Earlier this year, the United States Department of Labor issued a proposed rule on environmental, social, corporate governance, or other similarly-oriented considerations (collectively, “ESG”) related to the investments in ERISA plans.  The Department appears to have issued the proposed rule out of a concern about the growing emphasis on ESG investing and the potential for…

Many of you may recall that last year we created an employer healthcare coalition and hosted a series of luncheons on various healthcare topics. Earlier this year before COVID, we had planned a meet and greet back in February to formally launch the coalition.  Then, the end of the world happened. We would like to…

This past week the United States Department of Labor issued a press release involving alleged fraud by a key employee that resulted in theft from her company and her company’s 401(k) plan. According to the DOL’s press release, the controller for a company in Kentucky allegedly created a scheme whereby she issued unauthorized checks made…

In a similar move as in previous years, the IRS has issued relief from certain Form 1094-C and 1095-C reporting requirements under the Affordable Care Act (the “ACA”) relating to employee health plans, as well as relief from certain reporting-related penalties. As a refresher, the ACA generally requires four forms to be produced each year,…

On September 4, 2020, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) published a proposed regulation addressing the proxy voting responsibilities of retirement plan fiduciaries and exercises of other shareholder rights.  The proposed rule would affect any employee benefit plan that owns equity securities that require voting, which can include defined benefit plans, defined contribution plans, and even…

If you only read this first paragraph, that is okay. One of the most common issues we face with DOL investigations of employer health plans involves mental health parity compliance.  For those of you who sponsor a qualified retirement plan like a 401(k) plan, you likely receive some kind of a compliance testing report each…