"IRA custodians and owners may be disappointed at having to wait for further IRS guidance to use the SECURE 2.0 relief, but expanding EPCRS to include IRAs is very good news. Previously, the only relief for inadvertent failures in an IRA was to enter into a voluntary closing agreement with the IRS or seek a private letter ruling.... Mergers and acquisitions due diligence teams should pay particular attention to [the] ineligible failures that cannot be self-corrected."  MORE >>

"More than 100 current provisions governing retirement plan regulations are affected by this legislation ... [P]lan amendments are not available but sponsors should expect to adopt them before the end of the 2024 plan year. Many provisions ... are not recommended for adoption simply due to the lack of comprehensive guidance available. Until any of these changes are adopted by your plan through formal amendment or 'good faith election', you will need to operate your plan according to the amendments until they're adopted."  MORE >>

"[The district court judge] dismissed ERISA complaints alleging mismanagement of a Voya stable value fund, a Voya target-date series, a Voya real estate fund and two other funds offered by third-party investment managers. He also dismissed the allegation that the defendants failed to monitor administrative fees. However, he refused to dismiss allegations that the defendants engaged in certain prohibited transactions covered by ERISA." [Ravarino vs. Voya Financial Inc., No. 21-1658 (D. Conn. Jun. 13, 2023)]  MORE >>

"Without having explicit lifetime income insurance, more than one-third of defined contribution plan participants may run out of money in retirement, according to a new report ... But due to a lack of financial literacy and misconceptions about what level of withdrawal rate can be sustained over time, many participants are hesitant about purchasing lifetime income products and greatly overestimate how much of their nest egg they will be able to spend yearly without running out of money[.]"  MORE >>

"Judge Thomas Durkin ... terminated consolidated cases from the late 1970's and early 1980's that sought to thwart Defendants' efforts to continue to funnel pension funds to organized crime.... The first chapter of these cases concluded in 1982 and 1985, respectively, when the Northern District of Illinois entered two separate Consent Decrees that subjected the funds to Court-appointed monitoring. The final chapter recently concluded -- 41 years later -- when Judge Durkin dissolved those Consent Decrees over objections from the [DOL]." [Su v. Estate of Fitzsimmons, Case Nos. 78 C 00342, 78 C 04075 & 82 C 07951 (N.D. Ill. Jun. 9, 2023)]  MORE >>

"[T]he question as to the burden of proof on the issue of causation of losses shifting to plan sponsors is not a question of 'if,' but rather 'when.' ... SCOTUS will eventually be called on to decide on one consistent standard on the issue so that the rights and protections guaranteed under ERISA will be uniformly applied in the legal system. At that point, it will be extremely difficult for plan sponsors to justify the use of cost-inefficient actively managed funds."  MORE >>

"A Texas federal court ruled against Affordable Care Act preventive care coverage mandates, the Seventh Circuit revived a retirement plan mismanagement case brought by Northwestern University workers and the Tenth Circuit refused to force arbitration of an employee stock ownership plan lawsuit."  MORE >>