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Insights from the PLANSPONSOR Annual Defined Contribution Survey

"Roughly three-quarters of survey respondents said that they either matched participant contributions or provided a non-elective contribution, though 14.2% said they had never matched contributions. About 5% of this year's respondents had reduced the company match/contribution, with a like number saying that they had eliminated it. Another 5% each were contemplating either cutting or suspending the match. The most encouraging news was that nearly eight of 10 had no plans to reduce, suspend, or eliminate the match. Of those that had cut or suspended the match, nearly one in four planned to restore it for 2010, while roughly 60% said they planned to remain at the cut or suspended level next year."

Patients Wary of Employer- and Plan-Sponsored Personal Health Records

Excerpt: So far, the public has yet to embrace the records, in part because the main push to promote them has been from health plans and employers. A recent survey found that 52 percent of the respondents were worried about employers using medical information to limit job opportunities.

Five Things You Need to Know about QDIAs

Panelists at the PLANSPONSOR National Conference said that according to the Department of Labor, sponsors still have to do their due diligence in the selection and monitoring of QDIAs. Sponsors need to understand what they're buying, how it works, and how much it costs.

2011 Industry Report on 403(b) Plans Reveals Areas in Which the Plans Shine

PLANSPONSOR's 2010 DC Survey found that compared to the overall defined contribution market, 403(b)s have a relatively high incidence of use of a written Investment Policy Statement (IPS), use of certain investment products, and use of advisers.

Former EBSA Secretary Raises Questions on Fiduciary Definition Change

Excerpt: Calling the proposal a 'bull-in-a-china-shop' approach, Bradford P. Campbell, now an attorney with Schiff Hardin LLP, told PLANSPONSOR: 'The undisclosed conflicts DoL cites as justification for the proposal already are prohibited by the new 408(b)(2) regulation. It seems premature to turn a sweeping new class of service providers into ERISA fiduciaries when the new disclosure rules addressing the root of the problem haven't even had a chance to go into effect yet.'

Encourage Better Income Decisions for a New Generation of Retirees (PDF)

4 pages. Excerpt: New research and better understanding of participant behavior have underlined both the importance of 'in-plan' retirement income solutions and better ways of executing guaranteed income streams. Some of the best analysis in this space comes from Professor Olivia S. Mitchell of the Department of Insurance and Risk Management at the Wharton School.... PLANSPONSOR interviewed Mitchell and Marc Pester, Senior Vice President of Institutional Income Innovations at Prudential Retirement, on the challenges plan sponsors and participants face in adopting retirement income solutions.

401(k) Settlements Highlight ERISA Litigation Divide

"Individual plan participants entangled in 401(k) excessive-fee and investment-underperformance lawsuits had a median recovery of just $67.79 in 2025, even as law firms representing plaintiffs averaged $1.59 million per case in fees ... While supporters of such complaints argue that litigation (and the threat of litigation) deter misconduct and force better plan practices, critics say the figures show workers gain little, while employers face mounting costs that ultimately shrink retirement benefits and plan services."

Seventh Circuit Awards Deceased Worker's Retirement Plan Assets to Ex-Wife

"The U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals awarded a deceased retirement plan participant's assets to his ex-wife, ruling that [the participant's] faxed beneficiary change request did not meet the [retirement] plan's formal requirements for changing beneficiaries.... Although the appellate court's three-judge panel agreed that his actions clearly showed intent, it ruled that his action was not similar enough to processes set forth in the plan documents to qualify." [Packaging Corp. of Am. Thrift Plan for Hourly Emps. v. Langdon, No. 25-1859 (7th Cir. Feb. 2, 2026)]

Former DOL Officials, Industry Groups, Back Lockheed PRT Plaintiffs

"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)]

FASB Clarifies Accounting Treatment for Market-Based Cash Balance Plans

"[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."

Mississippi Reintroduces Proposal for State-Run Retirement Program

"The Mississippi Legislature reintroduced legislation that would establish a state-run program to offer Roth individual retirement accounts and other after-tax contribution vehicles to provide coverage for private sector workers who lack access to retirement plans through their employers."

T. Rowe Price: Time to Rethink Fixed-Income Diversification

"T. Rowe Price's solution for diversification ... is to expand the opportunity to include private assets in multi-asset products.... [P]rivate markets overall have grown by 618% in the past 15 years, at nearly three times the speed of public assets' growth.... [P]rivate markets may also provide investors access to private company growth and may return premiums that differ from public-only portfolios."

On What Form Should 457(b) Distributions of Excess Deferrals Be Reported?

"For distributions prior to April 15, [although the IRS website] states that earnings on excess deferrals are reported on Form W-2, it is silent on the reporting on the excess deferral itself, other than to state that it is taxable. However, the Form 1099 instructions are quite clear that Form 1099-R should only be used for distributions from governmental 457(b) plans and not private tax-exempt 457(b) plans. Therefore, absent guidance, it is reasonable to reflect the full deferral amount, including excess amounts, in Box 12 (Code G) of Form W-2 in the year of the deferral (and the participant should report the excess amount on their Form 1040)."

Supreme Court to Hear Intel 401(k) Case Challenging Fiduciary Standards

"the court will consider the 'meaningful benchmark' requirement that lower courts have applied when evaluating claims that retirement plan investments were mismanaged. Under that standard, plaintiffs must identify comparable alternative investments to show that plan fiduciaries acted imprudently. The Intel plaintiffs argue that the benchmark test has been applied inconsistently across federal circuits and sets too high a bar for workers seeking relief." [Anderson v. Intel Corp. Inv. Policy Comm., No. 22-16268 (9th Cir. May 22, 2025; cert. pet. granted Jan 16, 2026, No. 25-498)]

New Voluntary Benefits Litigation: Connecting the Dots

"51% of brokers said voluntary products generate more than half of their sales revenue. Plaintiffs' law firms are connecting the dots between incentives, misuse of plan access and conflicted advice.... Voluntary benefits themselves are not the problem -- the incentives are.... [E]mployers should treat any recommendation, product access or employee interaction as an area requiring thoughtful, documented fiduciary oversight -- especially when employees are making decisions influenced by those recommendations."

The Rise of 'Financially Dominated' Coverage Claims for Employer Health Plans

"Plaintiffs' firms have recently advanced a new theory: that employers breach their fiduciary duties by offering health insurance options so expensive relative to other options as to provide no reasonable value.... Plaintiffs attempt to analogize it to fiduciary obligations in 401(k) plan menu design, arguing that just as fiduciaries must monitor investment options, they must also ensure that health plan options are balanced and non-duplicative."

Trump Accounts: What's Still to Come?

"[IRS Notice 2025-68] lacked some details about the administration of Trump Accounts, such as guidance for employers on how they can fund the plans and roll money out of them for their employees.... The industry is still waiting for guidance on what trustees must do if the annual fees and expenses on a participant's investments change and exceed the 10 basis points, stated in the notice[.]"

District Court Invokes Rarely-Used Rule to Rein in ERISA Fee Lawsuits

"A federal judge in California invoked a little-used procedural rule last month to force plaintiffs in an ERISA prohibited transaction lawsuit to spell out their factual case before discovery begins ... By requiring a so-called 'Rule 7' reply, [the judge] signaled that the plaintiffs may be required to do more than allege technical statutory violations before imposing on defendants the heavy burdens of discovery. The requirement could be used in other courts to counter the recent Supreme Court decision." [Dalton v. Freeman, No. 22-0847 (E.D. Calif. Dec. 30, 2025)]

DOL Sides with JP Morgan in 401(k) Forfeiture Suit

"[T]he DOL argued that the plaintiff's claims of fiduciary breach do not hold up under the plan's documents. The DOL pointed out that the plan 'expressly permits the fiduciary to use forfeited contributions to offset employer contributions or to pay the employer's share of administrative expenses.' " [Wright v. JPMorgan Chase & Co., No. 25-0525 (C.D. Calif. Jun. 13, 2025, on appeal to 9th Cir. No. 25-4235; DOL amicus brief filed Jan. 8, 2026)]

Schlichter Bogard Files Four ERISA Complaints Related to Voluntary Benefits

"The complaints allege breaches of fiduciary duty related to the premiums charged for accident, critical illness, cancer and hospital indemnity insurance -- voluntary benefits not subsidized by employers.... The lawsuits also named benefits consulting firms hired by the defendants ... claiming that they engaged in self-dealing that harmed plan enrollees." [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)]