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Intermittent Leave Under the FMLA (PDF)

"[B]ecause of the nature of conditions that trigger the need for intermittent leave, it isn't always possible for an employee to work out a fixed reduced schedule with the employer.... Even so, employers should require employees to communicate with their supervisors in writing each time they must take intermittent leave without advance notice and explain the reason, consistent with the employer's attendance policy."

Distributing Assets When an Unrelated Employer Leaves a Multiple Employer Plan

"There are often good business reasons for allowing non-controlled group members to participate in a single pension plan. But circumstances change, and the time may come when it's appropriate for an unrelated employer to leave.... Assuming there is no other distributable event, there are three options to consider: [1] Complete plan termination; [2] Partial plan termination; [3] Spinoff termination."

Viewing a Retirement Plan Rollover Case Through the Prism of Regulation Best Interest

"[A] subsidiary of [TIAA] agreed to pay $97 million to settle [SEC] charges of misleading statements and inadequate disclosures relating to rollover recommendations to participants in TIAA record-kept employer-sponsored retirement plans.... [T]he underlying allegations provide a useful framework to review Regulation BI's four core obligations and how regulators may view misleading statements, inadequate conflict disclosures, and rollover recommendations that are alleged not to be in the best interest of a retail customer." [In the Matter of TIAA-CREF Individual & Institutional Services LLC, SEC Administrative Proceeding File No. 3-20392, Jul. 13, 2021]

Guide to Curbing Intermittent FMLA Leave Abuse (PDF)

[An] employee's ability to take small increments of FMLA leave sporadically generally result in administrative ... headaches for employers ... The FMLA offers a number of tools -- many of which are not widely known ... that you can use to discourage abuse of intermittent leave.

Changes to Limited-Scope Audits of Employee Benefit Plan Financial Statements Are Extended

"Initially, the new standards were to apply to audits of plan years ending on or after December 15, 2020, which means they would apply to 2020 plan year audits performed in 2021. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the AICPA changed the effective date of the standards to plan years ending after December 15, 2021, extending the implementation of the standards for one year. Plan sponsors of plans subject to ERISA should be aware of the new responsibilities the standards impose on auditors, as these changes also indirectly create new responsibilities for plan sponsors."

Objective Versus Subjective Evidence in the ERISA Claims-Handling Process (PDF)

"Disability claimants regularly take the position that certain difficult-to-diagnose conditions ... cannot be proven through objective medical evidence. As such, they argue that it is unreasonable or arbitrary for an administrator of a disability plan governed by ERISA to require objective evidence of these disabling conditions. The notion that subjective symptoms must be given at least some level of consideration has gained traction in the federal courts over the last several years."

401(k) Plan Litigation Basics (PDF)

"[This article identifies] the basic standards that apply to 401(k) plan litigation, highlighting some of the important differences between litigation involving participants and beneficiaries on the one hand and litigation with a plan's service providers on the other."

An Employer's Crash Course on Withdrawal Liability (PDF)

"[T]his article [provides] a basic overview of withdrawal liability ... [1] what withdrawal liability is; [2] the issues businesses may face at different times; and [3] what happens when an employer is assessed liability."

Using COVID-19 Disaster Relief Funds to Assist Employees

"Section 139 disaster relief funds allow employers to make qualified disaster relief payments to employees ... [It] is prudent to set forth the terms of a disaster relief fund in a written document or policy ... [which] should describe the scope of the policy, the duration of the disaster relief fund, eligibility requirements for receipt of disaster relief payments, procedures to apply for payments, the timing and method of making payments, and limits on the amount of payments, if any.... A properly structured disaster relief fund will not be subject to ERISA."

401(k) Service Provider Contract Considerations (PDF)

"Whether a small plan with only a handful of participants, or a large plan with tens or hundreds of thousands of participants, every 401(k) plan needs to have certain services performed for it. A plan ... is in large part implemented by service providers, who operate pursuant to various agreements. In this Q&A, [the authors] will identify several important types of service providers and what to watch out for in their contracts."