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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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COVID-19-Related Cancellations of NQDC Elections
As a general matter, deferral elections under non-qualified deferred compensation plans (“NQDCs”) cannot be cancelled unless a NQDC plan participant incurs an “unforeseeable emergency” or “disability” as each such term is defined in Section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code. Internal Revenue Service Notice 2020-50 (the “Notice”) adds a third reason to permit the cancellation of NQDC elections, the receipt of a coronavirus-related distribution (“CRD”) from a qualified retirement plan.
The Internal Revenue Service issued the Notice on June 19th to, among other things, help plan sponsors allow plan participants to take advantage of the provisions of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”) by giving participants greater access to their retirement plan savings. Read More ›
Posted in Executive Compensation
| Tagged CARES Act, covid-19, elections, furlough, lay off, nonqualified deferred compensation, nqdc, reduction in hours
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In Case You Missed It … Recent Posts From the SW Benefits Update
We periodically consolidate our prior blog posts and push them out as a single package to help individuals catch up on what they might have missed with respect to important health and welfare, qualified retirement plan, and executive compensation issues. The posts highlighted here largely focus on the CARES Act and the impact the COVID-19 pandemic is having on employee benefit and executive compensation plans. As always, please feel free to reach out to any member of our employee benefits and executive compensation group with questions. Please enjoy (and have a safe) Memorial Day weekend!
Posted in Employee Benefits, Executive Compensation, Health & Welfare Plans, Health Care Reform, Qualified Retirement Plans
| Tagged blog, CARES Act, covid-19, Executive Compensation, health and welfare, retirement plan, roundup
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IRS Continues to Extend Key Filing Deadlines in Response to COVID-19
On April 9. 2020, the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) issued Notice 2020-23, which extends a number of key filing deadlines in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The guidance provides welcome relief to individuals and plan sponsors who must perform certain “time-sensitive actions” on or after April 1, 2020 and before July 15, 2020. For Notice 2020-23 purposes, “time-sensitive actions” are described, in part, in Revenue Procedure 2018-58, and include key filings such as Forms 5500, 990, and Section 83(b) elections. Because the relief is provided only for filings due during the period from April 1, 2020 to July 15, 2020, certain individuals and plan sponsors will remain subject to normal filing deadlines. Read More ›
Posted in Employee Benefits, Executive Compensation, Qualified Retirement Plans
| Tagged 5500 deadline, form 990, notice 2020-23, Section 83(b) election
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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 and terminations. While some employers may also consider sweeping salary reductions, other employers may consider reducing current salaries with the promise to pay those salaries in the future. Employers taking this latter approach must understand that deferring salaries from 2020 to 2021 (or to some other future year) can create compliance issues under Section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code (“409A”). Read More ›
Posted in Employee Benefits, Executive Compensation, Qualified Retirement Plans
| Tagged 409A, coronavirus, covid-19, deferred compensation, pandemic, salary deferral
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Updated Glass Lewis Proxy Voting Guidelines
I previously blogged about certain compensation related updates to ISS’ proxy voting guidelines for 2020. With proxy season in full swing, I wanted to highlight some important compensation related changes to the Glass Lewis 2020 voting guidelines, a full copy of which can be found here.
- Contractual Payments and Arrangements. In their 2020 guidelines, Glass Lewis clarifies its policy for say-on-pay proposals with respect to the analysis of both ongoing and new contractual payments and executive entitlements. In particular, Glass Lewis has provided a list of certain executive employment terms that may result in a negative say-on-pay vote recommendation, which includes, but is not limited to: (i) excessively broad change in control triggers; (ii) inappropriate severance entitlements; (iii) inadequately explained or excessive sign-on arrangements; (iv) guaranteed bonuses (especially multi-year guarantees); and (v) the failure to address any concerning practices in amended employment agreements.
Posted in Executive Compensation
| Tagged change in control, compensation, discretion, Glass Lewis, incetnvei plans, ISS, proxy, shareholder
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Enjoy the End of the Decade with Some Employee Benefit Plan Checklists
Each year, we publish health and welfare, cost-of-living, qualified retirement plan, and executive compensation plan checklists to help individuals and employers stay apprised of updates to the law of employee benefits. We just published the last of these annual checklists. In case you missed them, the links are below.
Happy Holidays!
2019 End of Year Plan Sponsor “To Do” List (Part 1) Health & Welfare
2019 End of Year Plan Sponsor “To Do” List (Part 2) Annual Cost of Living Adjustments
2019 End of Year Plan Sponsor “To Do” List (Part 3) Qualified Retirement Plans
2019 End of Year Plan Sponsor “To Do” List (Part 4) Executive Compensation
Posted in Employee Benefits, Executive Compensation, Health & Welfare Plans, Health Care Reform, Qualified Retirement Plans
| Tagged checklists, COLA, cost-of-living, ERISA, Executive Compensation, Internal Revenue Code, qualified retirement plan, to do list
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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’ poor performance, to generate fees for Schwab and its affiliates. In doing so, the Ninth Circuit overturned its former decision in which it held that ERISA claims cannot be arbitrated.
Specifically, the Ninth Circuit panel determined that the Ninth Circuit’s 1984 opinion in Amaro v. Continental Can Co. should no longer be followed because of more recent precedent permitting ERISA claims to be arbitrated, including the U.S. Read More ›
Posted in Employee Benefits, Executive Compensation, Qualified Retirement Plans
| Tagged arbitration, ERISA, Supreme Court
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DOL Finalizes Regulations Requiring Electronic Filing of Top Hat Statements
On June 17th the Department of Labor finalized a set of proposed regulations requiring that all “top hat” plan statements be filed with the Department electronically though this website. As brief background, a “top hat” statement is a one-time filing made with the Department of Labor to protect against a non-qualified plan established for a select group of management or highly compensated employees becoming subject to some of the more onerous requirements of ERISA. Accordingly, to maintain this protection, effective August 16, 2019, “top hat” filings must be made electronically.
The Department introduced the proposed regulations on the electronic filings in September 2014 and has indicated that since the release of the proposed regulations 54% of the “top hat” filings received have been made electronically. Read More ›
Posted in Executive Compensation
| Tagged DOL, ERISA, non-qualified plan, top hat statement
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Director Compensation Update
I’ve written a number of articles and blogs about some sticky issues that can surface in the context of setting pay for public company non-employee directors (here, here, here, and here).
On March 6th the parties to the In re Investors Bancorp, Inc. Stockholder Litigation, filed a settlement agreement with the Delaware Chancery Court. By way of background, the Investors Bancorp decision limited the shareholder ratification defense for non-employee director equity awards that were granted on a discretionary basis. The equity plan at issue in In re Investors Bancorp, which had been approved by the company’s shareholders, provided that the maximum number of shares that could be delivered to all non-employee directors, in the aggregate, would be capped at 30% of all option or restricted stock unit or restricted stock awards available for grant under the plan. Read More ›
Posted in Employee Benefits, Executive Compensation
| Tagged business judgment rule, director equity awards, equity awards, Executive Compensation, Investors Bancorp
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Certain Information Statements for ISOs and ESPPs Due by January 31, 2019
As reported in Part 4 of our 2018 End of Year Plan Sponsor “To Do” List, Section 6039 of the Code requires employers to provide a written information statement to each employee or former employee and file information returns with the IRS regarding: (1) the transfer of stock pursuant to the exercise of an Incentive Stock Option (“ISO”); and (2) the first transfer by the employee or former employee of stock purchased at a discount under an Employee Stock Purchase Plan (“ESPP”). For ISO exercises and ESPP transfers occurring in 2018, the Section 6039 employee information statement requirement is satisfied by providing Form 3921 (for ISOs) and Form 3922 (for ESPPs) to employees no later than January 31, 2019. Read More ›
Posted in Employee Benefits, Executive Compensation
| Tagged 2019, deadline, Employee Stock Purchase Plan, ESPP, Incentive Stock Option, information returns, ISO, January 31, stock
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