"Due in part to litigation pending in other Circuits and the lengthy dissent in the Sixth Circuit decision, the plans may seek to settle the cases or may request a re-hearing before the entire Sixth Circuit court of appeals. Even if the re-hearing request is not granted, the cases will still go back to the relevant district court for a determination of whether the actuarial assumptions are unreasonable.... Note that the decision pertains only to the QJSA determination, and does not address early retirement calculations." [Reichert v. Kellogg, No. 24-1442, consol. Watt v. FedEx, No. 24-5945 (6th Cir. Mar. 16, 2026)] MORE >>
"The return to the Five-Part Test narrows who is treated as a fiduciary. In general, an adviser is only considered an ERISA fiduciary if they provide investment advice on a regular basis under a mutual understanding that the advice will serve as a primary basis for investment decisions.... [An] adviser who recommends that a departing employee roll over a 401(k) balance into an IRA may not be acting as an ERISA fiduciary." MORE >>
"The Department of the Treasury (Treasury Department) and the [IRS] invite the public to submit recommendations for items to be included on the 2026-2027 Priority Guidance Plan.... Please submit recommendations for guidance by Friday, May 29, 2026, for possible inclusion on the original 2026-2027 Priority Guidance Plan." MORE >>
"The court emphasized that ESOP trustees must actively investigate red flags and advocate for plan participants, rejecting arguments that a trustee may simply rely on process formalities. Although this litigation remains in the early stages, the court's refusal to dismiss most ERISA fiduciary claims reinforces the judiciary's expectation that ESOP fiduciaries must actively safeguard participant interests." [Sawlaw v. GreatBanc Trust Co., No. 25-0624 (W.D. N.C. Mar. 2, 2026)] MORE >>
"Beyond determining whether and how to cover GLP-1s, a successful strategy will also need to integrate weight management into a comprehensive employee health benefits program and, most importantly, how to support the behavior changes that are essential for longer-term weight management." MORE >>
"[Do] EHBs raise premiums? In some ways, yes, compared with pre-ACA plans that might not have covered now-required services like maternity care or prescription drugs. But in other ways, EHBs can save money because they've increased access to preventive care[.]" MORE >>
"More than a dozen suits have been filed against holders of a specific target-date fund in recent weeks -- with participant-plaintiffs represented by a variety of law firms[.]" MORE >>
"[SEC] Commissioner Mark Uyeda argued ... that it is essential for defined contribution (DC) plan investors to have access to private securities. This would help the diversification of their portfolios and put them on an even keel with defined benefit (DB) plan participants." MORE >>
"[T]he RESTORE Act [HR 2199;S 1173] is not only misnamed but misstates and misrepresents the roles and responsibilities of the employers who are helping patients and their families navigate ESRD care. Instead, the RESTORE Act threatens to drastically increase health insurance costs and worsens the affordability crisis for working families." MORE >>
"David Marin, CEO of the PCMA, said ... that given the requirements signed into law in the funding deal, PBMs will soon be required to provide significant amounts of data to employers, unions and government agencies.... As these organizations adapt to the requirements including in the funding package, the [DOL] should roll back the proposed rule rather than 'forcing PBMs to comply with a Rube Goldberg regulatory machine,' Marin said." MORE >>
"When Congress created the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) in the mid-1980s, it fundamentally changed how federal retirement works. The earlier Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) relied almost entirely on a large government pension. FERS replaced that approach with a three-part system that resembles private-sector retirement programs. For today's federal employees, retirement planning under FERS requires careful coordination of three sources of income: the basic annuity, Social Security, and the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP)." MORE >>
"In a given year, 83 percent of all households will face at least one type of spending shock, and on average, these unexpected expenses equal about 10 percent of annual income. To cover these expenditures over a 25-year retirement requires a fund of $200,000 to $400,000. The need for an emergency fund, combined with the fact that the very wealthy can self-insure against running out of money, limits the potential market for annuities." MORE >>
"West Virginia legislators passed a bill (HB 4009) that permits companies to provide portable benefit accounts for workers without needing to classify those workers as employees. Governor Patrick Morrisey has not signed or vetoed the bill yet. If enacted, the bill would take effect for taxable years starting on January 1, 2026, or later." MORE >>
"[P]lan sponsors may wish to use the additional time provided by the delay to coordinate with recordkeepers on system readiness to implement any required or desired changes to address the Delayed RMD Regulatory Provisions. Plan sponsors should also document interim administrative positions to support reliance on the good-faith compliance standard[.]" MORE >>
"The Program is open to employers, plan sponsors, unions, and supporting practitioners (like lawyers and actuaries).... Submissions to the Program are made electronically.... The Program also includes a searchable database that will serve as a public repository of opinion letters issued by the Office of the General Counsel from 1974 to date." MORE >>
"Employers should continue to exercise care to ensure that requests for medical records and similar information are justified by applicable law ... but can now be assured that, where necessary, HIPAA does not excuse the employee's obligation to provide it.... Employers should also continue to maintain medical records separately from personnel files, limit access to those with a need to know, and state in forms and notices how information will be used and protected, aligning with federal and state privacy obligations." [Trumper v. Women's Healthcare Assoc. LLC, No. 1010 (Ore. App. Nov. 26, 2025)] MORE >>
"For plan sponsors, the issue is less about the use of AI itself and more about whether existing claims oversight and payment-integrity controls are keeping pace with increasingly automated billing environments. While these technologies improve efficiency, they also introduce a growing risk for self-insured health plans: an increase in duplicate and near-duplicate claims." MORE >>
"Recordkeepers tend to do a good job preserving the design of customers' retirement plans during restatement and other update processes. But mistakes do occur, and the significant number of changes being made as part of the CARES/SECURE restatement process may increase the risk of unintended changes to the written terms of the plan.... [P]lan document updates provide an excellent opportunity to reaffirm that the employer's administrative practices are aligned with the written terms of the plan document." MORE >>
"For businesses operating in or adjacent to the digital asset space, this guidance fundamentally changes the regulatory landscape. The 'regulation by enforcement' era appears to be over, replaced with clear taxonomies and defined pathways for compliance.... The heart of the SEC's interpretation is a five-category classification system for crypto assets." MORE >>
"Over the past decade, private equity has significantly accelerated consolidation across the retirement and benefits industries.... For plan sponsors, the key takeaway is not to avoid PE-backed firms -- but to ensure that evaluation processes remain objective, transparent, and well documented." MORE >>
"While AI can enable PBMs to operate more efficiently and optimize pricing to help lower drug costs, this new technology raises several data privacy, regulatory, and contractual risks for employers that sponsor health plans. This Insight explains how plan sponsors can spot potential red flags and avoid potential liability while benefiting from the advantages that AI can bring to healthcare costs and administration." MORE >>
"Employers generally seek to include all ERISA welfare benefit plans under the umbrella of a single 'mega' wrap plan document and SPD. This approach facilitates multiple efficiencies and is generally considered the best practice method to streamline plan administrative burdens." MORE >>
"This article provides a high-level overview of the most common retirement plan structures used by governmental employers, including defined benefit pension plans, 457(b) deferred compensation plans, 401(a) defined contribution plans, and hybrid approaches that combine elements of these structures." MORE >>
"72% of responding pre-retirees expected to retire on their own terms, up 5 percentage points from last year.... Respondents from younger generations were particularly open to alternative paths ... Overall, 34% of pre-retirees expected to reduce their hours before retiring, 30% expected to take on fewer responsibilities, and 18% expected to move into freelance or contract work. " MORE >>
"A committee to which fiduciary duties are delegated helps the employer fulfill its responsibilities and offers several key advantages: [1] Delegation and accountability ... [2] Better decision-making ... [3] Risk management ... [4] Vendor oversight ... [5] Stronger documentation." MORE >>
