How cool is this? I have talked in various posts and in seminars, webinars and the like for years about the transition from defined benefit plans to defined contribution plans, and how that integrates with the development of the law of fiduciary liability under ERISA. I am, in fact, outlining comments for a seminar later
Employee Benefit Plans
On SPDs and Compliance
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in Employee Benefit Plans
Compliance is its own reward. I think that’s my new motto for one of the underlying themes of this blog, which is the importance of strong operational compliance in running any ERISA governed plan. The return on that investment takes many forms, running from happier – or at least less disgruntled – employees, to better…
Handling the Impact on Benefit Plans of Corporate Acquisitions
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in Employee Benefit Plans
Here is a fine overview of employee benefit issues that arise after a corporate transaction. Of interest to me in particular is the discussion of compliance problems – broadly defined – in maintaining or running off the seller’s benefit plans and in amending the buyer’s plan to deal with the acquired employees or the coordination…
An Unfortunately Timely Topic: When Severance Programs are ERISA Plans
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Nothing shows up in my practice any more frequently, particularly in this economy and over the last couple of years, than severance packages, and the question of whether a particular severance package program is governed by ERISA. Roy Hoskins, on the ERISABoard.com site, reviews this issue, and its application by the District of Maine under…
Pozek on 403(b) Plans
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in Employee Benefit Plans
I always wondered what benefits whiz Adam Pozek did on Sundays, and now I know – he writes excellent blog posts on 403(b) plans, like this one right here! My own experience with such plans has concerned disputes over them, but Adam provides an interesting overview of the regulatory structure of the 403(b) plan…
Conkright, Discretion and the Supreme Court
Here’s a nice little story on Conkright, and the new Supreme Court session. As the article explains in a nutshell:
The issue in Conkright vs. Frommert involves how much deference a court must give to an ERISA plan administrator’s interpretation of the terms of the plan. A group of Xerox Corp. retirees who left
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Hecker, InsideCounsel and Defensive Plan Building
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Hecker is the gift that keeps on giving, for either an academic or a blogger (or perhaps a blogger with an academic frame of mind). It presents a wealth of issues warranting further consideration, running from those commented on in my prior posts on the Seventh Circuit’s decision, to one I haven’t even passed on…
Blogging on the Business of Benefits
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in Employee Benefit Plans
Readers of this blog have undoubtedly picked up on the fact that I like to litigate cases (even more to try them), and that the focus of my practice, including with regard to ERISA governed plans, is litigating disputes. But there are probably far more benefit plan attorneys whose focus is on keeping people out…
A Handy Guide to the Oversight of Benefit Plans by In-House Counsel
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in Employee Benefit Plans
If it’s a pleasure to read a piece by someone who gets it, whatever the it may be, it’s even better when that same person can explain it successfully to others. In this case the “it” is how in-house counsel responsible for ERISA governed benefit plans should conduct their oversight of the plans, and the…
A Pile of Things on Kennedy v. DuPont
By Stephen Rosenberg on
A lot of interesting things have piled up in my in-box during the past week and a half or so, when I have not had time to blog. I still think they are interesting, even after a few days of having them underfoot, so I am going to try to parcel out as many of…