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Amazon Is Latest to Face Lawsuit Alleging Mismanagement of 401(k) Plan Forfeitures

"Between 2018 and 2023, plan participants who did not fully vest forfeited about $349 million in matching funds, according to the lawsuit. Instead of using that money to cover administrative fees for the plan, which totaled more than $18 million during that period, Amazon used it to reduce its own matching contributions, Curtis alleged in the complaint." [Curtis v. Amazon Inc., No. 24-2164 (W.D. Wash. complaint filed Dec. 30, 2024)]

UnitedHealth, Amedisys Extend Deadline to Close $3.3 Billion Deal

"UnitedHealth and Amedisys have agreed to extend the deadline to close their $3.3 billion merger agreement to next year ... as the deal faces close scrutiny from the U.S. Department of Justice. The extension comes more than a month after the DOJ and three U.S. states filed a lawsuit to block the deal, citing concerns that it would reduce competition in the home health services market."

Why Congress Restored Social Security Benefits for Public-Sector Retirees

"The logic of the WEP -- and its cousin, the Government Pension Offset (GPO) -- was inscrutable to all but policy analysts and actuaries.... Congress responded by repealing the WEP and the GPO with a law dubbed the Social Security Fairness Act. Opponents of the repeal argue that the two rules address alleged overpayments to people who split their careers between jobs covered by Social Security and other work covered by a public sector defined benefit plan."

Threatened Pensions Safe -- for Now

"The Central States decision forestalls pension cuts that would have taken effect this summer, but it does not resolve the problem. Plan administrators say it could be insolvent within a decade.... But the Treasury decision does not settle the matter. The plan could still refile its application to make cuts.... The Obama administration's 2017 budget proposes to solve the problem by raising $15 billion in higher [PBGC] premiums for multiemployer plans, and by giving PBGC the power to set rates without congressional approval."

Express Scripts Sues FTC Over Drug Pricing Report

"Pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts sued the [FTC] over the regulator's recent drug pricing report, calling the report's conclusion that the prescription middlemen raise drug costs defamatory.... The FTC said in the July report that market consolidation has led to PBMs favoring their own affiliated businesses, which creates conflicts of interest that prevent smaller independent pharmacies from staying competitive by steering patients away from them." [Express Scripts v. FTC, No. 24-1263 (E.D. Mo. complaint filed Sep. 17, 2024)]

Administration to Require Reports on All Health Insurance Price Increases

"Under current rules, the federal government requires insurers to report information on rate increases of 10 percent or more. New rules being issued by the administration will extend this requirement to all rate increases for all health plans sold to individuals, families and small businesses -- a total of 60 million people."

Immigration Enforcement Activity and Retirement Plans

"Employers may wish to consider whether it is feasible to amend their plans to exclude undocumented workers. In the case of a 401(k) plan, this exclusion would allow employers to forfeit employer contributions (and related earnings) and refund employee contributions if the employer later determines that an employee who had been permitted to participate in the plan was ineligible due to being undocumented."

Allure of Self-Insurance Draws Concern by Policymakers

"Federal and state officials and consumer advocates have grown worried that companies with relatively young, healthy employees may opt out of the regular health insurance market to avoid the minimum coverage standards in [the ACA], a move that could drive up costs for workers at other companies.... 'The new health care law created powerful incentives for smaller employers to self-insure,' said Deborah J. Chollet, a senior fellow at Mathematica Policy Research who has been studying the insurance industry for more than 25 years. 'This trend could destabilize small-group insurance markets and erode protections provided by the [ACA]'."

The Health Benefits That Cut Your Pay

"The [ACA] does require employers, beginning this year, to note on W-2's how much both the employee and the employer contributed to health care costs.... But even with greater awareness, many Americans still might not understand that the largest effect of the cost of our health care system is to reduce the amount of money they actually take home.... [A] 23-year-old employee will bear at least $1.8 million in health care costs over her lifetime. That's assuming that such costs don't grow by more than current government estimates, that she never has a working spouse, and that she and her dependents don't ever contract a serious illness."

New York Suspends Pension Contributions to Plan Covering Employees in Arts Organizations

"[T]he city has questions about whether its share of the pension costs, projected to be about $17 million for the fiscal year ending June 30, was overstated because of irregularities in pension calculations. Under an arrangement that dates from 1962 the city pays into a pension system that covers some workers in dozens of day care centers with city contracts as well as dozens of cultural institutions."