Issue: Winter 2021

Employee Benefits

A Few Words from Incoming Union & Employee Co-Chair John Harney

By: John R. Harney, O’Donoghue & O’Donoghue, LLP, Washington, D.C.

I am humbled and honored to have become the Union & Employee Co-Chair of the Employee Benefits Committee, effective September 2020. I stand on the shoulders of those who have preceded me, most recently Ben Eisner, whose leadership has been crucial to the success the EBC has enjoyed these last three years. He set a daunting standard to follow. I look forward to working with my fellow Co-Chairs, Cassie Ayeni, Aliya Robinson and Joanne Roskey to build on their work and that of prior Co-Chairs and EBC members who have made this dynamic Committee so successful.

Employee Benefits

Single Stock Fund Litigation: A Growing Circuit Court Split

By: Maureen J. Gorman, Stephanie B. Vasconcellos, and Richard E. Nowak, Mayer Brown LLP

Over the span of three months in 2020, two different Courts of Appeal (the Fourth and Fifth Circuits) addressed the fiduciary implications under ERISA of maintaining a single stock fund in a retirement plan investment lineup.

Employee Benefits

Sixth Circuit Recognizes Benefit Plan’s Equitable Lien on Overpayment

By: Christopher M. Leins and Kristina F. Salamoun, Slevin & Hart, P.C., Washington, D.C.

A recent federal appeals court ruling provides guidance to benefit plans seeking to recover benefit overpayments made to plan participants or beneficiaries. In Zirbel v. Ford Motor Co., __ F.3d.__, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 36081 (6th Cir. 2020), the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court ruling requiring a beneficiary to return $243,190 in retirement benefit overpayments made by Ford Motor Company (“Ford”).

Employee Benefits

2020 U.S. Supreme Court Benefits Case Round-Up

By: Lindsey H. Chopin, Jackson Lewis P.C., New Orleans, LA

With the passing of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 27-year veteran, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the addition of the newly appointed Justice Amy Coney Barrett, and COVID-19 related changes to long-held Court procedures, such as arguments by phone and a regimented question and answer period, the U.S. Supreme Court’s October 2020 term was unlike any other.

Employee Benefits

God's (Pension) Plan: ERISA Church Plan Litigation in the Aftermath of Advocate Health Care Network v. Stapleton

By: Rebecca Miller, 3L, Boston College Law School

In 2018, Karen Bradley learned that the entire pension on which she was relying for retirement was gone. Ms. Bradley was a nurse for twenty-four years at St. Clare’s Hospital of Schenectady, New York (St. Clare’s), where her father had previously worked as a pharmacist. Time and time again, St. Clare’s promised her a pension, and she planned her retirement believing that she would have this source of income.

Employee Benefits

The American College of Employee Benefits Counsel, Inc. Honors its New Fellows and Award Winners

Outstanding employee benefits attorneys selected from throughout the country joined the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel (ACEBC) at its Twenty-First Annual Meeting and Induction Ceremony on October 8, 2020, held virtually.

Employee Benefits

2021 Employee Benefits Committee Midwinter Meeting

Where can you gather with colleagues and access wonderful, educational programming on employee benefits? From the comfort of your own home!