A number of recent cases have addressed the issue of which participants have “standing” to bring an ERISA fiduciary action against plan fiduciaries. The cases generally focus on the issue of whether the participant-plaintiffs have a “concrete stake” in the dispute. In what follows, we discuss two recent cases involving participant-plaintiffs in defined contribution plans…Read More
On May 5, 2022, Senator Tuberville (R-AL) introduced the “Financial Freedom Act of 2022.” The bill would push back on recent positions the Department of Labor has taken with respect to, e.g., “climate related financial risk,” private equity, and cryptocurrency investments, particularly in participant directed defined contribution plans.
On January 8, 2022, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California granted defendant plan fiduciaries’ motion to dismiss in Anderson v. Intel, a case involving a challenge to Intel’s inclusion of non-traditional assets (including hedge funds, private equity, and commodities) in Intel’s 401(k) plan default target date fund (TDF). Plaintiffs argued…Read More
The complaint alleges that defendant fiduciaries breached their duties of prudence and loyalty under ERISA.
Recent IRS Notice 2021-48 details guidance on elections available to sponsors with consideration of changes made by the American Rescue Plan Act (ARP).
A recent Executive Order issued by President Biden on Climate-Related Financial Risk proposes repeal of previous administration’s regulation.
A decision is made in Bartnett v. Abbott Laboratories, dismissing plaintiff’s claims against defendant sponsor fiduciaries in a case involving the theft of $245,000 in plaintiff’s Abbott retirement plan account.
We consider briefly the treatment in Khan v. Pentegra of two issues: (1) who is the responsible fiduciary? and (2) for fee comparison purposes, what plans are comparable to a MEP?
For sponsor fiduciaries, a big question for 2021 will be: how will DOL’s policy with respect to fiduciary advice affect the plan, the sponsor, and the plan’s service providers?
Multiple employer plans (MEPs) are emerging as a provider-based alternative to single employer 401(k) plans, particularly for smaller employers. It seems likely that, as these MEPs accumulate assets, they will begin to be the target of the same sort of fiduciary litigation that has afflicted the single employer 401(k) plan community. In this introductory article…Read More