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516 Matching News Items
1.
ERIC Letter to IRS: Recommendations for Inclusion on 2024-2025 Priority Guidance Plan (PDF)
The ERISA Industry Committee [ERIC]
May 30, 2024
The ERISA Industry Committee [ERIC]
May 30, 2024
Health Issues include: [1] Proposed Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder parity regulations; [2] No Surprises Act (NSA) implementation; [3] Electronic delivery rules and other guidance for providing applicable notices and making participant elections; [4] Streamlining employer reporting requirements under the ACA; [5] High-Deductible Health Plans (HDHPs) and Health Savings Accounts (HSA) modernization.
Retirement and Compensation Issues include: [1] Matching contributions for student loan payments and other account contributions; [2] Catch-up contributions; [3] Clarify the automatic enrollment mandate exemption for existing plans; [4] De minimis financial incentives; [5] Overpayments and self-correction; [6] Optional Roth match; [7] Notice and disclosure; [8] Missing participants, including guidance on uncashed checks.
2.
ERIC Comment Letter to New York Department of Financial Services on Proposed Rules for PBMs (PDF)
The ERISA Industry Committee [ERIC]
May 28, 2024
The ERISA Industry Committee [ERIC]
May 28, 2024
"ERIC commends the Department for ... removing problematic provisions that would have restricted employer plan design and administration; and establishing requirements for PBMs to track and report increased service costs stemming from state laws and regulations.... ERIC strongly encourages the Department to include an explicit exemption for ERISA self-insured health benefit plans and the PBMs that administer them when doing so on their behalf."
3.
ERIC Comment Letter to EBSA Responding to SECURE 2.0 RFI on Effectiveness of Reporting and Disclosure Requirements (PDF)
The ERISA Industry Committee [ERIC]
May 22, 2024
The ERISA Industry Committee [ERIC]
May 22, 2024
"Disclosure changes should focus on simplification and actionability.... The agencies should recommend fully authorizing universal default electronic delivery.... Plans should not be required to track engagement with electronically-delivered documents.... Reporting to the agencies should be tailored."
4.
Coalition Files Amicus Brief Supporting U.S. Supreme Court Review of Ninth Circuit Decision that Threatens to Explode Frivolous Litigation
The ERISA Industry Committee [ERIC]
May 12, 2024
The ERISA Industry Committee [ERIC]
May 12, 2024
"The amicus brief filed [by the coalition] in support of AT&T argues that: [1] The Ninth Circuit's decision renders standard and ubiquitous contracts ... in American retirement plans presumptively unlawful. [2] The Ninth Circuit's decision will open the floodgates to speculative claims regarding routine matters, multiplying frivolous litigation and costing employees and employers. [3] Allowing claims that all re-negotiations of service provider agreements are prohibited transactions unless proven otherwise will have far-reaching negative consequences for plan sponsors, fiduciaries, and participants." Bugielski v. AT&T Servs., Inc., No. 21-56196 (9th Cir. Nov. 8, 2023; cert pet. filed Apr. 5, 2024)]
5.
ERIC Comment Letter to EBSA on Proposed Regs for Automatic Portability Transactions (PDF)
The ERISA Industry Committee [ERIC]
Mar. 28, 2024
The ERISA Industry Committee [ERIC]
Mar. 28, 2024
"[SECURE 2.0] allows -- but does not require -- defined contribution plan sponsors to offer automatic portability features. In implementing this provision, DOL should not impose burdens on plan sponsors or service providers that will unduly discourage participation in automatic portability arrangements. In certain areas of the Proposal, DOL has introduced complexity and administrative costs that are not required by the statute. Those provisions of the NPRM should be eliminated from any final rule."
6.
Coalition Amicus Brief Supporting District Court Jury Instructions as to Prudence Standard in Yale Fiduciary Breach Case (PDF)
The ERISA Industry Committee [ERIC]
Mar. 25, 2024
The ERISA Industry Committee [ERIC]
Mar. 25, 2024
"The plaintiffs (and the [DOL]) ... [argue] that the defendants should have been required to prove that a prudent fiduciary 'would have' (not 'could have') made the exact same decisions. But that standard finds no foothold in ERISA. Assuming a burden-shifting framework for loss-causation, the standard applied by the district court is sensible: if the decisions could have been reached through a prudent process, then the defendants' lack of a prudent process was a harmless error, rather than the cause of any loss." [Vellali v. Yale Univ., No. 16-1345 (D. Conn. Jun. 28, 2023; on appeal to 2d Cir. No. 23-1082)]
7.
ERIC Response to House Committee on Education and the Workforce RFI on Ways to Strengthen ERISA (PDF)
The ERISA Industry Committee [ERIC]
Mar. 15, 2024
The ERISA Industry Committee [ERIC]
Mar. 15, 2024
"ERIC continues to support congressional efforts to designate that vendors involved in critical plan design and administration decisions, including an entity providing pharmacy benefit management services, are fiduciaries within the meaning of section 3(21) of ERISA with respect to a group health plan or group health insurance coverage.... Transparency is needed regarding PBM compensation sources.... There are multiple frameworks and standards that health plan sponsors and ERISA fiduciaries already comply with and use to protect sensitive plan and participant data.... The introduction of new or broadened requirements under ERISA would be redundant and would contribute to further complexity and administrative costs."
8.
ERIC Comment Letter to IRS on Notice 2024-2: Miscellaneous Changes Under SECURE 2.0 (PDF)
The ERISA Industry Committee [ERIC]
Feb. 20, 2024
The ERISA Industry Committee [ERIC]
Feb. 20, 2024
"While ERIC strongly supported SECURE 2.0, we fully recognized that technical implementation would be challenging. The Notice issues important clarifications and states IRS' interpretation of some legislative sections that are vague or not reticulated. ERIC agrees with most of the guidance provided in the Notice, but we do provide comment on several of its sections."
9.
ERIC Comment Letter to Congressional Working Group on Paid Family and Medical Leave Standards (PDF)
The ERISA Industry Committee [ERIC]
Jan. 31, 2024
The ERISA Industry Committee [ERIC]
Jan. 31, 2024
10 pages. "Congress should address the administrative complexity of these important benefits across existing state laws, recognize the advantages that private benefit sources offer, and provide a pathway for uniform, national paid family and medical leave standards. ERIC therefore recommends that Congress explore [1] a federal safe harbor providing relief from the state patchwork for employers that offer premium paid family and medical leave benefits, and [2] a federal effort to harmonize national paid leave standards and incentivize much-needed reforms by existing state programs."
10.
ERIC Comment Letter to IRS Requesting Transitional Relief for LTPT Rules (PDF)
The ERISA Industry Committee [ERIC]
Jan. 26, 2024
The ERISA Industry Committee [ERIC]
Jan. 26, 2024
"While many of the rules in the Proposed Regulation are straightforward and well-explained, there are certain complexities that may require a longer implementation period.... [ERIC asks] for a good faith compliance standard with respect to plan years that began January 1, 2024."
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