Construction companies with union employees often must make contributions to a defined benefit pension plan sponsored by the union. These plans are called “multiemployer” pension plans.
As a general rule, multiemployer plans are not well-funded. In 2015, for example, a federal study showed that 98.3 percent of multiemployer plans were underfunded. Collectively, that underfunding surpassed
In April 2018, New York University was the first university to take to trial a case claiming it violated its ERISA fiduciary duties. And on July 31, 2018, it became the first university to win. Sacerdote v. New York Univ., No. 16-CV-6284 (KBF), 2018 WL 3629598 (S.D.N.Y. July 31, 2018).
More than a dozen
On the same day the Ninth Circuit denied arbitration in Munro v. University of Southern California, a district also denied a motion to compel arbitration of a former employee’s ERISA breach of fiduciary duty and prohibited transaction claims in Brown v. Wilmington Trust, N.A., No. 3:17-cv-250 (S.D. OH July 24, 2018).
The plaintiff
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court’s opinion that the University of Southern California could not compel arbitration of ERISA claims brought by its employees despite the fact that the parties entered into a broad arbitration agreement. Munro v. University of Southern California, No. 17-55550 (July 24, 2018).
As discussed below, even though a church plan was operated in accordance with ERISA and the plan sponsor may have thought it was required to do so, as long as no 410(d) election was made, it is “no harm, no foul” for the plan’s status as a church plan.
Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling
I previously examined the proposed rule by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to expand so-called Association Health Plans, or AHPs, under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). In a nutshell, the proposed rule was designed to make it easier for employers to form a group in order to provide health benefits
In an unpublished opinion, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit found a lower court did not err when awarding no relief for a breach of fiduciary duty. (Pender v. Bank of America Corp., No. 17-1485, June 5, 2018.) Although Bank of America violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of
Northwestern University recently defeated a lawsuit alleging that it violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) while managing its retirement plans. The plaintiffs brought ERISA breach of fiduciary duty and prohibited transaction claims, alleging the university’s retirement plans featured imprudent investments and paid excessive fees. On May 25, 2018, the U.S. District Court for
In a 5-4 decision written by newcomer Justice Gorsuch, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld employment agreements that require employees to individually arbitrate disputes with their employers.
The May 21, 2018, opinion in Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis resolves a trio of cases before the Supreme Court in which employees brought suits against their employers alleging
The Department of Labor (DOL) recently reiterated its position that plan fiduciaries are not permitted to sacrifice investment return or take additional investment risk to promote “collateral social policy goals.”
The DOL reasoned that environmental, social and governance factors are not typically relevant economic factors that should be used to evaluate investment alternatives. In some