Blog Posts: Benefits Law Update
Visit the Full BlogNamed a Top 10 Blog in Compensation and Benefits, Verrill's attorneys use the Benefits Law Update blog to provide timely updates and commentary on developments in law affecting employee benefit plans and executive compensation arrangements.
Cross-Plan Offsetting in Group Health Plans—The DOL Makes its Position Clear
Under Section 404 of ERISA, plan fiduciaries must act for the exclusive benefit of plan participants and beneficiaries and use plan assets only to provide benefits and defray reasonable expenses of administering the plan. In addition, Section 406 of ERISA prohibits a plan fiduciary from engaging in self-dealing. The...
Catch-Up Contributions: IRS Provides Relief from Roth Requirements of SECURE 2.0
On August 25, 2023, the IRS issued IRS Notice 2023-62 , providing much needed relief for employers who have been struggling to implement Section 603 of the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (“SECURE 2.0”), which requires high income employees to make all catch-up contributions to 401(k), 403(b), or governmental...
Alternatives for Sponsors of Defined Benefit Pension Plans
For decades, it was common for employers to maintain employer-funded defined benefit pension plans (“DB Plans” or “Plans”) to provide retirement benefits to their employees. In recent years, DB Plans have become increasingly expensive and difficult to administer due to funding, insurance premiums, and government filing requirements. As a...
New IRS Determination Letter Program for 403(b) and 401(a) Plans
On November 7, 2022, the IRS issued Revenue Procedure 2022-40 , which allows certain tax-exempt employers (such as schools, charities, and churches) to apply for IRS determination letters on their individually designed section 403(b) retirement plans (“403(b) plans”) in substantially the same manner as plan sponsors of individually designed...
IRS Announces New Pilot Program for Retirement Plan Audits
On June 3, 2022, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) announced a new pre-examination compliance pilot program beginning in June 2022. Under the pilot program, the IRS will notify a plan sponsor by letter that its retirement plan has been selected for examination and will provide the plan sponsor with...
Required Minimum Distributions and Missing Plan Participants
In January of 2021, we published two blog posts regarding Department of Labor (“DOL”) guidance on missing retirement plan participants. The first post describes DOL guidance on best practices for locating missing retirement plan participants. The second post describes the DOL’s Terminated Vested Participants Project (“TVPP”), which was initiated...
Recent Court Decisions Extend the Statute of Limitations for Breach of Fiduciary Duty Lawsuits under ERISA
ERISA Fiduciary Duties and Liability Under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”), a plan fiduciary must (i) act prudently, for the exclusive purposes of providing benefits to plan participants and defraying plan expenses, and in accordance with plan documents, and (ii) invest plan assets...
Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation 2021 Summer Client Advisory
Click here to view as a PDF. This Client Advisory summarizes developments in the law governing employee benefit plans prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic. We explain what these developments mean for plan sponsors and highlight the need to adopt plan amendments within limited time periods in order to fully...
Primer on Severance Plans Under ERISA and the Tax Code
Many employers maintain formal or informal severance policies or practices that they use sporadically. Other employers may implement a severance program for a limited period of time to reduce the number of employees overall or within a work classification or location. All employers should be mindful that these policies...
DOL Guidance on Missing Pension Plan Participants - Part II
On January 18, we published a blog post regarding new Department of Labor (“DOL”) guidance on missing plan participants. That post is available here , and describes the DOL’s guidance on Missing Participants - Best Practices for Pension Plans (“Best Practices”). This blog post addresses two other pieces of...
DOL Guidance on Missing Pension Plan Participants
The Department of Labor (“DOL”) has undertaken a nationwide compliance initiative to ensure that retirement plan participants receive the benefits that they were promised when they reach their retirement age. To that end, the DOL recently issued three pieces of guidance – (i) Missing Participants - Best Practices for...
Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation 2020 Year-End Client Advisory
Click here to view as a PDF . This Client Advisory highlights important developments in the law governing employee benefit plans over the past year. It offers insight into what these developments mean for employers and plan sponsors and previews developments we expect to see in 2021. The following...
ERISA and COBRA Implications for EAPs and Wellness Programs
There is a growing trend for employers to provide employee assistance programs (“EAPs”) and wellness programs for the benefit of their employees. Typically, the employer pays for benefits under these programs out of its general assets. These programs are designed to reduce health care costs, reduce absences from work...
IRS Issues New Guidance on CARES Act Retirement Plan Distributions and Loans
The IRS recently issued Notice 2020-50 , which expands relief provided for retirement plan distributions and loans under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). Distributions Under the CARES Act, a retirement plan may allow participants affected by COVID-19 to elect cash distributions in an amount...
IRS Relaxes Rules for Cafeteria Plans and Clarifies Relief for High Deductible Health Plans
In response to the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19), earlier this week the IRS issued two notices allowing certain changes to cafeteria plans. Notice 2020-33 increases the limit on unused amounts remaining at the end of the plan year in a health flexible spending arrangement (FSA) that may be...
December 2019 Client Advisory
This Client Advisory, originally distributed in December 2019, highlights important developments in the law governing employee benefit plans and executive compensation over the past year. It offers insight into what these developments mean for employers and plan sponsors and previews developments we expect to see in 2020. The following...
Same-Sex Marriage and Your Employee Benefit Plans
Maine has now officially joined nine other states in allowing same-sex marriage. The new Maine law ("An Act to Allow Marriage Licenses for Same-sex Couples and Protect Religious Freedom") was approved by a referendum election on November 6, 2012, and it became effective December 29, 2012. Some municipal offices...
Working with the New Annual Limit on FSA Contributions
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act modified the rules relating to cafeteria plans to impose a new $2,500 annual limit on the amount that an employee may elect to contribute to a health flexible spending account ("health FSA"), effective January 1, 2013. The modification came in the form...
