"The Department confirms ... that these provisions [of ERISA] do not prevent plans from refunding any excess payments received through the SFA Program, or excuse any failures to return SFA funds to which the plans are not entitled. The excess payments would not have been made to the plans absent the inaccurate census data, and the excess payments gave rise to an equal and offsetting liability owed by the plans to the United States government. These excess payments can and must be repaid ... The [DOL] has confirmed its understanding with the Department of the Treasury and the [IRS]."  MORE >>

"The lawsuit represents the first major challenge to a risk transfer of defined benefit plan obligations to a 'private equity-backed' insurer. It alleges that, in selecting Athene for this risk transfer, defendants breached their ERISA fiduciary duties of loyalty and prudence and, under [DOL] Interpretive Bulletin 95-1, their obligation to select the 'safest available annuity.' " [Piercy v. AT&T Inc., No. 24-10608 (D. Mass. complaint filed Mar. 11, 2024)]  MORE >>

"The case ... involves an alleged circuit split. The 2nd, 3rd, 7th and 10th U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal have found that ERISA requires plaintiffs to 'plead and prove additional elements and facts not contained' in the law's text, according to the employees, who said that the 8th and 9th Circuits have not found that the law makes such requirements." [Cunningham v. Cornell Univ., No. 21-0088 (2d Cir. Nov. 14, 2023; cert. pet. filed Mar. 13, 2024)]  MORE >>

"In response to last week's announcement that Verizon Communications Inc. completed a $5.9 billion pension risk transfer to Prudential Insurance Co. and RGA Reinsurance Co., leaders of the Association of BellTel Retirees are calling for renewed protection of Verizon retirees' pension assets."  MORE >>

"The [DOL] has issued recommendations to aid employers in securing their plans. By adopting these guidelines and integrating cybersecurity best practices, you can significantly reduce the risk of data breaches, cyber fraud, and theft."  MORE >>

"During February, the estimated cost to transfer retiree pension risk to an insurer in a competitive bidding process increased from 101.8% of a plan's accounting liabilities (accumulated benefit obligation, or ABO) to 102.1% of those liabilities. That means the estimated retiree PRT cost is now 102.1% of a plan's ABO."  MORE >>

"All things being equal, the math suggests that it may be better to convert a portion of your IRA assets into Roth assets until a certain point and then maintain a lower-than-anticipated tax bracket for the rest of your life."  MORE >>

"Although the first private pension plan in the United States was established in 1875, it wasn’t until 1974 that a law was enacted to set minimum standards for pensions ... While federal, state, and local laws do not require establishments to provide retirement benefits, ERISA established standards in case they do. This Spotlight on Statistics highlights recent data on retired persons and retirement benefits for private industry workers."  MORE >>

"Defending against fiduciary breach and related claims is time-consuming and expensive not only for the plan sponsor defendants but also for the plan's service providers. Chief among these providers is a plan's investment advisor, which likely will play a central role in the defending against the plaintiff's claims. This article explores what 3(21), or nondiscretionary, investment advisors can expect when their plan sponsor clients are sued, as well as what they can do to protect themselves and their clients and limit the cost and disruption of fiduciary litigation."  MORE >>

"The court held that the Act conflicted with ERISA by requiring agencies to make judgment calls about eligibility and benefit levels on an individualized and continual basis.... [T]he court did not enjoin, nor did plaintiffs seek to enjoin, provisions of the amendments providing for equal pay to temporary laborers who work for more than 90 days in a 12-month period for the same third-party client." [Staffing Servs. Ass'n. of Ill. v. Flanagan, No. 23-16208 (N.D. Ill. Mar. 11, 2024)]  MORE >>

"[A]lthough the court's decision enjoins the requirement to provide 'equivalent benefits,' temporary laborers who are assigned to a third-party client for more than 90 days after April 1, 2024, will be entitled to receive the same rate of pay as a comparable directly hired employee." [Staffing Servs. Ass'n. of Ill. v. Flanagan, No. 23-16208 (N.D. Ill. Mar. 11, 2024)]  MORE >>

"The PVP disclosure rules require public reporting companies to disclose (for fiscal years ending on or after December 16, 2022) the relationship between executive compensation actually paid and the companies' financial performance. To assist companies in navigating these rules, the SEC has issued a series of CD&Is. This blog post summarizes the most recently issued/updated PVP CD&Is published by the SEC on November 21, 2023."  MORE >>