"Since the time frames for certain participants to act could have ended today or could have ended earlier this week, action for most health and welfare plan sponsors should be a priority item. Plan sponsors will need to understand the new interpretation of the extension as applied to its participants."

"[T]he Second Circuit considered whether language in an employment arbitration agreement required the employee to arbitrate his ERISA fiduciary breach claims, which he brought on behalf of a putative class, against the employer's third-party investment advisor." [Cooper v. Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb Inc., No. 17-2805 (2d Cir. Mar. 4, 2021)]

"It is amazingly common for folks to lose track of where compensation for plan purposes should come from. Between the different possible entity types, there are different ways that companies should treat compensation and pull the data for census purposes."

"[A] substitute amendment offered by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) removes the COLA freeze limit from the underlying bill (HR 1319).... After presumed Senate passage, the bill will need to go back to the House in order for the chamber to approve the amended Senate version."

21 presentation slides. Topics: [1] Legislative update; [2] Outbreak period update; [3] COBRA subsidy: a deeper dive; [4] Notice 2021-15: FSA and election change relief; [5] Further agency guidance on COVID testing and vaccinations.

"The agencies have clearly signaled that any exceptions to mandatory coverage of COVID-19 diagnostic testing and immunizations will be strictly and narrowly construed."

"Three-quarters of participants in their twenties had more than 80 percent of their 401(k) plan accounts invested in equities at year-end 2018 ... At year-end 2018, 19 percent of all 401(k) participants who were eligible for loans had loans outstanding against their 401(k) plan accounts, unchanged since 2016."

"Pension discount rates continued increasing in February, and are up almost 0.50% so far in 2021, which means lower liabilities for pension plan sponsors.... [M]ost pension plans will see at least modest improvements in their funded status for the month. Those with higher equity allocations will see the largest improvements."

"Included among the many COVID-19 relief provisions is a COBRA subsidy structure designed to provide an 85% COBRA subsidy to employees and family members losing group health plan coverage due to an involuntary termination of employment or reduction in hours."

"[The bill requires] that all private employers provide their employees with a 'sufficient period of time,' up to four hours, of paid leave to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.... The leave cannot be charged against any other leave to which the employee is entitled, including the recently enacted paid sick leave requirements."

"[P]ublic agency plans in California are subject to ERISA-like rules and would benefit from following the DOL's recent guidance on missing participants ... [which] identified [specific] 'red flags' as indicators of a missing participant problem."

11 pages. "[1] Expand opportunities to save for retirement ... [2] Facilitate and expand the use of protected, guaranteed lifetime income ... [3] Preserve and promote access for retirement savers to professional financial guidance ... [4] Enhance protections to safeguard Americans from financial exploitation and fraud; and [5] Maintain and augment the current tax treatment of retirement savings"

"Would the US population be better off with a simple, single-payer, uniform Medicare-for-all type of insurance plan?"

"Holistic wellness solutions take front and center role ... Executive benefits are a winning play for senior talent ... Data analytics guide benefits strategy and design."

"This guidance may affect only a relatively small portion of tax-exempt retirement plans.... [T]hese final regulations may help simplify administration and reporting requirements for what are usually considered to be more complex investments."

"Although many sponsors will welcome the funding relief in ARPA, in its current form that legislation does present some technical issues, mainly due to the early/retroactive effective dates of some proposals."

"Managed account services may also include retirement income planning and payout strategies. It's a powerful combination that may lead to better retirement results and more peace-of-mind for participants approaching retirement."

"As employers and plan administrators navigate these rules, they should consider the following: Administrative simplification.... COBRA premium management.... COBRA subsidies.... Notices."

"While the Act did not add any additional penalties for noncompliance, the agencies can apply existing penalties to plans within their jurisdictions. For example, the DOL can assess a penalty of up to $161 per day for failure to provide requested mental health parity documents to participants."

"Some changes are required, others are optional. Some provisions have tight deadlines. Others give you more breathing room. And, relevance depends on your plan and its pool of participants and variations like numbers of full- to part-time workers."

"Many fiduciaries responsible for selecting their 401(k) plan's target date funds don't understand how these funds work.... Lawsuits challenging target date fund selection are on the rise, and plan fiduciaries need to be able to defend their choices in response to these suits."

42 presentation slides. "If a company does decide to amend for these FSA provisions, it will first need to confirm ... that the TPA can administer [them] before communicating [the changes] to its employees.... [T]he CAA and [Notice 2021-15] allow additional time for companies to adopt formal plan amendments"

"[A table] shows the key differences (and in some cases, similarities) between the standard cafeteria plan rules and the [relief provided in Notice 2021-15]."

"If this relationship between (older, lower) lump sum valuation rates and current rates continues for the rest of 2021 ... paying out a lump sum in 2022 will generally be a 'better deal' for the sponsor than paying it out in 2021. And second, if a lump sum is paid out in 2021, the additional cost (resulting from the use of the older, lower valuation rate) will show up as an increase in balance sheet net liabilities."

"Under the proposal, employees would be automatically enrolled in the program at a default contribution rate of 3%. Employees would be able to opt out of the plan."