"If you [as a service provider] decide to continue to accept revenue sharing and either cannot obtain the reporting necessary to follow [steps described in this article] or do not want to spend the time or energy to do so, understand the risk that you are taking.... [U]nder no circumstances should you be providing services to retirement plans and their sponsors without a written service agreement.... [T]he ability to demonstrate clarity of the services you are providing, and the fees charged for those services goes a long way to meet the disclosure rules "  MORE >>

"The IRS's SCP works anonymously, merely requiring the plan administrator to adhere to certain correction methods and to save all appropriate documentation. The EBSA's proposed SCC will provide an additional correction option to use than before, but it is not anonymous. This may cause hesitation for those interested in participating in the SCC."  MORE >>

"[T]he following changes [are] effective immediately: [1] Plan fiduciaries are no longer required to seek recovery of overpayments in certain circumstances. [2] SECURE 2.0 expands the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS) to allow for self-correction in a broader array of situations."  MORE >>

"There are 13 sections of SECURE 2.0 that are specifically included to clean up [IRS] and U.S. [DOL] plan compliance inconsistencies, omissions, or scrivener's errors in prior laws and regulations or to allow plan sponsors to more easily self-correct violations. This article will provide a brief overview of the sections of SECURE 2.0 related to complying with the law or correcting plans to bring them back into compliance."  MORE >>

"The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida ruled that the DOL was 'arbitrary and capricious' in its interpretation of a five-part test to determine whether a financial advisor is a fiduciary to a retirement account.... In a mixed decision, [the judge] denied the DOL's motion to dismiss the suit, while granting DOL summary judgment on counts that involved other ASA allegations against the FAQs." [American Securities Ass'n v. DOL, No. 22-0330 (M.D. Fla. Feb. 13, 2023)  MORE >>

"Key Points [1] The Court does not allow the defense to prove with participant account statements at the motion to dismiss stage that active plan participants paid nothing in recordkeeping fees, but finds the comparisons to eleven other random plans 'inapt.' [2] The court follows the Sixth Circuit in CommonSpirit to recommend dismissal of identical claims that the active suite of Fidelity Freedom Funds are imprudent because of higher fees and alleged underperformance compared to the Fidelity index suite." [Jones v. DISH Network Corp. No. 22-0167 (D. Colo. mag. rep. Jan. 31, 2023)]  MORE >>

"In litigation arising from an [ESOP's] purchase of employer shares from the employer's board members, the Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit held that the ESOP's arbitration provision requiring individual arbitration prevented a plan participant from effectively vindicating plan-wide remedies available under [ERISA], and therefore was unenforceable." [Harrison v. Envision Mgmt. Holding, Inc. Bd. of Directors, No. 22-1098 (10th Cir. Feb. 9, 2023)]  MORE >>

"While it is entirely possible this lawsuit will be tossed on motion in fairly short order, it is also possible that the court will allow it to proceed, raising questions about the viability of retirement plan ESG investment and, e.g., pro-ESG proxy voting policies that many hoped were laid to rest by DOL in its amendment of the applicable ERISA regulation at the end of last year. [This article reviews] the claims made in the complaint ... [and discusses] plaintiffs' claims and their substantive arguments." [Utah v. Walsh, No. 223-00016, (N.D. Tex. complaint filed Jan. 26, 2023)]  MORE >>

19 pages. "Opponents argue that the GPO is not well understood and that it harms lower-wage workers. The GPO's defenders maintain that it helps ensure that only financially dependent spouses receive the Social Security spousal or widow(er)'s benefit, while curtailing what otherwise would be an unfair advantage for government workers who are not covered by Social Security." [RL32453, updated Feb. 13, 2023]  MORE >>

25 pages. "[The Social Security Expansion Act] includes nine provisions with direct effects on the Social Security trust funds.... [E]nactment of these provisions would extend the ability of the OASDI program to pay scheduled benefits in full and on time throughout the 75-year projection period. The date of projected depletion of the combined OASI and DI Trust Fund reserves is 2035 under current law and the intermediate assumptions of the 2022 Trustees Report."  MORE >>

"[As] the number of layoff announcements in the private sector increase and a record number of Americans withdraw funds from their 401(k)s as a result of financial distress, the public sector may be uniquely positioned to reverse its worker shortage with a highly attractive benefit that gives it an edge over the private sector: a pension."  MORE >>