"[T]he annual reporting changes for 2022 are revisions to Schedules MB, SB and R and their respective instructions to improve reporting by DB plans subject to Title IV of ERISA. They also include additions to the plan characteristics codes reportable on line 8 of Form 5500 and line 9 of Form 5500-SF that require defined contribution MEPs (including PEPs) to be identified as such."  MORE >>

"[T]he SEC recently released correspondence related to its denial of the request from two different companies to exclude from its proxy materials a shareholder's proposal concerning the investment options under the company's retirement plan.... [W]hat happens if the requested report concludes that the retirement plan's investment options do not align with the company's climate action goals, with the Board's related assessment reaching the same conclusion?" [SEC No-Action letter to Amazon.com, Inc. (Apr. 8, 2022); No-Action letter to Comcast Corporation (Apr. 13, 2022)]  MORE >>

"In Illinois and California, certain employers who do not offer a retirement plan have already been required to start participation. In 2022, the laws will apply to increasingly smaller-sized employers, including those who traditionally have not offered a retirement plan to their employees. In New York, a new law has been implemented requiring participation for the first time from small employers."  MORE >>

"One legal professional at a fiduciary insurance firm argues that the 'indiscriminate nature' of recent ERISA lawsuit filings could eventually culminate in a crisis for the retirement plan industry's current approach to risk management and fiduciary insurance."  MORE >>

"Right on the heels of reaching a high-water mark for public pension assets at the end of the fourth quarter of 2021, investment losses in Q1 2022 lowered the estimated funded status of the 100 largest U.S. public pension plans from 85.5% at the end of December 2021 to 82.7% at the end of March 2022[.]"  MORE >>

"Connecticut is poised to deposit an extra $3.6 billion in its cash-starved pension funds when the fiscal year closes in June ... Those supplemental payments would be on top of the $2.9 billion in required contributions Connecticut made this fiscal year to pensions for state employees and municipal teachers.... The extra pension payments will come just one year after the state broke new ground with a $1.6 billion supplemental deposit into pensions."  MORE >>

"The Ninth Circuit found that ... the remand order was more than a purely procedural victory, even though the district court did not signal that Woolsey should be eligible for benefits.... Because the record was not fully developed, the district court was in no position to assess the merits of the claim. Lastly, the court found it of 'no consequence' that Woolsey's complaint did not expressly seek a remand because he alleged the relevant ERISA violations in his complaint and sought a remand in the alternative in his summary judgment motion." [Woolsey v. Aetna Life Ins. Co., No. 20-16885 (9th Cir. May 20, 2022; unpub.)]  MORE >>

"Three in four investors expect senior management pay to be linked to ESG ... [J]ust 46 percent of boards linking executive pay to ESG metrics. Linking pay to ESG is least common in North America, where just over a quarter of companies do so ... And although comparatively fewer investors in North America expect this link, it is still the expectation of 62 percent of investors in the region."  MORE >>