News Archive

"SECURE 2.0 expanded the small employer retirement plan startup costs credit.... SECURE 2.0 added ... the employer contribution credit, for certain employer contributions ... An eligible employer may claim a $500 auto-enrollment credit for the first taxable year in which it includes an eligible automatic contribution arrangement (EACA) in a qualified employer plan ... Military spouse participation credit."  MORE >>

"[Notice 2026-13] contains updates to the ... section 402(f) mandatory participant notice (AKA the Special Tax Notice) ... There have been a number of changes to the IRC relating to distributions under [SECURE 2.0] ... [If] a participant is receiving a distribution that is part pre-tax and part Roth, both versions of the Notice must be provided. With the new required Roth Catch-up Contributions, most 401(k) and 403(b) plans may need to provide both versions of the Notice more often than in years past. (... Another reason to move to electronic forms.)"  MORE >>

75 pages. "Justice Sotomayor (to counsel for the petitioner): 'Congress knew how to fix the use of assumptions to a particular date. It didn't do it here. Why shouldn't I assume it didn't mean to do that here?' ... Justice Alito (to counsel for the United States, supporting the respondent): 'Have very serious practical problems emerged since Metz or is it simply a matter of the fact that actuaries were used to doing things in a particular way and they don't want to change the way they've been doing it?' " [Also available: audio recording (MP3)] [M&K Employee Solutions, LLC v. Trustees of the IAM National Pension Fund, No. 22-7157 (D.C. Cir Feb. 9, 2024; cert. pet. granted Jun. 30, 2025 No. 23-1209; oral arg. Jan. 20, 2026)]  MORE >>

"Updating an NPP is rarely a simple drafting exercise, often requiring coordination across legal, compliance, privacy, IT, and operational teams to ensure notice language aligns with real-world data use and disclosure practices. In some cases, updating the NPP may also necessitate changes to internal policies, consent workflows, training materials, or vendor arrangements."  MORE >>

"EBSA intends to prioritize investigations in the following health plan areas: [1] Cybersecurity and data protection ... [2] Mental health and substance use disorder parity ... [3] Surprise billing compliance ... [4] Protections of employee contributions ... EBSA reaffirmed its ongoing efforts to identify abusive or fraudulent Multiple Employer Welfare Arrangements (MEWAs)."  MORE >>

"If the Court affirms the Ninth Circuit's approach and endorses a strict meaningful benchmark requirement, it would make it significantly more difficult for participants to pursue ERISA claims challenging investment decisions beyond the pleading stage. Plan sponsors would benefit from a higher bar for plaintiffs, particularly in defending the selection of investment strategies that incorporate alternatives where truly comparable funds may not exist." [Anderson v. Intel Corp. Inv. Policy Comm., No. 22-16268 (9th Cir. May 22, 2025; cert. pet. granted Jan 16, 2026, No. 25-498)]  MORE >>

"[The judge] found that the Amazon 401(k) plan expressly allowed fiduciaries to apply forfeitures to reduce employer contributions, pay plan expenses or restore accounts, and that courts have overwhelmingly rejected the theory advanced by the workers." [Curtis v. Amazon.com Services LLC, No. 24-2164 (W.D. Wash. Jan. 16, 2026)]  MORE >>

"Recent statements ... suggest the White House is considering a proposal to permit savers to invest a portion of their 401(k) retirement accounts in their personal residences.... [I]mplementation would involve myriad technical complications.... [1] Prohibited transactions and fiduciary responsibility ... [2] Structuring the plan's interest in the home ... [3] Execution and timing of investments ... [4] Tax implications ... [5] Valuations -- implications for reporting and distributions ... [6] Special situations: foreclosure, bankruptcy, and liability."  MORE >>

"[T]he New Jersey Family Leave Act (NJFLA) ... allows eligible employees to take 12 weeks of job protected leave per year to bond with a newborn baby or to care for a family member with a serious health condition. The amendments lower eligibility requirements making most employees eligible for leave."  MORE >>

"For 2026, the maximum benefit amount has been increased to $1,230.39 per week.... [T]he increased amount of weekly wage-replacement benefits available to employees has not resulted in any increase to the PFML contribution rate for 2026. For employers with 25 or more covered individuals, the contribution rate will remain at 0.88% of eligible employee wages. For employers with fewer than 25 covered individuals, the contribution rate will remain at 0.46%."  MORE >>

"[ERISA Litigation Reform Act (HR 6084)] aims to curb meritless class actions by clarifying the pleading standard applicable to ERISA-prohibited transactions claims. The reform effort comes in response to recent litigation trends and the United States Supreme Court's decision in Cunningham v. Cornell last year, which effectively lowered the pleading standard for prohibited transaction claims under ERISA."  MORE >>

"Bally's countered that the statutory language requiring a 'full reward' does not explicitly mandate retroactive reimbursement of previously paid surcharges. The court agreed with this interpretation, holding that prospective elimination of the surcharge satisfied the 'full reward' requirement as a matter of law. This holding is significant because it directly contradicts the position taken in the preamble to the [DOL's] final regulations, which describes 'full reward' as requiring retroactive reimbursement for the entire plan year." [Williams v. Bally"s Management Group, LLC, No. 25-00147 (D.R.I. Nov. 4, 2025)]  MORE >>

"The worker alleged WSP denied her medically necessary treatment for her gender dysphoria when it refused to cover facial feminization surgery. WSP, in contrast, said the worker had 'not identified a term of the plan that it allegedly violated' and that the treatment sought was 'expressly excluded by the plan's terms.' The judge sided with WSP, contending that while it accepted the worker's claims about the noncosmetic benefits of such surgery, they were 'ultimately beside the point' when it came to the ERISA claim at hand." [Cox v. WSP USA Inc. Group Insurance Plan, No. 24-8812 (N.D. Calif. Jan. 16, 2026)]  MORE >>

"[E]liminating tax-deductible contributions for retirement accounts that already contain at least $5 or $10 million would raise very little revenue on an immediate basis (less than $0.15 billion per year or $0.05 billion per year, respectively).... [In] contrast, requiring immediate disgorgement of excess balances would raise larger amounts of revenue on an immediate basis -- $84 billion for accounts in excess of $5 million, or $11 billion if the limit were set at $10 million. In all the examples, however, future revenue would change depending on rates of return, future tax rates, and the timing of distributions that would have been taken in the absence of the policy."  MORE >>

"U.S households moved an estimated $1 trillion in retirement plan rollovers in 2025 ... [O]ne in eight rollover transactions, or 16%, are over $100,000. Rollovers in new employer plans have doubled in dollars terms, at $160 billion today compared to $80 billion in 2022."  MORE >>

"The complaints show consultants earning 22% to nearly 40% of premiums, far above the typical 10% industry standard.... When only 25-35 cents of every premium dollar goes to paying claims, with the rest consumed by commissions and administrative costs, the math simply doesn't support fiduciary prudence.... What plan sponsors should do: ... [1] Request complete disclosures ... [2] Audit voluntary benefits ... [3] Document fiduciary oversight ... [4] Restructure conflicted relationships."  MORE >>

"The complaints advance a unified and increasingly familiar theory: once voluntary benefits are offered through an ERISA-governed welfare plan, they are subject to ERISA's full fiduciary framework.... According to the plaintiffs, failures in process, rather than outcomes alone, caused plan participants to pay excessive and unreasonable premiums, while brokers and other service providers reaped outsized financial benefits."  MORE >>

The computation of the 4044 expense loads was changed by PBGC’s final rule ... issued August 15, 2025. The 4044 expense is now computed as specified dollar amounts per participant for the first 100 participants and per additional participant. These dollar amounts will change annually. PBGC has determined the 4044 expense load factors applicable for valuation dates after 1/30/2026 but before 1/31/2027. A new webpage for ERISA 4044 expense load has been created and is now available.  MORE >>

"There is no statute that requires a 'meaningful benchmark.' ERISA's prudence standard focuses on process, not performance relative to a counterfactual benchmark. Benchmarks were a judicial convenience, not a substantive legal test."  MORE >>

"7 in 10 employers offer or are developing a workplace wellness program, and most believe wellness should be integrated across all benefits -- not siloed.... Budget constraints and lack of time remain the biggest hurdles. Education, affordability, and clear ROI are key drivers for future investment.... 75% of programs include mental and behavioral health support, up from 52% in 2023."  MORE >>

"Metabolic health, the body’s ability to efficiently convert food into energy, is central. When that system falters, it drives a cascade of problems: elevated blood sugar, hypertension, fatigue, depression and more. Its effects ripple through the workplace, increasing time away, lowering performance and driving costs higher. Despite its impact, metabolic health rarely appears on the HR dashboard. That oversight is costing employers more than they realize."  MORE >>

"EBSA stated that its investigations will continue to evaluate how plans and service providers protect against cybersecurity threats.... [T]he Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act and its 2013 regulations, as well as the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, remain ... an enforcement priority.... EBSA will be focusing enforcement efforts on the implementation of the No Surprises Act ... EBSA will be reviewing pension plan practices to notify participants who are approaching normal retirement age and required minimum distribution age[.]"  MORE >>

"The flexibility to use either the W-2 correction method or the in-plan Roth rollover correction method is helpful, but both approaches present challenges.... The safe harbor for BRF nondiscrimination requirements may help mitigate some administrative complexities.... [O]perational challenges will require careful planning and close coordination among payroll, recordkeeping, and plan administration teams."  MORE >>

"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)."  MORE >>

"Employer sponsors of self-funded group health plans that are subject to [HIPAA] should take immediate action to revise and redistribute their HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices (NPP). For plan sponsors of fully insured group health plans, the NPP obligation is typically handled by the insurance carrier. But this NPP requirement does apply to plan sponsors of Medical Flexible Spending Accounts and Health Reimbursement Arrangements (because these are forms of self-funded group health plans).... The deadline to update and distribute the new NPP is February 16, 2026."  MORE >>