Qualified Plan Administrator Clark Schaefer Hackett Cincinnati OH / Miamisburg OH / Columbus OH
	Health Insurance Specialist GS-9, GS-11 Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services [CMS] Telecommute / Woodlawn MD
	Health Insurance Specialist GS-12 Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services [CMS] Telecommute / Woodlawn MD
	Health Communications Specialist GS-13 Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services [CMS] Telecommute / Woodlawn MD
	Retirement Plan Consultant July Business Services Telecommute / Waco TX
	Social Science Research Analyst Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services [CMS] Telecommute / Washington DC

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Overview of 2020 Guidance Impacting Retirement Plan Service Providers
October 1, 2020 WEBCAST
Groom Law Group

How to Design Effective Total Shareholder Return Awards
October 8, 2020 WEBCAST
Hunton Andrews Kurth

IRC 83(i) Election for Qualified Equity Grants: Deferral Opportunities for Stock Options and RSUs
November 19, 2020 WEBCAST
Strafford

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[Guidance Overview]

IRS Issue Snapshot: 457(b) Plans -- Correction of Excess Deferrals

"Issue Indicators or Audit Tips: [1] Review W-2, Box 12 to determine if deferrals exceed the IRC Section 457(b) dollar limit in effect for the year. Verify if these excess amounts were due to allowable catch-up contributions.... [2] Request documentation to verify timely distribution of excess deferrals. [3] Review Forms W-2 and 1099-R for proper reporting of distributions." 

Internal Revenue Service [IRS]

[Guidance Overview]

Pooled Employer Plans: Where Do We Stand? (PDF)

"Except for proposed rules regarding the registration requirement, the IRS and DOL have not provided guidance on the PEP and PPP rules.... The registration rules are quite extensive (79 pages) and would require significant disclosures by the PPP.... Although the IRS has not officially announced that pre-approved plans will be allowed to include PEP provisions, ASC expects this will be permitted ... Our understanding is that the IRS is working on this model plan language, but it has not provided an expected issuance date." 

ASC

[Guidance Overview]

DOL Expands Electronic Delivery Rules for Retirement Plans

"A plan administrator must determine whether it will maintain a continuously accessible website on which it will post the disclosures or whether it will provide the disclosures via email. There are similar, but slightly different requirements for each manner of compliance." 

Akerman

Duke Energy Faces Excessive Fee Lawsuit

"The complaint suggests the plan's recordkeeping expenses demonstrate that defendants failed to engage in prudent monitoring and engage in prudent practices to keep those costs at competitive levels." [Johnson v. Duke Energy Corp., No. 20-528 (W.D.N.C. complaint filed Sep. 23, 2020)] 

PLANSPONSOR; free registration may be required

Avoiding ERISA Excessive Fee Lawsuits Isn't Hard

"[M]any of these lawsuits can be explained by the fact that the case law is maturing (providing a blue print for action) and that participants are more knowledgeable and attuned to fees ... [T]here are more tools and better data to reveal plan fees. But often, the reason for these lawsuits is simple neglect.... [A] few simple actions can improve fiduciary processes and reduce litigation risk[.]" 

NWPS

Combined 401(k) Plan and IRA Balances by Age and Time (PDF)

"Owning both a 401(k) plan and an individual retirement account (IRA) leads to larger balances, but missed opportunities to contribute and leakage reduce those balances." 

Employee Benefit Research Institute [EBRI]

How Saving in Your 20s Can Lead to Better Retirement Math

"When you start saving $500 a month at age 22, you're contributing an extra $120,000 in principal compared with starting at age 42. But there's a huge difference between that extra $120,000 in contributions and the extra $1.86 million you end up with as a result of investing that principal for an extra 20 years and giving it an extra 20 years to compound." 

MassMutual

Measuring UVBs for Variable-Rate Premiums: The Alternative vs. Standard Method Election

"Defined benefit plan sponsors that [1] currently [use] the standard (spot-rate) method to determine unfunded vested benefits (UVBs) for purposes of calculating [PBGC] variable-rate premiums, and who [2] have the ability to elect to switch to the alternative (24-month average) method, may have an opportunity to reduce (in some cases significantly) 2020 variable-rate premiums by doing so. This election generally must be made (for a calendar plan) by October 15, 2020. The decision with respect to this election is made particularly acute by the continuing decline in interest rates over the period 2019-2020." 

October Three Consulting

Oregon Cannabis Companies Are Fast Approaching Final Deadline to Enroll Employees in OregonSaves

"Cannabis employers in the state of Oregon will be required to offer their employees a retirement savings program to save in, regardless of how many employees they have -- whether it be one or 100." 

FisherBroyles LLP, via Lexology; free registration required

[Opinion]

DOL Lacks a Convincing Legal Basis for Attempts to Discourage ESG/Sustainable Investing

"The [DOL] has proposed two sets of amendments to the ERISA fiduciary regulations that would discourage plans from making ESG/sustainable investment decisions (including selecting, keeping, or exercising ownership rights). These changes would affect not only ERISA plans, but would appear to have similar effects on all trusteed tax-exempt savings and retirement plans, such as those maintained for state and local employees. If adopted these proposals would dramatically reverse long-standing policies without any convincing legal basis. Moreover, these proposals may also discourage ESG/sustainable investing by state and local savings and retirement plans." 

Law Offices of Albert Feuer, via SSRN

ERISA Advisory Council to Meet October 22

"[T]he 202nd open meeting of the [ERISA Advisory Council] will be held via a teleconference on Thursday, October 22, and Friday, October 23, 2020 ... The purpose of the open meeting is for Advisory Council members to hear testimony from invited witnesses and to receive an update from [EBSA]. The Advisory Council will study the following topics: [1] Examining Top Hat Plan Participation and Reporting, and [2] Considerations for Recognizing and Addressing Participants with Diminished Capacity." 

Employee Benefits Security Administration [EBSA], U.S. Department of Labor [DOL]

Employer May Be Held Liable for Service Provider's Error

"The Second Circuit Court of Appeals ... has held that a plaintiff properly pled her breach of fiduciary duty claim for equitable relief against an employer in connection with a third party administrator's clerical error in calculating life insurance benefits payable to her under the employer's ERISA welfare plan." [Sullivan-Mestecky v. Verizon Communications Inc., No. 18-1591 (2d Cir. Jun. 1, 2020)] 

The Wagner Law Group

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May a Plan's Administrator Override the Section 3(16) Service Provider?

"With those recordkeepers and third-party administrators that offer a Section 3(16) service for the service provider to decide claims for a distribution, including a hardship distribution: [1] Does an employer/administrator want a power to override the service provider's decision? [2] Does a Section 3(16) service provider want the employer/administrator to have such a power (even if the employer/administrator doesn't want the power)? BenefitsLink mavens, what's your experience about what's happening?" 

BenefitsLink Message Boards

Doctors with Separate Plans; Staff in Another Plan

"Doctors' group has one main 401(k) plan for staff and each doctor has separate plan (due to historically having separate plans even though plan provisions and investment opportunities presently mimic the main plan). Eligibility requires 1 year of service. Can a doctor start their own plan in the year of hire and make contributions to that plan even though they would not have been eligible to make contributions in the main plan?" 

BenefitsLink Message Boards

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? Or UBIT Shares in an ESOP?

"I am curious to hear the group's thoughts on what to do about UBIT shares (that is, shares in an S-corp that were long ago transferred from an ESOP to a non-ESOP portion of the plan in order to avoid a failing 409(p))." 

BenefitsLink Message Boards

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Press Releases

EquitasDx Announces Michael DeMore, MBA, as Vice President
EquitasDx

Principal® to deliver equity compensation plan services as part of Principal® Total Retirement Solutions expansion
Principal Financial Group

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