Employee benefits are an important part of every employees' total compensation package. The continuously evolving landscape in the areas of health care reform, retirement plan design, and executive compensation makes it difficult for employee benefits professionals to keep up with relevant developments. The employee benefits attorneys at Stinson Leonard Street provide human resources professionals, plan fiduciaries, actuaries, accountants, and others in the industry with practical and cost-effective assistance as they navigate through the complex laws, regulations and guidance that govern employee benefits plans. This blog highlights key developments in the employee benefits field and items of interest to our clients. Our Bloggers →
Fiduciary Guidance, Retirement Plans The Department of Labor (DOL) recently entered into an agreement with GreatBanc Trust Company settling claims relating to its service as trustee of an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) holding stock of a private company. The DOL had claimed that the stock of the company had been overvalued in a sale transaction....
Retirement Plans [This article also appears in our Employment and Labor Law/Employee Benefits Executive Briefing: May 2014.] Employers have been considering the impact on benefit programs, including the qualified retirement plans, of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision recognizing the validity of same sex marriages. In September,...
Deferred Compensation and 409A, ERISA and Other Benefits Litigation Some months ago I blogged about an Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals decision involving high ranking executives participating in a company’s long term incentive plan where the executives won their suit under the plan, at least in part, because the employer had not properly followed the plan’s claims procedure. By...
Health Plan, Welfare Plans Much has been written about the impact of the Supreme Court’s decision last term declaring unconstitutional the provision of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) that required federal law not to recognize same sex marriages. Since then, more states have recognized same sex marriages either by court order or...
ERISA and Other Benefits Litigation Recently, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit released an opinion which highlights the importance of ensuring ERISA plan documents grant plan administrators the discretion to construe and interpret the terms of the plan. In Hall v. Metro. Life Ins. Co., the Appeals Court dealt with a case in...
ERISA and Other Benefits Litigation, Health Care Reform, Health Plan A recent decision of the federal district court for the southern district of Ohio raises interesting questions under Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) that might also affect employer liability under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The case involved a challenge by a former employee who was...
Retirement Plans Sponsors of qualified retirement plans know that, generally speaking, plan benefits cannot be taken from a participant through legal process or otherwise be assigned to anyone other than the participant. There is an exception for payments in connection with a divorce under a qualified domestic relations order or QDRO....
IRAs I blogged recently about a tax court case in which a tax attorney failed to follow the strict rules for IRA rollovers and wound up with a large tax bill. I made the point in the blog that the position taken by the tax attorney was supported by an IRS publication. I also blogged on the IRS’s later announcement that...
Retirement Plans The IRS and Department of Labor issue a number of publications on different topics, including 401(k) plans. The IRS has posted on its website a couple of jointly issued publications directed at small employers who sponsor or are considering sponsoring 401(k) plans. The publications are “401(k) Plans for Small...
Compensation Questions, Payroll I blogged about the Quality Stores decision which at the district court and court of appeals levels held that certain severance payments were not subject to FICA (Social Security) taxes. The IRS had challenged the employer in that case and had lost in both lower courts. At the Supreme Court level, the IRS won. The...
