Search

This week we move away from the world of the standard retirement or health and welfare plans and into the world of executive compensation. Executive compensation arrangements provide a company with a highly flexible benefit to further attract and retain top talent. Issues in design and...

In the past two weeks, we have presented a few items that plan sponsors can review in hopes of curbing common employee benefits and executive compensation errors. This week in our Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”) series, we touch on a small sample of common health and...

For better or for worse, the 401(k) plan has moved to center stage in the context of American retirement policy. Fittingly, Part 2 of this Employee Retirement Income Securities Act of 1974 (“ERISA”) driven series focuses on a handful of common misses that occur with 401(k) plans. Not Knowing the...

The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”) has a reputation for being intimidating and understandably so. Although plan sponsors must practically consider business needs and evaluate benefits alongside general labor and employment considerations, ERISA’s fiduciary standards may...

This month’s Friday Five covers cases relating to augmentation of the administrative record following new rationales, attempted alternative ERISA causes of action, untimely ERISA claims, plans governed by ERISA even in the absence of a written plan document, and the limited weight given to residual...

This month’s Friday Five covers cases relating to the interpretation of time periods for claims under life insurance and disability plans, a situation where three separate administrators handled a disability benefits claim (but came to different decisions), the Eleventh Circuit’s parsing of...

This month’s Friday Five covers cases relating to interpretation of ambiguous policy terms, evaluation of claimant’s expert witness, inclusion of law firms as appropriate parties from whom plan administrators may seek equitable relief, transfer of cases from the claimant’s choice of venue, and...

This month’s Friday Five addresses cases considering: (1) whether monetary relief in the amount of lost benefits is an available remedy for breach of fiduciary duty; (2) the validity of an ex-spouse’s beneficiary designation that contradicts a subsequent divorce decree; (3) if waiver of a pre...

This month’s Friday Five covers cases relating to interpretation of regulatory deadlines, the enforceability of discretionary clauses, circuit courts going both ways on appeals from summary judgment rulings in favor of plans, and a benefits award for a former professional football player where the...

This month’s Friday Five covers cases relating to an award of attorney’s fees (but not) costs, class certification in an ERISA benefits case, a court finding that a physician claimant was disabled from his own occupation, a claimant paying into insurance he thinks he has, and an insurance company...