Fiduciary Duties & ERISA Litigation
2026
- SECURE 2.0 Plan Amendments Due By December 31, 2026
Most private sector defined contribution plans and 403(b) plans must adopt amendments reflecting the SECURE Act and SECURE 2.0 Act (and the CARES Act, if needed and not yet adopted) by December 31…
- The Plaintiffs’ Bar Has AI, Too
If your company sponsors a 401(k) plan, a pension, or a self-insured health plan, you are a potential defendant — and whether you become an actual one has less to do with whether you did anything…
- DOL Proposes New Safe Harbor for Investment Selection
The Department of Labor recently proposed a new regulation titled Fiduciary Duties in Selecting Designated Investment Alternatives, which would establish a six-factor safe harbor for prudent…
- Five-Part Fiduciary Test Is Back: Update Financial Advisory Agreements Now
On March 20, 2026, the Department of Labor published a vacatur notice (FR Doc. 2026-05492, 91 FR 13503–13510) officially removing the 2024 Retirement Security Rule from the Code of Federal…
2025
- Supreme Court Raises Bar for Dismissing ERISA Prohibited Transaction Claims
The Supreme Court made it easier for plaintiffs to bring ERISA prohibited transaction claims last month when it unanimously adopted a lower pleading threshold for plaintiffs making such claims.…
- Department of Labor Adds Self-Correction to Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program
The Department of Labor (DOL) published significant updates to its Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program (VFCP) on January 15, 2025. These updates are designed to make it easier for employers and…
2021
- Presence Not Required – IRS Extends Remote Signature Procedures for Qualified Plans
The IRS has extended temporary relief allowing plan representatives to witness participant elections or spousal waivers via videoconference until June 30, 2021. The IRS initially provided relief from…
2020
- DOL Final Rule Facilitates Retirement Plan Electronic Disclosures
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published a final rule on May 27, 2020 that will allow employers to post retirement plan disclosures online or deliver them to employees by email, as a default. The…
- DOL and IRS Extend Certain Timeframes for Employee Benefit Plans, Participants, and Beneficiaries Affected by the COVID-19 Outbreak
On May 4, 2020, the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA, which is part of the U.S. Department of Labor) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued joint guidance extending certain…
- Erwin Kratz Discusses Fiduciary Compliance for Plan Sponsors
ERISA Benefits Law attorney Erwin Kratz was a panelist on “ERISA Principles That Every Plan Fiduciary Needs to Know”, presented by Wellspring Financial Partners on February 19, 2020. Erwin joined Eric…
2019
- HHS Proposes to Revise ACA Section 1557 Nondiscrimination Rules
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is issuing a proposed rule to revise regulations implementing and enforcing Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Section 1557 prohibits…
2018
- PBGC’s Expanded Missing Participant Program Final Rule Covers DC Plans and non-PBGC Insured DB Plans
As authorized by the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA), the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) has issued a final regulation that expands PBGC’s missing participants program…
- 9th Circuit Clarifies Service Provider’s Fiduciary Duties When Negotiating Fees and When Withdrawing Fees from Plan Assets
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has issued an opinion in Santomenno v. Transamerica LLC, clarifying the circumstances under which a retirement plan investment service provider breaches (and does…
- Supreme Court Rejects “Yard-Man” Inference of Vesting of Retiree Health Benefits
The United States Supreme Court has ruled in the case of CNH Indus. N.V. v. Reese, that courts cannot simply infer lifetime vesting of retiree health benefits from a collective bargaining agreement.…
- Updated Disability Claims Procedures Go Into Effect April 2, 2018
The Department of Labor’s final rules updating the procedures for disability claims go into effect on April 2, 2018. This post summarizes the new rules; which plans are affected by the new rules…
2017
- EEOC Wellness Regulations Sent to EEOC For Review (AARP v US EEOC)
The United States District Court for the District of DC has concluded in the case of AARP v. United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, that the EEOC’s final wellness regulations are…
- Supreme Court Rules ERISA-Exempt “Church Plan” Includes Plan Maintained by Church-Affiliated Organizations (like hospitals and schools)
The United States Supreme Court has held, in Advocate Health Care Network v Stapleton that a benefit plan maintained by a church-affiliated organization, whose principal purpose is to fund or…
- DOL Issues Additional Fiduciary Rule Enforcement Relief and FAQ Guidance
The DOL has issued temporary enforcement relief and FAQ guidance addressing the implementation of the DOL’s final fiduciary rule on investment advice conflicts and related prohibited transaction…
- Be Careful Before Denying COBRA to Employee Terminated for Gross Misconduct
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has rendered a decision in Mayes v. WinCo Holdings that reminds employers to be very cautious about denying COBRA coverage based on the gross misconduct exception.…
- DOL Delays Fiduciary Duty Rule for 60 Days and Invites Comments on Whether to Further Delay, Amend, or Withdraw the Rule
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) today announced a proposed extension of the applicability dates of the fiduciary rule and related exemptions, including the Best Interest Contract Exemption, from…
- President Orders Review of Fiduciary Duty Rule
On February 3, 2017, the President issued a Presidential Memorandum on the Fiduciary Duty Rule, ordering the Department of Labor (DOL) to “examine the Fiduciary Duty Rule to determine whether it may…
2016
- OSHA Issues Final Rules for Handling ACA Retaliation Claims
The Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has published a final rule establishing procedures, time frames and burdens of proof for handling whistleblower complaints under…
- PBGC Expands Missing Participant Program to Defined Contribution Plans
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) has issued a Proposed Rule that would redesign its existing missing participants program for single employer Defined Benefit (DB) plans and to adopt…
- A Retirement Plan Established by a Church-Affiliated Organization is not an ERISA-Exempt Church Plan (at least in the 9th, 3rd and 7th Circuits)
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that, to qualify for the church plan exception to the requirements of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), a church plan (i) must be…
- Plan Administrator Bears Burden to Produce Key Information Regarding Claimant’s Service and Benefits Eligibility
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on April 21, 2016 that where a claimant has made a prima facie case that he is entitled to a pension benefit, but lacks access to the key information about…
- Fiduciaries Ultimately Prevail in Tibble v. Edison
On remand from the United States Supreme Court, which held in May 2015 that ERISA imposes on retirement plan fiduciaries an ongoing duty to monitor investments, even absent a change in circumstances…
- DOL Finalizes Regulations and Related Exemptions on ERISA Fiduciary Definition and Conflicts of Interest in Investment Advice
The Department of Labor (DOL) has adopted its long-awaited final rule defining who is a fiduciary investment adviser, and has issued accompanying prohibited transaction class exemptions that allow…
- 7th Circuit Holds Only a Church Can Establish an ERISA-Exempt Church Plan
On March 17, 2016 the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals joined the 3rd Circuit in holding that a network of hospitals and health care locations that is affiliated with a church cannot establish an…
- Plan Imposed Limitations Period Must be in Benefit Denial Notice
The First Circuit recently ruled that it will not enforce a plan-imposed deadline for filing a lawsuit because the deadline was not set forth in the plan’s benefit denial notices. Santana-Diaz v.…
- Supreme Court Rules ERISA Equitable Relief Can’t Reach Nontraceable Settlement Proceeds
Employee benefits plans regulated by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA or Act) often contain subrogation clauses requiring a plan participant to reimburse the plan for medical…
2015
- IRS Extends 2015 Deadlines for Health Information Reporting Returns
IRS announced today that it is extending the due dates for the 2015 information reporting requirements under sections 6055 and 6056 of the Code. Specifically, Notice 2016-4 extends the due date: (1)…
- Supreme Court Obergefell Decision Impacts Employer Welfare Benefit Plans
Today’s Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, requiring all 50 States to license same sex marriages, has two immediate implications for employer-sponsored welfare benefit plans: 1. Do your…
- Class Action Lawsuit Accusing Employer of Reducing Employees’ Hours to Avoid Providing ACA Health Coverage
A May 8, 2015 class action lawsuit filed in New York alleges restaurant chain Dave & Buster’s, Inc. violated ERISA Section 510, which prohibits interfering with an employee’s attainment of an employee…
- DOL Provides Timing Relief for Fee Disclosures in Participant-Directed Individual Account Plans
On March 19, 2015 the Department of Labor issued final rules that give retirement plan administrators a two-month window in which to provide annual fee disclosures to plan participants. Under existing…
- King v. Burwell – Oral Argument Audio and Transcript
You can listen to the Supreme Court oral arguments in King v. Burwell – the case challenging provision of subsidies in states that have not established their own health care Marketplaces – here.