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Fiduciary Governance
A federal judge has dismissed an excessive fee suit that “contains no factual allegations surrounding defendant’s process for selecting and monitoring investments.”
More precisely, Judge Karin J. Immergut of the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon granted the Adidas fiduciary defendants...
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While it may not be insurmountable, a federal court judge has refused to sign off on an excessive fee settlement.
The ink was barely dry on the deal struck between Mercy Health Corp. and a set of participant-plaintiffs earlier this month—a deal that called for a remedy of allegations made[1] $3.9...
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Editor’s Note: This is the second in a three-part series on pension plan funding. It features discussions with Brad Smith, Partner at consultant and investment firm NEPC and member of its Corporate Defined Benefit Team. The first installment is here; this one looks at some aspects of how plan funds...
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The plaintiffs in an excessive fee suit got to have their day in court—but the defendants (mostly) made their case.
The plaintiffs here (In re: LinkedIn ERISA Litigation, case number 5:20-cv-05704, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California) are two former and one current...
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Like the annual physical, an employee benefit audit may not be much anticipated, nor particularly welcome. Yet both are important and can be worthwhile. A recent blog entry offers some ideas on making the most of one.
In “Six Steps to a Smooth Employee Benefit Plan (EBP) Audit,” David Rich and...
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An excessive fee case whose petition to dismiss was still pending has opted to settle instead.
The suit—filed in August 2020—had alleged that defendants here—Mercy Health Corporation Employees’ Retirement Plan, the Rockford Health System Retirement Plan, and the Rockford Health Physicians...
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A $10 billion 401(k) plan sued for breach of fiduciary duty for selecting—and keeping—an underperforming target-date fund family on its fund menu—has struck a settlement.
A little more than two years ago, plaintiffs (Chandra V. Brown-Davis, Yolanda Brown, Ronald Dinkel, Siobhan E. Fannin, Daphne G...
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A recent SPARK Institute webinar discussed the importance of being aware of the risks cyber criminals pose as well as how their nefarious work can be thwarted.
There have been many breaches in the last decade, observed Mark Strosahl, Business Information Security Officer at the Principal. But...
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The Department of Labor has issued a temporary delay of the enforcement effective date for Prohibited Transaction Exemption 2020-02.
In Field Assistance Bulletin 2021-02, released Oct. 25, the DOL’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) announced that from Dec. 21, 2021, through Jan....
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Fiduciary liability insurers have apparently taken note of the recent surge in excessive fee suits—and are now making pointed inquiries based on the plaintiffs’ bar’s playbook.
This “new”[i] generation of questionnaires cover the same type questions outlined above, but now get into areas such as...
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When compliance errors happen in plan administration, there are ways to fix them. Speakers at an Oct. 19 ASPPA Annual conference workshop session explained some of those ways.
“It’s telling how much time is spent in this area fixing errors,” remarked Robert M. Richter, Retirement Education...
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Ali Khawar, Acting Assistant Secretary for the DOL’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), strongly intimated today that there will be an extension of some kind on the enforcement effective date for Prohibited Transaction Exemption 2020-02.
In remarks made at the ASPPA Annual...
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The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act of 2019 has a long reach—and that extends to the Form 5500. An Oct. 18 session at the 2021 ASPPA Annual conference took a look at changes that have taken place in the form vis-à-vis the enactment of the measure.
Stephen Forbes...
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Another excessive fee suit has been tossed by a federal judge for failing to “assert sufficient allegations to support their claim…”
This time the defendants are the fiduciaries of Cincinnati-based TriHealth, Inc.’s retirement plan—a relatively small plan ($457 million)—and the suit filed on...
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The Department of Labor has just released a new proposal that would set aside the previous administration’s final rules on the use of ESG factors in selecting plan investments and fiduciary duties regarding proxy voting for one that explicitly allows a consideration of those factors.
The Oct. 13...
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The IRS on Oct. 12 issued funding relief for multiemployer pension plans under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP). The relief is contained in Notice 2021-57.
Notice 2021-57 provides guidance for sponsors of multiemployer DB plans on the elections under Sections 9701 and 9702 of the ARP,...
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A federal judge has put a half dozen 401(k) excessive fee suits on hold pending a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in a case that ”will likely clarify the pleading requirements for ERISA breach of fiduciary claims in cases such as this…”
That was the determination of Judge William C. Griesbach...
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There is frequently a difference between doing what the law requires and doing everything that you could do as a plan fiduciary. That said, there are things that plan fiduciaries must do and things that—while not required—can keep the plan, and plan fiduciaries, out of trouble.
Let’s get started...
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Retirement plans are in cyber criminals’ sights, and it takes positive action to head off the threat, said experts in an Oct. 7 Plan Sponsor Council of America (PSCA) webinar.
“The retirement plan community is a very attractive target” for cyber criminals, warned Tom Briggs, Divisional Sales...
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A recent survey of insurers highlights the criteria that a number of the nation’s leading fiduciary liability insurers identified as the biggest sources of fiduciary risk—within the control of plan fiduciaries.
Now, arguably, the report—titled “What Drives Fiduciary Liability?”—might have been...
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