Just a brief note today on something interesting that caught my eye concerning a topic, top hat plans, that we have discussed a fair amount recently. Here is a nice detailed technical discussion of top hat plans from the BNA Pension and Benefits Blog. The discussion is centered around the Alexander case out of the
Retirement Benefits
The Effect of the Savings Rate on 401(k) Fee and Other Retirement Benefit Litigation
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Now here’s a curious little article from the New York Times on the question of whether mutual fund companies, including in their retirement calculators, deliberately overestimate the amount that people must save and invest to be able to afford to retire. The article notes that a number of respected economists find this to be the…
More on Top Hat Plans
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in Benefit Litigation, Retirement Benefits
I have been meaning to return to this point for the last several days, but the crush of business has kept me from it. I discussed in a recent post a case that I think has the potential to be very influential on the subject of proving or disproving top hat status, involving surgeons and…
Top Hat Plans and ERISA
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in Retirement Benefits
One of the most interesting and potentially influential of the ERISA decisions rendered by the courts in the First Circuit during the holiday season that just closed is Eben Alexander v Brigham and Women’s Physician Organization, in which the court issued its findings, after a trial, on whether two particular deferred compensation plans for…
Health Savings Accounts, Summary Plan Descriptions and Other Things
A few short notes of interest from a weekend of reading:
• Jerry Kalish has nice things to say about (and agrees with) my recent post concerning the Second Circuit’s decision – correct in my view – precluding summary plan descriptions from trumping the actual plan terms.
• I don’t know quite what to say…
401(k) Plans and Pensions: Are They Enough?
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in 401(k) Plans, Retirement Benefits
I wanted to pass along today a fascinating law review article by one of the better ERISA scholars, Susan Stabile, on the retirement benefit system. In the article, “Is It Time to Admit the Failure of an Employer-Based Pension System,” to be published in the Lewis & Clark Law Review, Professor Stabile raises…
ERISA and Retirement Benefits
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Retirement Benefits and Fiduciary Duties under ERISA
There is a nice and complimentary write up of this blog at Workplace Prof Blog, one of my favorite sources for a wide range of information related to employee benefits, including ERISA, such as this post on a petition for writ of certiorari arising out of a recent Ninth Circuit ruling concerning the fiduciary…
Stock-Drop Suits
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in 401(k) Plans, Retirement Benefits
Nice informative story out of the National Law Journal on the so-called stock-drop suits, which allege breaches of fiduciary duty under ERISA by trustees charged with managing company 401(k) plans. The lawsuits in question were “filed on behalf of employees who lost money in their 401(k) and other retirement plans because of the declining price…
Pension Reform
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in Pensions, Retirement Benefits
I have talked before about the depressing topic of the termination of retirement benefits, and the role of ERISA in that scenario. As almost no one failed to notice, the Senate just passed the Pension Protection Act of 2006, which makes “significant changes to practically every retirement plan,” as Jerry Kalish notes. I am fond…