On October 21, 2010, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) released a proposed regulation under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”), to define more broadly the circumstances in which a person may be considered a “fiduciary” by reason of providing “investment advice” to an employee benefit plan or its participants. […]

On July 15, 2010, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) took a significant step in finalizing a regulation meant to provide retirement plan fiduciaries with the information they need to determine the reasonableness of compensation paid to service providers and to assess how those services are affected by potential conflicts of interest. The interim final rule […]

In its second significant ERISA decision in as many months, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in May that a court may award an ERISA litigant attorney’s fees even if it does not actually “prevail” in its case. Earlier, in an April decision, the Court reaffirmed the vitality of the deferential standard of review that ERISA […]

On January 14, 2010, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) published a final regulation (29 CFR 2510.3–102) (“Regulation”) which creates an optional safe harbor period for small plans for the timely deposit of participant contributions. During this period, amounts that an employer has received from employees or withheld from wages for contributions to contributory group welfare […]

E-mail and internal or external web sites are the communication tools of choice for many (if not most) Plan Sponsors and Plan Administrators. When electronically delivering documents or when setting up a web site, it’s easy to overlook the following: Disclaimers When a third party sets up a web site for plan participants, the web […]

Issuing a much anticipated opinion, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that a 401(k) plan sponsor, a mutual fund investment advisor and an affiliated trustee were not subject to suit for providing investment options with allegedly excessive and unreasonable fees and failing to disclose revenue-sharing arrangements between the mutual fund investment […]

On August 22, 2008, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued proposed regulations and a proposed class exemption which implement the statutory prohibited transaction exemption for the provision of investment advice under the amendments made by the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (“PPA”) to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”) and the Internal […]

Amid a background of 401(k) fee litigation brought by plan participants, and Congressional fee disclosure proposals, the Employee Benefits Security Administration of the Department of Labor (“DOL”) has released proposed regulations under ERISA section 404(a) (“proposed regulations”) that would require enhanced disclosure by plan fiduciaries of information concerning investment alternatives and fees to participants in […]

The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Metropolitan Life Insurance v. Glenn (“MetLife”) attempted to answer two questions concerning ERISA benefits litigation, both of which have been a source of disagreement among the circuit courts of appeals: Does an entity that both funds benefits and decides claims operate under a conflict of interest? If such […]

In April, plan fiduciaries received further guidance from the Department of Labor (the “Department”) regarding the administration of Qualified Default Investment Alternatives (“QDIAs”) — investments made by plan fiduciaries on behalf of participants or beneficiaries in individual account plans who fail to direct the investment of assets. The Department’s Field Assistance Bulletin No. 2008–03 (“FAB”), […]

On December 13, 2007, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued proposed regulations under Section 408(b)(2) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”) that would require plan service providers to provide more comprehensive written disclosure to the plan fiduciary who has authority on behalf of the plan to enter into an arrangement with […]

The Department of Labor has issued the long awaited final regulation implementing the provisions of the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (“PPA”) relating to a qualified default investment alternative (“QDIA”) in individual account plans, such as 401(k) plans. The final regulation shields fiduciaries of individual account plans from some of the liability associated with investing […]

Before enactment of the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA), a dichotomy of sorts had emerged regarding the provision of investment information to participants in an ERISA-governed plan. Plan fiduciaries were fairly comfortable that offering “investment education” to participants was both commendable and relatively risk-free for the plan fiduciaries. In contrast, the provision of “investment […]

On September 27, 2006, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued proposed regulations implementing provisions of the recently enacted Pension Protection Act of 2006 (“PPA”) relating to default investment of plan assets in individual account plans (e.g., Internal Revenue Code section 401(k) plans). The proposed rules shield fiduciaries of individual account plans from liability for automatic […]

The recently enacted Pension Protection Act of 2006 (the “PPA”) makes some of the most sweeping revisions to employee benefits law since the enactment of ERISA. Many provisions of the PPA have delayed effective dates, and we will be reporting on various aspects of the new law in upcoming issues of Benefits Report. The PPA […]