Employee Benefits Committee - Summer 2023

Labor & Employment

As We Go to E-Press

This has been a busy year in the world of benefits, and there have been many noteworthy developments since the Spring 2023 edition of the newsletter. While the articles in this Summer 2023 edition cover a variety interesting and timely issues...

Labor & Employment

A Step Towards Guidance Instead of Regulation by Litigation in the ESOP Space

DeMario Carswell, Andrew Hill and Alison Douglass, Goodwin Procter LLP

Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs), their sponsors and participants, and other industry players welcomed the news announced by the ESOP Association this spring that the U.S. Department of Labor committed to moving forward with public...

Labor & Employment

Plan Fiduciaries Continue to Defeat Blackrock Target Date Fund Class Actions

Kimberly A. Jones, Monica A. Novak, John W. Fogarty and Emily A. Kile-Maxwell, Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

Last year, a string of cases were filed against fiduciaries of large 401(k) plans that offer the BlackRock target-date funds (TDFs) as investment options to plan participants. All of the complaints, filed by the same law firm, were nearly...

Labor & Employment

Fireside Chat with Assistant Secretary Lisa Gomez Recap and Follow-Up

Matthew Maloney, DeBofsky Law, Ltd.

On July 26, 2023, the ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits held a virtual fireside chat with The Hon. Lisa Gomez, Assistant Secretary of the Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (“EBSA”).

Labor & Employment

The DOL Accepts a FAQ-Out and Rolls Over . . . for Now: Appeal of ASA v. DOL is Abandoned

Andrew Oringer, The Wagner Law Group

It was reported May 15, 2023, that the U.S. Department of Labor has abandoned its appeal in American Securities Association [“ASA”] v. U.S. Department of Labor, No. 8:22-cv-00330 (M.D. Fla. Feb. 13, 2023)

Labor & Employment

District Court Enjoins Agency Implementation of U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Recommendations, But Decision is Stayed Pending Appeal

Richard S. Siegel, Slevin & Hart, P.C.

On March 30, 2023, in Braidwood Management Inc. v. Becerra, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas blocked all agency actions to implement or enforce preventive care coverage requirements resulting from recommendations made...