PPPs."

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DOL Offers Free Webcast on Plan Filing Requirements

Excerpt: The U.S. Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) will host a free webcast on May 8 to help employers and plan administrators understand and comply with the Form 5500 Series reporting requirements under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).  MORE >>

Results of Obamacare's Coverage Requirements: No Free Lunches

"The president loves to cite the fact that college students are now able to stay on their parents' policies until age 26.... But ... the cost of continuing coverage from 18 to 26 could run as high as $3,400 per child per year. Much of that additional cost is passed back to companies that provide insurance coverage to dependents of their employees. The predictable result: Companies are dropping dependent coverage altogether.... [and] new rules and regulations ... are forcing many colleges to discontinue their coverage or to dramatically raise premiums.... [A] ban on insurers' discriminating against preexisting conditions for children [means] parents with healthy children were less likely to get coverage, especially since the inflow of sick children drove up premiums..... [I]nsurers in 20 states have responded by discontinuing 'child only' insurance coverage ... Politicians often act as though government programs are cost free.... But there are always costs and unexpected consequences. "  MORE >>

DOJ Appeals Decision to Strike Down Free Preventive Health Services Under Obamacare

"The Justice Department [has appealed] a federal judge's decision to invalidate the [ACA] requirement for free coverage of specified preventive health services.... The move kicks off a legal process that could wind up at the Supreme Court and has financial implications for some 150 million Americans on employer-sponsored health plans." [Braidwood Management, Inc. v. Becerra, No. 20-0283 (N.D. Tex. Mar. 30, 2023; notice of appeal filed Mar. 31, 2023)]

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DOL Describes Pooled Plan Registration Requirements

"The new proposal doesn't categorically exclude any one type of business entity or model from serving as a pooled plan provider, but DOL mentions in the preamble that it believes certain entities -- such as recordkeepers, professional employer organizations (PEOs) and some insurance companies -- may well positioned to offer the plans. DOL also views broker-dealers and registered investment advisors as plausible candidates, but believes many would be reluctant to take on the roles of named fiduciary and plan administrator."  MORE >>

Text of Revised CCIIO Guidance on Required Cost-Free Provision of Contraceptive Services by Health Plans and Insurers (PDF)

"This bulletin was originally issued on February 10, 2012, to describe the temporary enforcement safe harbor. In reissuing this bulletin, CMS is not changing the February 10 policy; it is only clarifying three points: (1) that the safe harbor is also available to non-profit organizations with religious objections to some but not all contraceptive coverage, as clarified herein; (2) that group health plans that took some action to try to exclude or limit contraceptive coverage that was not successful as of February 10, 2012, are not for that reason precluded from eligibility for the safe harbor, as clarified herein; and (3) that the safe harbor may be invoked without prejudice by non-profit organizations that are uncertain whether they qualify for the religious employer exemption, as clarified herein. Organizations that have already completed the certification or issued the notice from the February 10, 2012 bulletin are not required by this revised bulletin to recertify or reissue the notice."  MORE >>

Text of DOL Proposed Regs: Registration Requirements for Pooled Plan Providers

79 pages. "This proposed rule would establish the requirements for registering with the [DOL] as a 'pooled plan provider' for 'pooled employer plans' under sections 3(43) and 3(44) of [ERISA]. The [SECURE Act] provides that newly permitted 'pooled plan providers' can begin offering 'pooled employer plans' on January 1, 2021, but requires such persons to register with the Secretary of Labor before beginning operations.

"The proposed rule would also establish a new form -- EBSA Form PR (Pooled Plan Provider Registration) -- as the required filing format for pooled plan provider registrations. Filing the proposed Form PR with the [DOL] would also satisfy the SECURE Act requirement to register with the Treasury Department....

"While pooled plan providers will be required to file Forms 5500 for the pooled employer plans they operate, Forms 5500 generally are not filed until seven to nine-and-a-half months after the end of the plan year. In the absence of appropriate detail in the registration statement, a pooled plan provider could begin operating multiple plans with hundreds or thousands of participants and millions of dollars without the agencies having any information about the pooled employer plans for almost two years....

"The proposal would require an initial registration filing and supplemental filings to report changes in the information in the initial filing, information about each specific pooled employer plan before initiation of operations, and information on specified reportable events.... The proposal would require a final filing once the last pooled employer plan has been terminated and ceased operations.

"The Department believes that the initial registration, supplemental filing, and final filing requirements, when combined with the Form 5500 annual reporting requirements, will give the Department the timely access to pooled plan provider information needed to fulfill the monitoring and oversight tasks the SECURE Act placed on the agencies and would be less burdensome and less costly for pooled plan providers and pooled employer plans than some alternatives that were considered."  MORE >>

Illinois High Court Rules State Constitution Requires Free Lifetime Health Benefits for Retired State Workers

"The 6-to-1 decision allows class-action challenges to a 2012 Illinois law that gave the state the right to impose healthcare insurance premiums on its retired workers to proceed. The challenge to a state effort to change healthcare benefits centered on a constitutional provision that membership in any public sector pension or retirement system 'shall be an enforceable contractual relationship, the benefits of which shall not be diminished or impaired.'"  MORE >>

Smoke-Free Zones Gain New Territory and Companies Reject Smokers or Require Nicotine Tests

Excerpt: The push comes at a time when businesses are already targeting smokers in an effort to bring down healthcare costs. Some corporations are refusing to hire smokers - or firing them. A larger number are putting increasing emphasis on counseling and stop-smoking programs, even as they ban smoking anywhere on their property.

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