Littler Named “Law Firm of The Year” and Earns Tier 1 Rankings on U.S. News –...
(November 5, 2020) – Littler, the world’s largest employment and labor law practice representing management, has been named “Law Firm of the Year” for the third time in the category of Employment Law –...
View ArticlePBGC Finalizes its Rule Simplifying the Calculation of Withdrawal Liability...
On January 8, 2021, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) issued its final rule modifying the calculation of withdrawal liability by multiemployer pension plans. This final rule amends the...
View ArticleThe Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act Proposes a Bailout of Struggling...
House Education and Labor Chairman Bobby Scott (D-VA) recently introduced legislation that seeks to rescue multiemployer pension plans (MEPs) facing insolvency. Entitled the Emergency Pension Plan...
View ArticleWill Senators Keep America’s Promises To Pensioners?
Sarah Bryan Fask provides insight on multi-employer pension plans. DCReportView Article
View ArticleThe Butch Lewis Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act of 2021 Becomes Law
On March 11, 2021, President Biden signed into law the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which includes the Butch Lewis Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act of 2021. This law is designed to...
View ArticleDepartment of Labor Announces Non-Enforcement Policy and Intent to Revisit...
On March 10, 2021, the Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) announced that it will not enforce or otherwise pursue enforcement actions with respect to two recently...
View ArticlePension Insurer Preps Guidance to Stem Exodus From Failing Plans
Sarah Bryan Fask shares her insight about the future of pension plans for unionized employees.Bloomberg LawView Article (Subscription required.)
View ArticlePunching In: Marty Walsh Weighs His ‘Influence’ as DOL Secretary
Sarah Bryan Fask explains the future of multi-employer pension reforms.Bloomberg LawView Article (Subscription required.)
View ArticleDisability Benefits Policy Language Warrants Arbitrary and Capricious...
A federal court in New Jersey recently applied the arbitrary and capricious standard of review for a denial of benefits claim despite the enactment of an anti-discretionary statute in Minnesota, which...
View ArticleWhat Comes After 2051 Pension Relief Sunset? It Depends, Attorneys Say
Sarah Bryan Fask explains how the special financial assistance will affect union-brokered pensions.Bloomberg LawView (Subscription required.)
View ArticleAre ERISA Breach of Fiduciary Duty Claims Arbitrable?
Over the years, attempts to arbitrate breach of fiduciary duty claims under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) Section 502(a)(2) have had varying results.1 One court recently...
View ArticleColorado Court Decides Issue of First Impression Regarding ERISA Preemption...
The Colorado Court of Appeals recently decided an issue of first impression regarding the Employee Retirement Income Security Act’s (ERISA) preemptive power over Colorado’s divorce-revocation statute....
View ArticleSupreme Court Declines to Hear Appeal in ERISA Class Action Permitting...
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the Second Circuit’s decision in Laurent v. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, which held that retirees could receive money damages in the form of recalculated...
View ArticleAre ERISA breach of fiduciary duty claims arbitrable?
Pamela Reynolds’ article discusses whether employers can enforce arbitration of breach of fiduciary duty claims under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) Section 502(a)(2).Benefits...
View ArticlePension Insurer Rule Details Multiemployer Plan Financing (1)
Sarah Bryan Fask talks about the federal government’s temporary rescue of more than 200 union-brokered pension plans.Bloomberg LawView (Subscription required.)
View ArticleLittler Named “Law Firm of the Year” and Earns Tier 1 Rankings on U.S. News –...
(November 4, 2021) – Littler, the world’s largest employment and labor law practice representing management, has been named “Law Firm of the Year” in the category of Labor Law – Management on the 2022...
View ArticleSupreme Court Sends Case Involving ERISA Breach of Fiduciary Duty Pleading...
On Monday, January 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an opinion in a case of critical interest to employers offering 401(k) or other defined-contribution retirement plans. In Hughes v....
View ArticleSecond Circuit Finds No Successor Liability for ERISA Withdrawal Where...
On January 27, 2022, in New York State Teamsters Conference Pension and Retirement Fund v. C&S Wholesale Grocers, Inc., the Second Circuit joined the Third, Seventh, and Ninth Circuits in applying...
View ArticleDOL Issues Guidance on Use of Cryptocurrency in 401(k) Plans
On March 10, 2022, the Department of Labor issued guidance on the use of cryptocurrency in plans governed by ERISA. The announcement applies to cryptocurrencies as well as digital assets, which...
View ArticleCongress Considers Banning Discretionary Clauses in ERISA Plans
On May 12, 2022, the “Employee and Retiree Access to Justice Act” was introduced in the House of Representatives by Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA). Senator Tina Smith (D-MN) introduced a companion bill in the...
View ArticleAbortion Outlook Rapidly Changing in States
Anne Sanchez LaWer advises employers to evaluate the extent to which state laws restricting abortion may impact their healthcare plans, privacy practices, leave accommodations, company culture and...
View ArticleD.C. Circuit Holds Withdrawal Liability Interest Rate Must Reflect Plan’s...
On Friday, July 8, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued its decision in United Mine Workers of America 1974 Pension Plan v. Energy West Mining Company, joining the Sixth Circuit...
View ArticlePBGC Issues Proposed Rule on Withdrawal Liability Actuarial Interest Rate...
On October 14, 2022, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), the federal agency that insures and regulates private-sector defined benefit pension plans under Title IV of the Employee...
View ArticlePBGC Looks To Clarify Withdrawal Liability Methodology
Sarah Bryan Fask explains why attorneys are critical of Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.’s proposed rule to use interest rate assumptions to determine a withdrawing employer's liability to a...
View ArticleLittler Earns “Law Firm of the Year” and Receives Tier 1 Rankings on U.S....
(November 3, 2022) – Littler, the world’s largest employment and labor law practice representing management, has earned “Law Firm of the Year” status in the category of Employment Law – Management on...
View ArticleDOL Issues Final Rule for ERISA Fiduciaries Considering Socially Conscious...
Employers offering 401(k) and similar retirement plans should familiarize themselves with a new rule published by the Employee Benefits Security Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor, Prudence...
View ArticleFirst Circuit Creates New Fiduciary Duty Under ERISA for Insurers Accepting...
First Circuit held that an insurer has a fiduciary duty under ERISA to verify individual employee eligibility for group benefit plan coverage at or near the time of enrollment.Insurers can shift the...
View ArticleLong-Awaited Fall Regulatory Agenda Provides Glimpse of Administration’s...
Federal agencies released their regulatory agenda for the coming months.Final rules expected to be issued in 2023 include the NLRB’s on joint employment and revised election procedures; the DOL’s on...
View Article5 ERISA Cases To Keep An Eye On In 2023
Sarah Bryan Fask comments on the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.’s proposed rules that would govern interest rate assumptions for calculating withdrawal liability in a pension fund and how they will...
View ArticleProposed Overtime Rule Scheduled to Be Published in May
Shannon Meade examines the key labor and employment regulatory actions included in the Biden administration’s long-awaited Fall 2022 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions.SHRM...
View ArticleUpdate in ERISA Litigation Involving Breaches of Fiduciary Duty Claims
Several appellate courts over the past year have applied Supreme Court precedent to determine whether complaints properly allege a breach of fiduciary duty under ERISA to warrant relief.Trends useful...
View ArticleSeventh Circuit Case Confirms that “Full and Fair Review” of Disability...
A recent federal appeals court case clarifies that, under ERISA, the regulations governing disability plans’ claims review procedures apply to claims that predate the 2018 changes to the regulations....
View ArticleFederal Court Dismisses Case Alleging Breach of ERISA Fiduciary Duties in...
Fiduciaries of retirement plans continue to be plagued by class actions brought under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) challenging their fiduciary management of investment options...
View ArticleLittler Lightbulb – July Employment Appellate Roundup
This Littler Lightbulb highlights some of the more significant employment law developments at the U.S. Supreme Court and federal courts of appeal in the last month.At the Supreme Court
View ArticleFourth Circuit Establishes New Standards for Plaintiffs Seeking Unjust...
The Fourth Circuit weighed in on the complex area of equitable relief under ERISA § 502(a)(3), holding that recovery under an unjust enrichment theory may provide claimants with an alternate path to...
View ArticleMichigan Court Dismisses ERISA Class Action
Class action lawsuits continue to target ERISA fiduciaries for their decisions about investment options and fees.However, even class action complaints that seem supported by citations to comparator...
View ArticleLittler Recognized as “Law Firm of the Year” and Earns Tier 1 Rankings in the...
Littler, the world’s largest employment and labor law practice representing management, was named “Law Firm of the Year” for Labor Law - Management in the 14th edition of Best Law Firms®, ranked by...
View ArticleD.C. Circuit Breaks from Second Circuit, Finds Pension Fund May Retroactively...
On February 9, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued its decision in Trustees of IAM Nat'l Pension Fund v. M & K Emp. Sols., LLC, No. 22-7157 (D.C. Cir. Feb. 9, 2024),...
View ArticleSponsoring a Group Health Plan for Employees? What Employers Need to Know...
Employers sponsoring group health plans must understand and comply with new requirements imposed by the Consolidated Appropriations Act.On the plus side, the new compliance requirements can provide...
View ArticlePreliminary Injunction Against Illinois Equivalent Benefits Law for Temporary...
In November 2023, soon after Illinois Governor JB Pritzker signed amendments to the Illinois Day and Temporary Labor Services Act (the “Act”), several staffing agencies and associations sued for an...
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