"Until now, 403(b) plans have been able to exclude participants expected to work less than 20 hours a week on their first year of employment and who actually work fewer than 1,000 hours in subsequent eligibility computation periods. It seems that this exclusion will only be available on the first year of service and be overridden by the LTPT rules on the second year of the participant's employment."  MORE >>

"Though generally viewed as the section which enabled 403(b) Pooled Employer Plans, the new Code Section 403(b)(15) ... really was intended to have a much broader impact: it provides peace of mind that participating in a 403(b) arrangement of more than one employer (even if not a PEP) would not jeopardize their plan's 403(b) status.... 403(b) MEPs really got what they needed to continue on safely. A 403(b) PEP is only necessary if the organization wants relief from the 'one bad apple rule'[.]"  MORE >>

"[Notice 2023-43] specifies that this enhancement of EPCRS applies to failures that occurred either before or after December 29, 2022 (the date the SECURE 2.0 Act was signed into law), provided the requirements are otherwise met.... The Notice provides that any self-correction completed on or after December 29, 2022, and before May 25, 2023, the date this Notice was issued, will be considered compliant if the process demonstrates a good faith, reasonable interpretation of Section 305 of the SECURE 2.0 Act."  MORE >>

"Two recent court decisions bring into focus two seldom-asked questions about the reasonable compensation requirement under ERISA. When must an ERISA plan's service provider compensation be reasonable? And why shouldn't a plan fiduciary be able to receive reasonable compensation from the plan even if the fiduciary had a hand in determining the amount of that compensation? The reasoning and holdings in these cases, if followed by other courts, could fundamentally alter the familiar rules on reasonable compensation." [Markham v. The Variable Annuity Life Ins. Co. (VALIC), No. 22-0974 (S.D. Tex. Oct. 5, 2022); Rozo v. Principal Life Ins. Co., No. 21-2026 (8th Cir. Sep. 2, 2022)]]   MORE >>

"For years, auto-enrollment has been considered the gold standard by employers and retirement experts, and its popularity has grown since federal legislation in 2006 removed some of the legal barriers that kept employers from trying it.... [A recent study] determined that putting auto-enrollment in place would be much less cost-effective for small employers than the active choice strategy."  MORE >>

"Pension discount rates rose almost a quarter of a percentage point in May, erasing much of the fall in rates we had seen so far this year.... While equity market returns coincided with a decline in fixed income indices (and therefore also plan liabilities), May's change in funded status for most pension plans will show anywhere from a slight to moderate improvement."  MORE >>

"The best valuation platforms have mechanisms to check for missing or wildly erroneous pricing, as well as the timely posting of income and the missing identifiers that are frequently the root cause of the problems. From the outside, it is difficult to know which organizations implement sound data governance policies, quality data frameworks, and robust data management practices to ensure data integrity throughout its lifecycle. It is, however, important -- critical, in fact -- to know the difference."  MORE >>

"A lawsuit that accuses a major Pennsylvania highway contractor of stealing pension and welfare benefits of hourly employees assigned to prevailing wage projects is now a class action.... The complaint is related to the criminal charges filed by the state attorney general's office that alleged the illegal diversion of pension money and other workers' benefits." [Packer v. Glenn O. Hawbaker, Inc., No. 21-1747 (M.D. Penn. Jun. 6, 2023)]  MORE >>

19 pages. "With COVID-19 in the rearview, another -- but not new -- affliction affects Americans: inflation How does this influence health and wealth? And what can employers do to help their employees best navigate the impact higher prices have on their healthcare costs and savings?"  MORE >>