Tag: Employee Retirement Income Security Act

A 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision reversed the company’s District Court win in a lawsuit alleging imprudence in managing company stock investments in one of its retirement plans.

Comparing Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) cases to trust law cases, a federal judge decided to side with "the great weight of authority in the federal courts holding actions under ERISA to remedy alleged violations of fiduciary duties are equitable in nature," so there is no right to a jury trial.

Plaintiffs' claims over retirement plan investment and administration fees against the University of Southern California may now proceed.

In addition, the agency is holding a three-day webcast series in March.

In addition, the company will select a non-proprietary target-date fund (TDF) for its 401(k) investment lineup and increase the company match contribution rate for three years.

The program pairs specialists with dedicated strategic account managers and brings access to a team of ERISA attorneys.

The complaint alleges that Stadion Money Management and Mutual of Omaha abused their managed account arrangement by putting their own interests ahead of participants’.

The Department of Labor's Employee Benefit Security Administration (EBSA) also alleged in a lawsuit that fiduciaries to two retirement plans failed to administer the plans, leaving participants unable to gain information about their funds or gain access to their plan accounts.

The question was included in its petition for writ of certiorari asking the Supreme Court to settle a circuit split about burden of proof in ERISA cases.

Practical answers to technical questions have been added to appropriate locations within ERISApedia.com's Qualified Plan eSource.

The appellate court found that the allegations showed only that Chevron could have chosen different vehicles for investment that performed better during the relevant period, or sought lower fees for administration of the fund, not that any breach of ERISA duties had occurred.

The question before the high court is, “Whether an agreement to arbitrate ‘all claims’ that an ERISA plan participant ‘may have’ against a plan fiduciary encompasses a breach-of-fiduciary-duty claim under ERISA § 502(a)(2).”

A lawsuit claims Atrium Health does not meet the definition of governmental entity under ERISA, so its retirement plans do not fall under ERISA's governmental plans exemption.

The DOL has issued an advisory opinion letter in response to a request by Retirement Clearinghouse (RCH), for the Department’s opinion on the status of certain parties as “fiduciaries” as a result of actions undertaken as part of RCH’s Auto-Portability Program.

The request comes in a notice of proposed exemption from prohibited transactions for Retirement Clearinghouse's auto-portability solution.

Putnam Investments has asked for a stay in a case accusing it of self-dealing in its 401(k) plan so it can petition the U.S. Supreme Court regarding whether a plaintiff or an accused fiduciary has the burden of proving whether or not an ERISA fiduciary breach caused a loss.

Finding "errors of law" in a district court's decision, the 1st Circuit remanded the duty of prudence claims for review.

In addition to self-dealing allegations, the complaint calls out Fidelity for not negotiating revenue sharing refunds for its 401(k) plan participants and not considering stable value options for its plan investment lineup, among other things.

Once a federal judge dismissed the breach of fiduciary duty claims, she found most defendants were not fiduciaries with respect to the remaining claim.

A Maryland business owner will serve one year and one day of imprisonment and pay more than $350,000 in restitution for violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.