Multiemployer Funds

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In 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued 3 documents outlining guidance on cybersecurity practices for benefits plans, which we discussed in a blog post at the time. The DOL recently issued revised versions of the original three documents in its Compliance Assistance Release No. 2024-01. The revised versions of these documents clarify…

Update:  Following the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas’s stay of the Final Rules and related amendments to PTE 84-24 in Fed’n of Americans for Consumer Choice (discussed below), the very next day the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas issued a broader stay in American Council of Life …

Employers may be bound by multiemployer pension plans’ trust agreements and collections policies, but the force of these governing documents may have its limits. In Nevada Resorts Ass’n–Int’l All. of Theatrical Stage Emps. and Moving Picture Mach. Operators of the U.S. and Canada Local 720 Pension Trust v. JB Viva Vegas, L.P., No. 2:19-cv-00499…

In Buckner v. Murray, No. 21-cv-567, 2024 WL 1366785 (D.D.C. Mar. 30, 2024), the court dismissed the United Mine Workers of America 1974 Pension Plan’s suit to collect $6.5 billion in withdrawal liability because the trustees did not file suit in accordance with the plan’s trust agreement.  After the contributing employer filed for bankruptcy…

The DOL recently finalized amendments to the QPAM exemption that will considerably alter the exemption’s conditions effective as of June 17, 2024 (for a detailed summary of the changes, please see our post here).  There are a number of immediate action items for investment managers and ERISA plan fiduciaries under the revised exemption, so…

On April 23, 2024, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued final rules which expand what it means to provide fiduciary “investment advice” under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”) and Section 4975 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”).  Though the final rules broaden the definition…

On April 3, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor (the “DOL”) published in the federal register a final amendment to Prohibited Transaction Class Exemption 84-14 (the “QPAM Exemption”) that makes considerable changes to the exemption’s conditions (the “Final Amendment”).   Although the Final Amendment trims back some of the more onerous requirements floated in the proposed…

In Bulk Transp. v. Teamsters Union No. 142 Pension Fund, No. 23-1563, 2024 WL 1230236 (7th Cir. Mar. 22, 2024), the Seventh Circuit held that the contributions used to calculate an employer’s withdrawal liability may include only the contributions the employer was required to remit pursuant to the terms of the parties’ collective bargaining…

Responding to the “terrifying” reality that conflicted investment advice is costing retirement savers billions of dollars each year, on October 31, 2023, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued proposed rules representing its latest attempt to expand what it means to be providing “investment advice” for a fee under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of…

In late 2022, the U.S. Department of Labor (the “DOL”) issued final regulations (the “Final Rules”) which address the extent to which ERISA plan fiduciaries may consider environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) factors when making investment decisions and exercising shareholder rights, such as voting proxies, on behalf of ERISA-covered plans. For a detailed discussion of the Final Rules, see here.

Although the Final Rules generally became effective on January 30, 2023, certain special proxy voting-related rules are set to first take effect on December 1, 2023, and may require action by ERISA plan fiduciaries in advance of the effective date.