Articles Discussing 401(k) Plans.

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 and participant fees. A recent federal court decision, however, shows that fiduciaries of ERISA retirement plans may be able to attack and

Employers that provide 401(k) plans on documents that have been “pre-approved” by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) beware: there is yet another annual notice requirement that may need to be added to your compliance list.

Employees, especially those far from retirement, are sometimes hesitant to put money into their employer’s 401(k) plan, knowing that their money won’t be available to them if unexpected expenses arise. Congress and the Biden administration, recognizing the long-term benefit of incentivizing retirement savings, included two new means for plan participants

On December 29, 2022, President Biden signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, and Division T of the Act contains legislation dubbed the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (SECURE 2.0).  SECURE 2.0 contains an important provision regarding the eligibility of part-time employees to participate in an employer’s 401(k) plan or ERISA-governed

We recently summarized the regulatory back and forth of the past few years relating to environmental, social, and corporate governance (“ESG”) factors and their impact on ERISA retirement plans and the fiduciaries that oversee them. 

As expected, the Biden administration released a proposed rule last year that re-opened the door

A New York district court recently summarily dismissed, with prejudice, a 401(k) plan participant’s putative class action complaint alleging breaches of fiduciary duty.  Falberg v. Goldman Sachs Grp., Inc., No. 19-cv-9910, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 167064 (S.D.N.Y. Sep. 14, 2022).  The Plaintiff alleged that the Plan fiduciary-Defendants breached their

For the many employers that use a pre-approved 401(k) plan (or another type of defined contribution plan), the deadline to execute a restatement of the plan was July 31, 2022.  An employer that missed the deadline will need to (i) review whether a correction will be required to maintain the

Just over a month ago, we wrote about the Department of Labor’s guidance on cryptocurrency as a 401(k) investment option, and the landscape has already shifted multiple times.

Fidelity Investments made news on April 26 when it announced its new cryptocurrency-based investment option for 401(k) plans and other investment vehicles. 

It started sometime last year and, in hindsight, was inevitable.  Clients with 401(k) plans and a crypto-savvy employee population began asking whether they could offer cryptocurrency as a plan investment option.  In the 401(k) world, where even a self-directed brokerage window with built-in investment limitations can be too risky, the

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 include “tokens,” “coins,” “crypto assets” and any derivates thereof.

Hot button ERISA fiduciary issues remain a focus for investment committees of 401(k) plans in 2022.  From “excessive” fee litigation – including litigation over the duty to monitor the fees charged by various mutual funds made available to plan participants (the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed this duty in January 2022)

In Announcement 2020-7, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced employers’ deadline by which to adopt new plan documents related to Notice 2017-37. The new announcement informs employers that maintain defined contribution plans (e.g., 401(k) plans, profit-sharing plans, and money purchase plans) through the adoption of IRS pre-approved plan documents that

For a host of legal and practical reasons, the only feasible alternative for disposing of the accounts of missing participants in a terminating 401(k) or other defined contribution retirement plan qualified only in Puerto Rico (commonly known as a “P.R.-only plan”) is, after making reasonable efforts to locate the missing

A class action alleging that BlackRock entities favored their own proprietary funds when selecting investment options for BlackRock’s 401(k) Plan is headed for trial after Judge Haywood S. Gilliam, Jr. denied both parties’ motions for summary judgment on January 12, 2021. Baird v. BlackRock Inst’l. Trust Co., No. 17-1892 (N.D.

Susan Chambers, a partner in the Tax Practice Group in the New Orleans office, and Linda Bounds Keng, a partner in the firm’s Tax Practice Group in the Jackson office, authored the chapter titled “Defined Contribution Plans, Section 401(k) Plans: Tax Aspects” in the Bloomberg Law Benefits Guide.