On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, overturning Roe v. Wade, abolishing the federal standard protecting the right to abortion. In the immediate aftermath of Dobbs, many states have raced to pass more restrictive laws against abortions, including some near-total bans. Several states
By Richard G. Schwartz and Nicholas J. Waddles
Seyfarth Synopsis: The SECURE Act—just signed into law late last week—includes probably the most comprehensive revisions to the law governing employer-sponsored retirement plans since the Pension Protection Act of 2006. Many of the provisions will not be effective until after 2020, but some provisions go into effect
By Sarah Touzalin and Mark Casciari
Seyfarth Synopsis: Administrators of ERISA plans frequently receive requests from participants, beneficiaries, and their representatives for plan-related documents. A recent decision from the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit supports providing only those documents that fall under a narrow reading of ERISA Section 104(b)(4). Over-production could serve
By Ryan Tzeng, Jessica Stricklin, and Alan Cabral
Seyfarth Synopsis: The First Circuit reversed a district court’s ruling holding two Sun Capital private equity (PE) funds responsible for the withdrawal liability incurred by a bankrupt portfolio company. The Circuit Court found that because the two PE funds were not acting in partnership
By Sarah Touzalin and Richard G. Schwartz
Seyfarth Synopsis: Many of the limitations that apply to tax-qualified plans, including 401(k) plans, are subject to cost-of-living increases. The IRS just announced the 2020 limits. 401(k) plan contribution limits are increasing, so check your elections starting in 2020. Employers maintaining tax-qualified retirement plans will need to make
By Manleen Singh and Mark Casciari
Seyfarth Synopsis: Two new Executive Orders and a corresponding decision in the Supreme Court effectively limit how agencies can utilize guidance against private parties—the agency must rely only on guidance that is fully consistent with the governing statute.
Employee benefit lawyers, including employee benefit litigators, have historically been
By Christina Cerasale, Kelly Rourke, and Richard G. Schwartz
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Department of Labor (“DOL”) just issued proposed rule changes governing the disclosure of ERISA-required notices via an electronic format (e.g., emails, intranet sites, etc.). These proposed rules update final regulations issued by the DOL in 2002, which given the pace at
By Diane Dygert and Richard Schwartz
Seyfarth Synopsis: The IRS recently issued somewhat helpful guidance to plan administrators on what to do about the constant problem of uncashed benefit checks from qualified retirement plans. The initial excitement upon hearing the news, however, was quickly met with disappointment as the realization set in that the
By: Jim Goodfellow and Mark Casciari
Seyfarth Synopsis: The U.S. Department of Labor has recently issued its new regulation expanding the definition of fiduciary under ERISA, but there are a number of lawsuits challenging the authority of the DOL to issue the regulation — stay tuned to see how the DOL fares in the courts.
By Ada W. Dolph and Justin T. Curley
With President Obama’s recent nomination of Judge Merrick B. Garland of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to the U.S. Supreme Court, we thought our loyal readers would be interested to learn a little about Judge Garland’s ERISA jurisprudence while on the D.C. Circuit.