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Circuit court upholds fiduciary exception to attorney-client privilege

Hodgson Russ LLP
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USA
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July 29 2011

Plan fiduciaries should be aware that communications with benefit plan attorneys may not be privileged

Plan administrator not obligated to provide benefit accruals for unpaid hours

Hodgson Russ LLP
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USA
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July 29 2011

Nurse participants in a hospital retirement plan were upset that their unpaid meal breaks, during which they were required to work, and an unpaid 20-40 minute period of patient status review before the official start of their shifts were not counted for benefit purposes in the hospital's retirement plans

Failure to update inactive plan leads to plan disqualification

Hodgson Russ LLP
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USA
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May 20 2011

For a second time in recent months, the Tax Court has ruled that a qualified retirement plan, in this case a profit sharing plan, may be disqualified and its tax-exempt status retroactively revoked for defects relating a failure to timely amend the plan document to reflect statutory changes

Asset sale exception to multiemployer withdrawal liability upheld

Hodgson Russ LLP
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USA
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May 20 2011

Underfunded multiemployer pension plans assess "withdrawal liability" to a contributing employer if the employer ceases to contribute to the plan either wholly (a "complete withdrawal") or where there is a 70 percent or more reduction in contributions (a "partial withdrawal"

No fiduciary breach in switching default investment

Hodgson Russ LLP
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USA
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May 20 2011

Before statutory and regulatory rules were developed for Qualified Default Investment Arrangements (QDIAs), many plans utilized money market or stable value accounts as the default investment if a participant failed to provided requested investment directions

Supreme Court will not hear case involving ERISA’s whistleblower provision

Hodgson Russ LLP
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USA
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May 20 2011

In August 2010, we reported on a Federal Court of Appeals decision involving complaints made by a director of human resources about her employer's administration of the company's medical plan and the employee's claim that she was improperly discharged as a result of these complaints

Oral agreement not sufficient to modify plan contribution obligation

Hodgson Russ LLP
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USA
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May 20 2011

It is important for employers to recognize that an oral agreement to modify a plan obligation, even when it is acknowledged by both the parties, may not be enforceable when current plan provisions contradict the oral agreement

“Good faith” clause does not limit discretionary authority of administrator

Hodgson Russ LLP
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USA
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May 20 2011

A district court in North Carolina recently reaffirmed the principle that decisions made by a plan administrator are entitled to deferential review if the plan grants dictionary authority to the administrator

Posthumous abandonment order cannot trump surviving spouse’s rights

Hodgson Russ LLP
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USA
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May 20 2011

The U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut recently granted a motion to dismiss in favor of a retirement plan that provided a pre-retirement survivor annuity to an estranged spouse