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Defined Contribution Retirement Plan Senior Administrator
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282 Matching News Items
1.
Church Plan Status: Employee Benefit Plan Administration for Senior Living Facilities Associated with Faith-Based Organizations
McGuireWoods
May 23, 2024
McGuireWoods
May 23, 2024
"This alert provides a high-level overview as to the scope of ERISA's legal requirements and the church plan exemption and discusses certain considerations faith-based organizations may take into account when determining whether to 'opt-in' to ERISA's regime and maintain an Electing Church Plan."
2.
Do You Have Business Associate Agreements with Every Required Party?
McGuireWoods
May 14, 2024
McGuireWoods
May 14, 2024
"It is critical for all entities who create, receive, maintain or transmit PHI to ensure they have [business associate agreements (BAAs)] in place. [Covered entities (CEs)] must ensure they have BAAs with all of their [business associates (BAs)]; BAs must ensure they have BAAs with CE customers and BA subcontractors; subcontractors also need to ensure they have BAAs in place with their BA customers (often known as sub-BAAs). All parties need to ensure their BAAs comply with the statutory requirements, at a minimum."
3.
A New Frontier for ERISA Fee Suits: Group Health Plans
McGuireWoods
Mar. 11, 2024
McGuireWoods
Mar. 11, 2024
"Because fiduciaries are now required to have increased access to cost and pricing information of underlying plan benefits, considering how to use data to help evaluate and control plan costs should be top of mind for ERISA group health plan fiduciaries. Identifying the responsible fiduciaries for this function is critical as ERISA plaintiffs' firms begin using the same or similar data to support claims regarding excessive fees paid by group health plans." [Lewandowski v. Johnson & Johnson, No. 24-0671 (D.N.J. complaint filed Feb. 5, 2024)]
4.
Lessons from a Successful ERISA Defense Against Participant Challenge to Target-Date Fund Investments
McGuireWoods
Mar. 7, 2024
McGuireWoods
Mar. 7, 2024
"[T]he defendants demonstrated that flexPATH recommended its own TDFs only after performing an exhaustive analysis of several alternative investments ... [T]he court rejected plaintiffs' contentions that Wood Group ... needed to document the justifications for engaging flexPATH in committee meeting minutes.... These rulings underscore the importance of not just having prudent processes, but also considering how those processes are documented." [Lauderdale v. NFP Corp., No. 21-0301 (N.D. Calif. Feb. 23, 2024)]
5.
OCR Continues Holding Healthcare Entities Accountable for Protected Health Information Breaches
McGuireWoods
Feb. 20, 2024
McGuireWoods
Feb. 20, 2024
"HHS released voluntary cybersecurity performance goals catered to the healthcare and public health sectors. In addition, healthcare organizations -- no matter how big or small -- can access helpful guidance through HHS' and the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency's joint cybersecurity toolkit. With these resources available, if healthcare entities become victims of a breach of ePHI without having adequate security measures in place, they may face an OCR investigation and similar penalties or enforcement actions."
6.
Chicago's New Paid Leave and Paid Sick and Safe Leave Ordinance: What Employers Should Know
McGuireWoods
Nov. 21, 2023
McGuireWoods
Nov. 21, 2023
"Employees who accrue leave time must be permitted to carry over up to 16 hours of unused general paid leave and 80 hours of unused sick and safe leave into the following year.... [A]ny unused general paid leave must be paid out upon separation or when an employee is transferred outside the city of Chicago, while unused sick and safe leave need not be paid out."
7.
New York City Safe and Sick Time Act Regs Take Effect
McGuireWoods
Oct. 24, 2023
McGuireWoods
Oct. 24, 2023
"NYC's Department of Consumer and Worker Protection promulgated new rules to clarify certain aspects of the ESSTA.... [1] Covered employees, accrual and usage ... [2] Notice and documentation ... [3] Notice of accrual and use on pay statements ... [4] Pay provisions ... [5] Sale of business ... [6] Penalties."
8.
District Court Acknowledges the 'Fiduciary Exception's' Applicability to ERISA Communications -- with a Twist
McGuireWoods
July 5, 2023
McGuireWoods
July 5, 2023
"[D]efendant's former Chief Digital Officer sued for severance benefits after he was terminated. Not surprisingly, he pointed to the fiduciary exception that generally applies in ERISA cases. But the court carefully analyzed the severance plan, and concluded that ... the plan's status as a 'top-hat plan' meant that under ERISA the fiduciary exception did not apply." [Kramer v. American Electric Power Executive Severance Plan, No. 21-5501 (S.D. Ohio Apr. 13, 2023)]
9.
IRS Issues Interim Guidance Under Expanded EPCRS
McGuireWoods
June 9, 2023
McGuireWoods
June 9, 2023
"[A] plan sponsor that uses self-correction should retain documents that substantiate that correction so the sponsor can produce them in the event of a plan audit. Proper substantiation includes documents that: [1] identify the failure, the years of occurrence, the number of employees affected and the date the failure was discovered; [2] both explain how the failure occurred and demonstrate those practices and procedures in effect at the time of the failure that were designed to promote and facilitate compliance; [3] identify and substantiate the correction method applied and the date the correction was completed; and [4] identify any changes made to the practices and procedures to prevent recurrence of the failure."
10.
U.S. House and Senate Committees Move Legislation to Reform Pharmacy Benefit Managers
McGuireWoods
May 24, 2023
McGuireWoods
May 24, 2023
"Both the House and Senate are considering multiple bipartisan bills concerning pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), meaning action is likely this year. However, the timeline and path forward remain unclear, since the two bodies have not yet coordinated activity."
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