DOL Issues
On Oct. 22, the Department of Labor (DOL) released a proposed rule that would provide the ability to default participants into electronic disclosure of certain required participant documents. This week, we’d like to know what you think, and how you’d improve/modify that proposal, if at all.
As...
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In a typical bond, the plan is the party that is insured and a surety company — the insurer — is the party that provides the bond.
The persons covered by the bond are those who handle funds or other property of the plan. As the insured party, the plan can make a claim on the bond if a plan...
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In MarketBeat, John Iekel discusses a recent blog entry that offers steps one can take to be ready for a benefit plan audit — and, in the process, better ensure that the plan is in compliance.
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Bad news: Even though the recordkeeper does the hard work, plan sponsors still have the duty to get the fee disclosures to participants.
Good news: Electronic distribution methods are allowed, so often that duty is actually really easy and/or almost automatic. However, it won’t come as a surprise...
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Editor’s Note: This is an occasional feature in the NTSA Advisor. It is drawn from The Source, a book that covers technical, compliance, administrative and marketing aspects of the 403(b) and 457(b) markets. More information about The Source is available here.
Tip of the Week concerns factors...
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In MarketBeat, Alison J. Cohen says that even when a Form 5500 is not filed on time, there is an easy way to fix the problem.
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In a move estimated to save plans and participants $2.4 billion over the next decade, the Department of Labor (DOL) has unveiled a new, optional, electronic delivery safe harbor for retirement plans. The DOL had sent the proposed regulations to the Office of Management and Budget in August.
The...
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Quite a bit of information goes into a typical fee disclosure, so it’s a good thing the plan sponsor or administrator don’t have to do that part.
The 404(a)(5) fee disclosure is typically put together by the recordkeeper. It’s then sent along to the plan sponsor, who then distributes it to the...
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Department of Labor (DOL) regulations require that a retirement plan’s participants are provided with timely and comprehensive information about their investment fees. This is fulfilled in the form of a 404(a)(5) participant fee disclosure.
Important note: A fee disclosure has to show all the fees...
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An RIA working with an open-architecture platform and designing an investment menu for a plan may select a record keeper that supports the ability to add model portfolios to the plan menu. Tech Talk discusses whether these allocation models are considered discretionary services.
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Paper covers rock – but will it be enough to break scissors?
A consortium (an alliance of consumer organizations, labor unions, rural advocates, and print communications industry organizations) calling itself the Coalition for Paper Options – has officially called on the Trump Administration to...
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The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has launched an investigation into whether federal securities laws have been violated by companies that administer teachers’ retirement plans.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the SEC has sent letters to companies that administer the plans seeking...
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ERISA fidelity bonds cannot be obtained from any bonding or insurance company. Bonds must be obtained from a surety or reinsurer that is named on the Department of the Treasury’s Listing of Approved Sureties, Department Circular 570.
Under certain conditions, bonds may also be obtained from...
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Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has put forward a comprehensive labor proposal that seeks to scale back the broad protections offered by ERISA preemption and resurrect the DOL’s fiduciary rule.
The presidential candidate released a 14-page proposal on Oct. 3, “Empowering American Workers and Raising...
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An ERISA fidelity bond is a type of insurance that protects the plan against losses caused by acts of fraud or dishonesty: larceny, theft, embezzlement, forgery, misappropriation, wrongful abstraction, wrongful conversion, willful misapplication and other acts. Deductibles or other similar features...
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Legislation approved recently by the U.S. House of Representatives would restrict the use of pre-dispute arbitration agreements – potentially including their use in workplace retirement plans.
Many retirement plans include provisions requiring employees and plan participants to arbitrate any...
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The nomination of Eugene Scalia to serve as head of the Labor Department was approved Sept. 26 by the Senate in a 53-44 vote.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee endorsed Scalia’s nomination Sept. 24 in a 12-11 party-line vote. The committee held a three-hour hearing...
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Eugene Scalia, President Trump’s nominee to head the Labor Department, was approved Sept. 24 by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee. The full Senate will now vote on his nomination, though a date has not yet been set.
Scalia was approved by the HELP Committee on a 12-...
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In MarketBeat, John Iekel discusses a recent blog entry that addresses whether employment agreements can limit an employer’s exposure to the risk of ERISA fiduciary breach claims.
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Nominated to serve as Secretary of Labor, Eugene Scalia addressed numerous questions Sept. 19 about his past record representing various employer interests, as well as whether he would recuse himself in the forthcoming revamp of the DOL’s conflict of interest rule.
Scalia's comments came during a...
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