SEAN T. STRAUSS, February 2016 – On January 25, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court in Amgen Inc. v. Harris held that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals failed to properly implement the Supreme Court’s pleading standards for a complaint that alleged breaches of fiduciary duty related to retirement plans’ investment in employer stock. In a […]
Author: Trucker Huss
T. KATURI KAYE, February 2016 – On January 29, 2016, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) issued Notice 2016-6 (the “Notice”), providing important guidance on mid-year changes to safe harbor plans under Sections 401(k), 401(m) and 403(b) (collectively referred to as “safe harbor plans”) of the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”). The Notice is welcome guidance […]
ADRINE ADJEMIAN, February 2016 On January 22, 2016, during a panel discussion (which included Brad Huss) at the Los Angeles Advanced Pension Conference, Elizabeth Hopkins, Counsel for Appellate and Special Litigation, Office of the Solicitor, Plan Benefits Security Division, United States Department of Labor (“DOL”), stated that the DOL has initiated an investigation into large […]
KEVIN E. NOLT, January 2016 On January 4, 2016, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) issued Notice 2016-03, which provides that the Department of Treasury (“Treasury”) and the IRS will issue guidance in anticipation of the elimination, effective January 1, 2017, of the five-year remedial amendment cycle system for individually designed retirement plans under the IRS […]
ROBERT R. GOWER, January 2016 – On January 4, 2016, an order issued by U.S. District Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton in Schuett v. FedEx Corp., (No. 15-CV-0189-PJH, 2016 WL 104267 (N.D. Cal. Jan. 4, 2016)) brought light to a long anticipated question surrounding the retroactive application of the United States Supreme Court opinion in United […]
GISUE MEHDI, January 2016 On January 20, 2016, in a blow to ERISA plans and plan fiduciaries, the Supreme Court held in Montanile v. Bd. of Trustees of Nat. Elevator Indus. Health Ben. Plan, 2016 WL 228344, 577 U.S. __ (2016), that when a participant receives a settlement from a third-party for an injury and […]
FREEMAN L. LEVINRAD, January 2016 To help those employers that allowed employees to exclude more than $130 in nontaxable monthly transit benefits for 2015, the IRS issued Notice 2016-6 to facilitate their adjustment of employees’ federal nontaxable wages following the recent retroactive increase in excludable transit benefits. On December 18, 2015, the President signed the […]
ROBERT R. GOWER and ERIC J. SCHILLINGER, January 2016 — On December 9, 2015, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) issued Notice 2015-86, providing guidance on the application of the June 26, 2015 United States Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges (“Obergefell”) to qualified retirement plans under Internal Revenue Code (“Code”) section 401(a) and health […]
SUSAN QUINTANAR, December 2015 — Plan sponsors need to remain attentive about ensuring that elective deferrals are deposited into their 401(k) plans on a timely basis. Plans may be subject to a higher risk for audit where late deposits are concerned, especially in those cases where there has been a pattern of recurring delinquent deposits […]
J. MARC FOSSE, December 2015 — For members of a board of directors who are also officers of the corporation, complying with securities and tax laws will also generally require that their compensation be approved by independent and disinterested non-employee members of the corporation’s board. However, similar governance standards are not required by law when […]
JAHIZ AGARD and SHANNON OLIVER, December 2015 — On December 28, 2015, with deadlines looming, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) released Notice 2016-4, extending the due dates for the information reporting required under Sections 6055 and 6056 of the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”). Of significance to employers, the deadlines for furnishing the 2015 Forms […]
JAHIZ NOEL AGARD, December 2015 — On October 30, 2015, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released proposed regulations on Title II of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) that reverse a prior position prohibiting wellness programs from requiring an employee to provide his genetic information (which includes information about a spouse or other […]
MIKAELA C. HABIB, December 2015 — On Friday, December 4, 2015, the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (“FAST”) Act of 2015 was signed into law. The FAST Act repealed the additional one month extension of the Form 5500 filing deadline introduced by the Surface Transportation and Veterans Health Care Choice Improvement Act of 2015. As a […]
CLARISSA A. KANG, November 2015 — On November 18, 2015, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) published proposed regulations to update plans’ internal claims and appeals procedures for determining disability benefit claims. The proposal is meant to bring in line the adjudication of disability benefit claims with claims and appeals procedures for non-grandfathered group health plans […]
MIKAELA C. HABIB, November 2015 — The recently enacted Surface Transportation and Veterans Health Care Choice Improvement Act of 2015 (the “Act”) includes changes to various reporting deadlines for corporations, partnerships, and certain tax-exempt entities. Included are the filing deadlines for the Form 5500 (Annual Return/Report of Employee Benefit Plan), the Form 990 (Return of […]
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