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About this Blog
Welcome to the Snell & Wilmer Benefits Blog. We will be posting about current employee benefits and executive compensation topics and issues. We invite you to contact the authors with your thoughts or questions.Blog Contributors
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The DOL Asks and Answers Questions About the New Welfare Plan Fee Disclosure Rules
In Field Assistance Bulletin 2021-03 (12/31/21) (FAB), the Department of Labor (DOL) issued guidance and temporary enforcement policy to address the new 408(b)(2) disclosure requirements that apply to certain service providers to group health plans. The Consolidated Appropriations Act of … Continue reading
Posted in Employee Benefits
| Tagged DOL, FAB 2021-03, fee disclosure, Field Assistance Bulletin, welfare plan
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Final DOL Rule Imposes Fiduciary Limitations on Social Investing
The DOL recently issued a final rule (“Rule”) providing guidance on the long-standing issue of whether ERISA fiduciaries are permitted to consider non-pecuniary factors while making investments (or selecting investment funds) that promote one or more environmental, social or corporate … Continue reading
Posted in Employee Benefits, Qualified Retirement Plans
| Tagged DOL, environmental, ERISA, ESG, ESG Investments, fiduciary, governance, social
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Salary Deferrals in the Time of COVID-19
As the saying goes, “drastic times call for drastic measures” and, from an economic standpoint, these are drastic times. To fight the battle to stay in business many employers are considering a wide range of alternatives, including employee furloughs, layoffs … Continue reading
Posted in Employee Benefits, Executive Compensation, Qualified Retirement Plans
| Tagged 409A, coronavirus, covid-19, deferred compensation, pandemic, salary deferral
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Retirement Plan Dreams May Go Up in Smoke for Marijuana Companies
Companies in the medical and recreational marijuana industry continue to face an uphill battle for access to financial services. Although a number of states have legalized the medicinal and/or recreational use of marijuana, marijuana remains classified as a Schedule I … Continue reading
Posted in Employee Benefits, Qualified Retirement Plans
| Tagged 401(k), controlled substances act, financial services, IRS, marijuana, money laundering, qualified plan, regulation, weed
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The Ninth Circuit Reverses Itself and Enforces ERISA Mandatory Arbitration Clause
A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit recently decided that Charles Schwab Corp. can require a proposed class action to arbitrate its claim that Schwab breached its fiduciary duties by including Schwab-affiliated investment funds in the Plan, despite the funds’ … Continue reading
Posted in Employee Benefits, Executive Compensation, Qualified Retirement Plans
| Tagged arbitration, ERISA, Supreme Court
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To Err is Human – To Forgive is Up to the IRS in Rev Proc 2019-19
The IRS recently issued its latest version of the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (“EPCRS”) in Rev. Proc. 2019-19. The EPCRS is the IRS program that assists employers in correcting both operational and document failures with respect to qualified retirement … Continue reading
Posted in Employee Benefits, Qualified Retirement Plans
| Tagged 2019-19, amendment, EPCRS, operational failure, rev proc 2019-19, self-correction
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New IRS Guidance Throws a Pass to Certain Universities That Pay Coaches Compensation in Excess of $1,000,000
In Notice 2019-09 (“Notice”), the IRS provides relief from the new excise tax to certain colleges and universities that pay their “covered employees” more than $1 million per year or pay excess parachute payments. Specifically, the Notice provides that the … Continue reading
Posted in Employee Benefits, Executive Compensation
| Tagged Code Section 4960, limit, notice 2019-09, parachute, tax-exempt, tax-exempt organizations
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The 162(m) Transition Rule Guidance Has Arrived
On August 21, 2018, the IRS released Notice 2018-68 providing its initial guidance on the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (Act) transition rule for changes under 162(m). Before the Act, 162(m) limited a public company’s tax deduction to $1,000,000 for … Continue reading
Posted in Employee Benefits, Executive Compensation
| Tagged 162(m), covered employee, Material Modification, notice 2018-68, tax cuts and jobs act, transition rule, written binding contract
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A Time to Remember that Employer-Provider Data Breach Benefits are not Taxable
Hardly a week goes by without another announcement of a high-profile data security breach. The list of data breaches impacting high-profile employers and their employees just in 2017 is long. Protecting our sensitive data is becoming a top priority for … Continue reading
Posted in Employee Benefits
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Now You Can Have Your Cake and Eat It Too: New Pension Distribution Rules Allow More Flexibility
If you are one of the lucky few employees who participate in an employer’s defined benefit retirement plan, you previously had to choose between receiving your benefits in a lump sum or in annuity payments. However, in the final rule … Continue reading
Posted in Employee Benefits, Qualified Retirement Plans
| Tagged annuity, defined benefit, distribution, lump sum, present value, retirement
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