On June 2, 2025, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced a significant expansion of its compliance assistance tools by launching an Opinion Letter Program across five key enforcement agencies, including the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA). This initiative aims to provide employers, plan sponsors, and other stakeholders with clear, tailored guidance on complex issues
Cryptocurrency in 401(k): A Balanced Approach Returns
- The 2025 CAR does not alter ERISA’s substantive fiduciary standards and considerations but eases the DOL’s previously hostile enforcement stance toward cryptocurrency and similar digital assets in 401(k) plans, restoring a “neutral” DOL enforcement approach. 401(k) plan fiduciaries must still consider all relevant ERISA factors and apply the necessary care, skill, prudence, and diligence
Not So Fast: DOL Releases Annual Funding Notice Guidance Just Before the Distribution Due Date
Conjuring Health Plan Hygiene: The Final Chapter
As we conclude our “Health Plan Hygiene” blog series, we reflect on the important insights shared about fiduciary responsibilities under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and highlight the risk posed by recent group health plan fiduciary litigation and offered strategies for mitigating these risks by meeting ERISA obligations. We have explored
Health Plan Hygiene Part 3 – Best Practices for TPA Evaluation, Selection, and Contracting
A health plan’s fiduciaries are responsible for administering the health plan. Because most employers are not in the business of administering health benefits, they outsource the day-to-day health plan administration to a third-party health plan administrator (TPA). This outsourcing does not mean the employer is off the hook for their fiduciary obligations under ERISA. Even
Health Plan Hygiene Part 2: ERISA Fiduciaries – That May Mean You!
The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) regulates most private employee benefit retirement and welfare plans. This statute’s purview is vast; it governs employer-sponsored defined benefit and defined contribution retirement plans and an array of welfare plans.
Under ERISA, a plan fiduciary is an entity that exercises authority or control over the management
Use of Plan Forfeitures Not the Slam Dunk It Used to Be
A recent rash of class action lawsuits in California claim that using forfeitures to reduce future employer contributions to tax-qualified retirement plans runs afoul of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). These cases have continued to advance despite their central claim seeming to contradict long-standing Internal Revenue Service (IRS) guidance for the permitted use
DOL’s Controversial Retirement Security Rule Faces Immediate Legal Challenge
On April 23, 2024, the United States Department of Labor (DOL) issued updates to the investment advice fiduciary regulation, formally called the “Retirement Security Rule” and generally referred to as the “DOL Fiduciary Rule.” These updates, generally effective September 23, 2024 (a one-year transition period extends the effective date for some provisions into 2025), will
Don’t Set It & Forget It: Keeping up Your Fiduciary Committee
It’s hard to believe that 2024 is well underway! That means it’s a perfect time to think about an issue that might get lost in the summertime and (dare I already say) year-end shuffles: fiduciary committees.
ERISA imposes fiduciary duties on those considered a fiduciary under an ERISA-covered plan. Generally, absent a delegation, the board
Developments Around IVF Benefits
A recent Alabama Supreme Court case, LaPage v. Center for Reproductive Medicine, has made headlines and raised questions about the legal implications of providing in vitro fertilization (IVF) benefits. During IVF, eggs are fertilized outside the body to create an embryo, and in the case at hand, the parents sued after several embryos were