Compliance

In the final regulations, the agency addressed commenters’ concerns that the definitions would preclude them from using forfeiture accounts to fund the contributions.

General Treasurer Seth Magaziner announced that he will seek legislation in the 2019 General Assembly session that would require pension plans managed by religious organizations in Rhode Island to send regular updates on the financial health of the pensions to their plan participants.

Commenters about the Department of Labor’s regulation say it could result in state restrictions, ratings that will make costs unequal and may provide no inclusion for all small businesses that could benefit from it.

The dispositive question is not whether the claimants were employees but whether, considering them as employees, they were eligible to participate in an ERISA plan according to the specific terms of the plan under consideration.

The SEC recognizes that, "the American economy is rapidly evolving, including through the development of both new compensatory instruments and novel worker relationships, often referred to as the ‘gig economy.’” 

A package of bills sponsored by four U.S. Senators would also increase access to workplace retirement savings accounts and help workers who already have retirement accounts save more.

The SEC's complaint alleges that the former executive led a scheme to add secret commissions to securities trades performed for at least six clients of State Street's transition management business, which helps institutional clients move their investments between asset managers or otherwise restructure large investment portfolios.

The text of the decision includes lengthy discussion of all 14 counts of ERISA fiduciary breaches, and why each is capable of surviving the defendant’s motions to dismiss.

A federal judge denied dismissal of plaintiffs’ allegations that a prudent fiduciary would have chosen one—rather than two—recordkeepers; that a prudent fiduciary in like circumstances would have solicited competitive bids; and a claim regarding recordkeeping fees.

The decision points to mailings and various other disclosures sent by Checksmart to the defendant over the years leading up to this litigation as reasons for applying ERISA’s shorter, three-year statute of limitations period.

The committee was told that benefit cuts are not the answer and was urged to reform withdrawal liability rules.

Among the bills approved by the House Ways and Means Committee is one that would qualify significantly more health treatments, services and over-the-counter drugs for HSA spending.

Navnoor Kang allegedly used his position to direct up to $2.5 billion in state business to registered representatives at two different broker/dealers.

A new law would raise the contribution limit for SIMPLE plans from $12,500 to $15,500 for the smallest businesses and give businesses with 26 to 100 employees the option of the higher limits.

Since the Supreme Court decision about the definition of church plan under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, the Internal Revenue Service has issued several private letter rulings concerning entities’ church plan status, including an organization with a 403(b) plan.

Plans which permit non-safe harbor hardship distributions could theoretically approve a participant’s hardship distribution request for the repayment of student loans, but those relying on the safe harbor cannot.

The bill establishes steps retirement plan sponsors can take to avoid violations of RMD and ERISA rules, among other things.

Commenting on the decision, Segal Consulting says it is “consistent with every other decision handed down in similar cases except for one,” the Southern District of New York Court’s decision in The New York Times Company v. Newspaper and Mail Deliverers’-Publishers’ Pension Fund, which is being appealed.

Ruling in favor of a detailed motion to dismiss filed by defendants, the court cites a long list of precedent-setting cases, including the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2014 decision in Fifth Third v. Dudenhoeffer.

The new law extends the time a participant has to repay loans from 60 days after an offset to the date their tax return is due.