In Central States, Southeast & Southwest Areas Pension Fund v. Sheets Enterprise, No. 24 cv 2277 (N.D. Ill.), a district court held that an employer could not avoid being held liable for withdrawal liability simply because it had been dissolved under state law.  The decision is instructive because it shows the limits that state law…

Like any for-profit company, nonprofit organizations want to attract and retain high caliber executives to achieve and further their missions. To accomplish this, a nonprofit organization may have to offer a particularly robust compensation arrangement to the executive, especially because other nonprofit or for-profit organizations likely want to engage the services of such executive given…

Following up on our recent blog post, SECURE 2.0’s Required Changes to Annual Funding Notice Become Effective in 2025, the Department of Labor released Field Assistance Bulletin 2025-02 on April 3, which addresses compliance questions regarding the required changes to AFNs under SECURE 2.0 and includes two updated model AFNs incorporating these changes.[1]…

Starting March 17, 2025, the Employee Benefits Security Administration’s Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program (“VFCP”) will have a “self-correction” option.  Although the new option eliminates the need to wait for formal approval of a correction submission, participating fiduciaries will still need to satisfy a notice requirement and submit information to the Department of Labor.  The applicable…

In late October 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ruled in Romano v. Hancock Life Insurance Company, F.4th 729 (11th Cir. 2024) that certain foreign tax credits that were generated as a result of 401(k) plan investments in separate accounts owned by John Hancock Life Insurance Company (“JHLIC”) were not…

SECURE 2.0 introduced many changes for retirement plans, including updated disclosure requirements for a defined benefit plan’s annual funding notice (AFN). These updated AFN disclosure requirements apply for all plan years beginning after December 31, 2023. For calendar-year defined benefit plans, the first AFNs subject to the revised requirements will be due by April 30,…

In Central States, S.E. & S.W. Pension Fund v. McKesson Corp., No. 23-cv-16770, 2025 WL 81358 (N.D. Ill. Jan. 13, 2025), the district court affirmed that a multiemployer pension plan’s calculation of withdrawal liability should not have included contribution rate increases imposed after the plan had implemented a rehabilitation plan.…