Understanding Employee Benefits and key developments in the employee benefits field and items of interest to our clients. MORE

ERISA lawyers know that employee benefit plans offered by state and local governments to their employees are not subject to ERISA, the federal law that generally governs benefit plans of private employers. However, other federal laws can reach government plans. For example, the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) recently announced a settlement with the State

[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, 2013, the IRS issued guidance about the prospective impact of the

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. Qualified retirement plans must honor QDROs

On March 19, 2014, a three judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit issued its decision in Tussey v. ABB, Inc., No. 12-2056 (8th Cir. Mar. 19, 2014).  The case came to the Eighth Circuit on an appeal of a decision by the United States District Court for

As a result of industry consolidation over the years, employers can find themselves responsible for pension plans of companies long out of existence. A recent federal district court decision imposed a penalty of $4,470 on a plan administrator who delayed providing the widow of a plan participant with the plan document in effect 34 years