Spring 2021 Issue: Employee Benefits Committee Newsletter

Employee Benefits

The EBC Co-Chairs Report

We are pleased to report on the success of our Grand Experiment, the 2021 Virtual Midwinter Meeting held February 4-5, 2021.

Employee Benefits

2021: Plan Sponsor/Fiduciary Compliance Checklist

By: Hillary E. August and Joseph A. Lifsics, Mayer Brown LLP

Plan sponsors and fiduciaries may have spent 2020 scrambling to amend their plans and operating procedures to accommodate breaking COVID-19 guidance, but the U.S. Department of Labor’s (“DOL”) and federal courts’ wheels continued to turn.

Employee Benefits

Participant Data: Plan Asset or Fair Game for Recordkeepers to Use to Market Non-Plan Products?

By: Catherine Reagan and R. Bradford Huss, Trucker Huss, APC, San Francisco, CA

In an emerging theory of liability, plan fiduciaries’ treatment of participants’ personal data is coming under scrutiny. Over the last five years, we have seen how the collection of many individuals’ personal data can become a valuable asset.

Employee Benefits

Mandatory Arbitration of ERISA Claims

By: Radha (Rachana) Pathak, Stris & Maher LLP, Los Angeles, CA

Arbitration of ERISA claims may appear to be old news, or a foregone conclusion. But the intersection of ERISA and the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) raises novel legal questions.

Employee Benefits

It’s Good for the Planet and It’s Good for Your Portfolio: Encouraging Millennial Participation in 401(K) Plans Through Lowering Barriers To ESG Investing

By: Rachel Baker Mann

Investors are demanding greener and cleaner investment options. These values-based investors are increasingly pursing a strategy known as ESG, where a company’s environmental, social, and governance decisions are included in the overall investment.

Employee Benefits

As We Go to E-Press

Since the Winter 2021 edition of the newsletter, there have been a number of other developments in the wonderful world of benefits that the editors believe are worth highlighting.