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Retirement plan fiduciaries have a duty to monitor investment options continuously and remove all imprudent ones, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) recently ruled in a much-anticipated decision. In the opinion, the Court made it clear the fiduciaries can’t ignore imprudent investment options in 401(k)s or other retirement plans even if other, prudent choices are […]
The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) fiduciary rule was laid to rest June 21 when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit issued a final mandate to vacate the regulation aimed at expanding the definition of an investment advice fiduciary.
When H. G. Wells wrote The Time Machine in 1895, he struck a chord with mankind’s dream of going back in time. Interestingly, some employees may have the same dream regarding health and welfare benefits, in the form of retroactive elections.
A federal appeals court recently confirmed that the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) prohibition of lifetime benefits maximums does not apply to retiree-only group health plans. However, the court ruled, the plan had failed to disclose this adequately as required by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). The case is King v. Blue Cross & […]
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) on February 9 filed a notice delaying the April 10 applicability date of its rule broadening the definition of a fiduciary. The move was expected after President Donald Trump on February 3 signed a memorandum requesting the agency to postpone and re-examine the rule on investment advice.
An appeals court decision coming on the heels of a recent Supreme Court stripping the presumption of prudence for fiduciaries may raise the stakes even higher for plan sponsors. A panel of judges in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals required that fiduciaries make a decision about company stock in their retirement plan based […]
While most retirement plan sponsors and their vendors think being deemed a plan fiduciary is an “all-or-nothing” proposition, it is in fact becoming a growing continuum of service-provider job titles and responsibilities, one industry expert suggests. For example, a survey of 100 randomly selected, non-client plan sponsors conducted by retirement planning and wealth management firm […]
Fiduciaries of 401(k) plans were reminded by a recent court decision that it’s best not to accept financial consultants’ investment advice for a retirement plan’s assets without careful scrutiny. At the same time the case, which raised other issues important to managing defined contribution plans, resulted in several rulings in the plan sponsor’s favor. Facts […]