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Fiduciary Governance
A mammoth 401(k) plan has prevailed in an excessive fee suit, as another federal judge found plenty of factual evidence that plan fiduciaries had, in fact, made prudent decisions.
As it turns out, these plaintiffs (Julio C. Alas, Robert J. Bugielski, and Chad S. Simecek[1]) had already had one...
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An excessive fee suit that made a series of allegations common to this genre—one of several targeting the Fidelity Freedom Funds—has been dismissed with prejudice by a federal judge.
Here the plaintiff (former participant Yosaun Smith) alleged roughly a year ago that the committee overseeing...
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When hiring a new employee, one of the initial tasks given to that employee is completing various beneficiary forms for the company’s benefit plans. Most people will fill it out and not think about that initial election ever again. Some employees may not fill one out at all. So why is it a big deal...
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A recent survey of some of the nation’s leading insurers highlights ways that plan fiduciaries can limit liability—and insurance premiums. Nevin Adams and Fred Reish consider the options in a new podcast episode.
While many factors can come into play in triggering—or forestalling—retirement plan...
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Editor's Note: This is the fifteenth installment in a series concerning correcting plan loan failures.
Q. I am getting hung up on the old rules when only VCP could be used to correct loan failures and in order to do so there had to be employer action that caused the failure to repay the loan. Is...
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Noting that “converting subpar allegations into settlements has proven a lucrative endeavor—mostly for the lawyers bringing these lawsuits,” the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has weighed in on the surge in retirement plan fee litigation.
That was just one of the ways the Chamber (and its legal counsel...
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ASPPA is always providing information and insights that will be valuable to its members! Following is a summary of upcoming webcasts.
ASPPA Webcast: Participant Loan Issues
Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2021
2:00-2:50 p.m. ET
Speaker: James C. Paul, Shareholder, Employee Benefits Law Group PC...
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ASPPA traditionally offers access to a recording of a webcast (including both audio and visual portions of the presentation) approximately one week following the original live webcast presentation. These recordings are available for 1 year after the date of the original live webcast. Below is a...
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The fiduciaries of another billion-dollar 401(k) plan have found themselves in the cross-hairs of an excessive fee suit—and the fees for the managed accounts have been called out for special scrutiny.
Claiming that he (and other participants of the plan “suffered ongoing financial harm as a...
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One of the many consequences of the global pandemic is that there is a spotlight shining on the importance of virtual security. And that includes sharing personal protected information (PPI), argues a CPA firm.
In the pre-COVID world, says Cassell Plan Audits in its blog, many companies had...
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The Department of Labor reportedly is engaging in a letter-writing campaign urging retirement plan fiduciaries to recoup amounts held by former recordkeepers or paying agents that may have been overlooked during the transition of a service provider relationship.
According to an Aug. 13 blog post ...
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An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, it is said. The prescription, says a recent blog entry, is to avoid risk factors in the first place.
In its Fid Guru Blog, Euclid Specialty argues that even a diligent process for selecting a plan administrator and for monitoring the administrator...
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The plan is smaller than most targeted with such allegations—but the allegations are familiar.
The eight plaintiffs here (Coppel, Flores, Garcia, Martinez, Mitchell, Ortega, Uriostegui and Usselman—participants in or beneficiaries of the $310 million SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment 401(K) Plan,...
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Can a 401(k) account be accessed as restitution for embezzlement from the company that sponsors the 401(k)?
In the case at hand (United States v. Frank, 4th Cir., No. 20-6706, 8/10/21) 2007 to 2017, Jon Lawrence Frank embezzled over $19 million from his former employer, NCI Information Systems,...
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The risks entailed in fiduciary duty gave rise to fiduciary insurance. But what affects the premiums charged for that insurance? A recent report gives an inside look at what fiduciary insurers think about that.
In “What Drives Fiduciary Liability?” Aon reports on what 12 fiduciary insurance...
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Every plan has participants—and, sooner or later, will therefore have “ex” participants—and sometimes those participants go…missing. And that can be a real problem for retirement plan fiduciaries.
While most are likely aware of the fiduciary obligation to keep accurate records, many are less aware...
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Editor’s Note: This is the fourth in a four-part series concerning a recent ASPPA webinar by Kelsey Mayo, ASEA Director of Regulatory Policy and Partner at Poyner & Spruill LLP, in which she took a look at the basics about plan freezes and terminations in the context of current circumstances...
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An excessive fee suit that had been dismissed—and wound up triggering a sanction (and fine) against the plaintiffs’ counsel—has once again fallen short in its appeal.
The suit—which was dismissed last August—was actually two suits, brought by participants (Obeslo, Hall and Gorrell-Deyerle) in...
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While it may come as no surprise, new survey results show that auto-enrollment has been an important tool to help young savers get on the right track to saving for retirement early in their careers.
According to the latest quarterly Principal Retirement Security Survey, 84% of workers who were...
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Despite a concerted effort to press for a win in court—and despite a judge’s observation that he deemed “total victory improbable, and recovery on the scale suggested by Plaintiffs highly improbable”—an excessive fee suit has been settled.
This suit—filed way back in 2017—involves allegations by a...
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