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Update: Arbitration in ERISA Plans
Click here for a printer-friendly version. Six years ago, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held ERISA plan terms can limit participants to bringing claims only in arbitration, and on an individual (i.e., non-representative or class action) basis.Dorman v. Charles Schwab Corp., 934 F.3d 1107 (9th Cir. 2019). In an oft-criticized opinion, the court also appeared to hold that participants can seek monetary relief only to the extent impacting their own account, foreclosing individuals [...]
Legal Developments Impacting Retirement Plans 2025 Year-End Update
Click here for a printer-friendly version. In September 2025, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued final regulations regarding SECURE Act 2.0 catch-up contribution rule changes.90 Fed. Reg. 44,527 (Sept. 16, 2025). The final regulations confirm that Plans may optionally enforce the increased catch-up contribution limit for participants age 60–63, as a matter of plan design. The final regulations provided further detailed guidance on new Roth catch-up contribution requirements for higher-income earners (FICA wages of [...]
Legal Developments Impacting Health & Welfare Plans 2025 Year-End Update
Click here for a printer-friendly version. The Department of Labor (DOL), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the U.S. Treasury (the Departments) announced they would not enforce the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) regulations finalized in 2024 (including the new discriminatory factor, fiduciary certification, and meaningful benefit requirements).However, the MHPAEA itself and the original (2013) MHPAEA regulations remain in effect and continue to be enforced, including the NQTL comparative analysis [...]
Legal Developments Impacting Health & Welfare Plans 2024 Year-End Update
Click here for a printer-friendly version. HHS continues to assess penalties for HIPAA violations, including a $4.75 million settlement with a medical center over an employee’s sale of protected health information (PHI) to identity thieves. HHS also assessed penalties for failures to timely give individuals access to their health information. New HHS regulations strengthen the privacy of PHI relating to reproductive health care, such as by prohibiting disclosure of PHI to law enforcement investigating a [...]
Legal Developments Impacting Retirement Plans 2024 Year-End Update
Click here for a printer-friendly version. As discussed in our prior January 2024 bulletin, plaintiffs’ class action firms have taken aim at common and longstanding practices of 401(k) plans regarding the use of forfeitures to reduce employer contributions, with over two dozen lawsuits filed against large corporate plans in the last year alone. These cases are in their early stages and court rulings to date have been mixed, with courts granting defendants’ motions to dismiss [...]
Summary of SECURE Act 2.0 Guidance Released in 2023
Click here for a printer-friendly version. The SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (“SECURE Act 2.0”) was signed into law on December 29, 2022 as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023.Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, Pub. L. 117-328, 136 Stat. 4,459 (2022). SECURE Act 2.0 refers specifically to Division T of this session law. SECURE Act 2.0 builds on the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Act of 2019 (the “SECURE Act”) and aims [...]
Lawsuits and Proposed IRS Regulations Conflict on the Use of Forfeitures in Defined Contribution Plans
Click here for a printer-friendly version. For decades IRS regulations and guidance have allowed employers with qualified 401(k) plans wide discretion to decide how to use plan account forfeituresForfeitures may include, for example, non-vested employer contributions in a former employee’s 401(k) account which the employee forfeited after a termination of employment. —including paying plan expenses, reducing an employer’s future contributions, or re-allocating to other participants, in accordance with the plan terms.For example, the House Conference [...]
State PBM Legislation Impacting ERISA Self-Funded Group Health Plans
Click here for a printer-friendly version. State legislatures have increasingly regulated Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) in the wake of Rutledge v. Pharmaceutical Care Management Association,Rutledge v. Pharmaceutical Care Management Ass’n, 592 U.S. 80 (2020). a 2020 Supreme Court decision holding that ERISA did not prevent Arkansas from requiring PBMs to reimburse pharmacies at a rate equal to or greater than a pharmacy’s acquisition cost. More than half of the states have enacted laws regulating [...]
Legal Developments Impacting Retirement Plans 2023 Year-End Update
Click here for a printer-friendly version. Federal courts are conflicted on the elements necessary to prove that ERISA plan fees paid to a service provider are a prohibited transaction. Recent decisions from the Second and Ninth Circuits added to the circuit split, increasing the likelihood the Supreme Court will weigh in.Cunningham v. Cornell University, 86 F.4th 961 (2d Cir. 2023); Bugielski v. AT&T Services, Inc., 76 F.4th 894 (9th Cir. 2023). Regardless, plan fiduciaries [...]
Legal Developments Impacting Health & Welfare Plans 2023 Year-End Update
Click here for a printer-friendly version. A federal district court in Texas previously ruled that the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) lacked authority to determine which services are covered by the Affordable Care Act’s preventive care mandate, and this year the court invalidated all agency action (back to March 23, 2010, and going forward) to implement or enforce preventive care coverage requirements in response to an “A” or “B” rating by the USPSTF.Braidwood [...]