The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently released a report on crypto assets in 401(k) plans. The GAO found that the lack of federal oversight and data collected on these assets could leave workers solely responsible for monitoring their crypto investments. According to the GAO, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has limited data concerning crypto assets in 401(k) plans. However, the GAO’s Read More

Benefits attorneys should be mindful of three appellate arguments that were scheduled for December 2024. U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Arguments in Tennessee Gender-Affirming Care for Minors Case In United States v. Skrmetti et al., case number 23-477, the Supreme Court will consider whether the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause applies to access to gender-affirming care for minors in Tennessee. The federal Read More

Kimberly-Clark has reached a $2.25 million settlement with participants and beneficiaries of the company’s 401(k) plan in an ERISA suit involving excessive fees. Two former Kimberly-Clark employees, the named class members in the suit, asked a Texas federal court to preliminarily approve the settlement agreement to end the case, which has been pending for three years. The case is Seidner et al. v. Kimberly-Clark Read More

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has vacated a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decision that forced Elon Musk to delete a 2018 anti-union tweet. The NLRB found that Musk’s tweet, which focused on the potentially negative consequences of Tesla workers unionizing, was an unlawful threat under Section 8(c) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). A three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit upheld Read More

In Muldrow v. St. Louis, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a transferred employee must prove “some harm” regarding an identifiable term or condition of employment to maintain a discrimination claim under Title VII. This standard of proof is different and lower than some circuit courts of appeal have required in the past. Therefore, Muldrow will significantly influence future discrimination cases under Title VII in Read More

The Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has announced that it is collecting voluntary data from retirement plan administrators to populate its new Retirement Savings Lost and Found database. Section 303 of the SECURE 2.0 Act directs DOL to consult with the Department of Treasury to establish this database by December 29, 2024. The database will consist of an online Read More

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently issued Notice 2024-80, which makes adjustments to the annual contribution limits for qualified defined contribution plans and individual retirement accounts (IRAs) for the 2025 tax year. Qualified Defined Contribution Plans The annual contribution limit for workers participating in qualified defined contribution plans, which include 401(k), 403(b), and most 457 plans, Read More

Health plans charging so-called “tobacco surcharges” to increase health insurance premiums for smokers have increasingly come under fire through a series of class action lawsuits alleging violations of the Employment Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). The lawsuits, which are currently pending in federal district courts in Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and other states, claim that ERISA Read More

The impending transition from the Biden administration to the Trump administration will undoubtedly affect all facets of American life. However, the shift, along with Republican control of the Senate and potentially the House, is likely to result in major changes for employer-sponsored health and welfare plans. The Affordable Care Act First, the Biden administration worked to maintain and strengthen the Read More

Connecticut Attorney General William Tong has announced settlement agreements with Heritage Pharmaceuticals and Apotex Corp. that total $49.1 million in pending multistate litigation over unlawfully inflated drug prices. Tong is the lead attorney for most of the plaintiffs, who come from all 50 states and U.S. territories. The lawsuits target 30 corporate defendants and 25 executives for their alleged participation Read More