With the business disruptions and market turbulence being wrought by COVID-19, many employers sponsoring qualified retirement plans are facing key decisions about their 401(k), profit sharing, defined benefit, and cash balance plans. From considering potential cost-savings measures such as suspending safe harbor contributions to a 401(k) plan and/or discretionary contributions to a profit sharing plan,
ESOPs
Tenth Circuit Follows Majority of the Circuit Courts and Holds Plaintiff Bears the Burden of Proving Causation in ERISA Breach of Fiduciary Duty Cases
By Jackson Lewis P.C. on
On June 5, 2017, in Pioneer Centres Holding Co. Employee Stock Ownership Plan & Trust v. Alerus Fin., N.A., Case No. 15-1227, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit held that the plaintiff bears the burden on each element of its breach of fiduciary duty claim under ERISA.
Plaintiff brought suit for breach…
For Those with an Interest in Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs)
By Brian P. Goldstein on
Posted in ESOPs
Jackson Lewis P.C. has a deep practice niche in employee stock ownership plans. We regularly assist our clients in structuring ESOP transactions and with related compliance matters, and in helping to further the success of our clients’ businesses by evolving an “employee ownership” culture using ESOPs. We also regularly represent and assist institutional trustees of…
DEATH AND TAXES FOR QUALIFIED PLANS
By Raymond P. Turner on
An IRS plan audit uniquely focuses an employer’s mind on the core identity of its qualified retirement plan, which is that of a tax exempt organization, but one whose exemption (or “qualification”) requirements are far pickier than those applicable to one’s favorite charity. Any single material operational violation or non-conforming written plan provision risks disqualification…
SUPREME COURT REBUKES NINTH CIRCUIT’S DISREGARD OF PRUDENCE PRECEDENT FOR EMPLOYEE STOCK OWNERSHIP PLANS
For the second time in Amgen Inc. v. Harris, the Supreme Court reversed the Ninth Circuit because of its failure to apply the proper pleading standard for claims alleging breach of the duty of prudence against fiduciaries who manage employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs). The Supreme Court’s opinion sets forth a specific, stringent pleading…