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Ten Mandatory SECURE 2.0 Changes for 401(k) Plans

The SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022, as enacted on December 29, 2022, contains over 90 provisions affecting retirement plans and IRAs, but of the many provisions only a handful are required changes for 401(k) plans.  This post lists those changes and indicates when the provisions go into effect.  Unless otherwise noted, 401(k) plans (and 403(b) plans, to which these changes also apply) will need to be amended to reflect mandatory SECURE 2.0 changes by the end of their 2025 plan year, unless that deadline is later extended.  Note that some of the changes listed below, such as the paper disclosure requirement, may not require a plan amendment.  Also as noted, two are required changes only if discretionary provisions are first adopted.

One.  Increases In Required Minimum Distribution Age

Effective for required minimum distributions (RMDs) after December 31, 2022 for individuals who attain age 72 after that date, the RMD increases from 72 to 73 for those born between 1951 and 1959, and age 75 for those born in 1960 and subsequent.  A technical glitch needs to be corrected, as the law currently puts those born in 1959 into the age 73 and age 75 distribution categories. 

Two. Removal of RMD Requirement for In-Plan Roth Accounts

RMDs during your lifetime are not required for Roth IRAs, but were required under prior law, to be taken from from in-plan Roth accounts.  SECURE 2.0 eliminates the requirement to take lifetime RMDs from in-plan Roth accounts effective for tax years beginning after December 31, 2023. 

Three.  Roth Catch-Up Contributions for High Earners

Effective for tax years beginning after December 31, 2023, age 50 catch-up contributions under 401(k) plans made by participants whose wages in the prior year exceeded $145,000 must be made in the form of designated Roth contributions.  The $145,000 amount is indexed after 2024.  Catch-up contributions for lower wage earners can continue to be made on a pre-tax basis but must be permitted to be made in the form of designated Roth contributions.  Another technical glitch in the law needs to be corrected, in order to make catch-up contributions permissible at all, beginning in 2024.  Plans that don’t include designated Roth contributions must be amended to do so by the applicable deadline, in order to accommodate the Roth catch-up feature.

Four:  Increased Catch-Up Limit Between Ages 60-63

Effective for tax years beginning after December 31, 2024, the age 50 catch-up limit is increased for participants between the ages of 60 and 63 to the greater of (a) $10,000 or (b) 150% of the 2024 “normal” catch-contribution limit.  150% of the 2023 catch-up contribution limit already exceeds $10,000 ($11,250).  The $10,000 limit will be adjusted for cost-of-living after 2025.

Five.  Coverage of Long-Term, Part-Time Workers

This one is a double whammy because SECURE 1.0, enacted in 2019, requires coverage of long-term, part-time employees for 401(k) plans in 2024, and SECURE 2.0 expanded this rule to ERISA 403(b) plans, in addition to reducing the number of years required to qualify as a long-term part-time employee.   Specifically, beginning in 2025 401(k) and ERISA 403(b) plans must allow employees who complete 500 or more hours of service in two consecutive years to make elective deferrals (but need not make employer contributions on their behalf), taking into account service worked in 2023 and subsequent.  Under SECURE 1.0, 401(k) plans must allow employees who worked 500 or more hours in three consecutive years, beginning in 2021, to make elective deferrals commencing in 2024.  These employees need not be taken into account for nondiscrimination and coverage purposes or for top-heavy purposes.

An example illustrates how this works.  An employee who works at least 500 hours of service in 2021, 2022, and 2023 would be eligible to make elective deferrals in their employer’s 401(k) plan on January 1, 2024, per SECURE 1.0.  But if that same employee were employed by an employer with an ERISA 403(b) plan, the employee would have to work 500 or more hours in both 2023 and 2024, in order to be eligible to make elective deferrals in 2025 under SECURE 2.0  Note that this would be the case even if the employee were a student employee or were hired into a position requiring less than 20 hours per week (categories that were exceptions to the universal availability rule applicable to 403(b) plans).  Service for plan years before January 1, 2023 is disregarded for purposes of SECURE 2.0 eligibility, but service worked since 2021 is counted for vesting purposes under both SECURE Acts. 

Six. Auto-Enrollment and Auto-Escalation for Newly Adopted Plans

Effective for single-employer 401(k) or 403(b) plans adopted on or after December 29, 2022 SECURE 2.0 requires that, starting in 2025, the plan auto-enroll participants, and auto-escalate deferrals.  This rule also applies to employers that adopt multiple employer plans on or after December 29, 2022.  Certain exemptions apply, including employers with 10 or fewer employees, businesses in the first three years of existence, governmental and church pans, and SIMPLE 401(k) plans.  For plans subject to the rule, the automatic enrollment percentage must start at 3% and increase at least 1% on the first day of each successive plan year until the deferral rate reaches at least 10%, but not more than 15%.  For plan years beginning before 2025, non-safe harbor plans may not exceed 10%.  Participants must be permitted to withdraw deferrals, and earnings, within 90 days, without application of the 10% early withdrawal penalty tax.  Qualified default investment alternatives must be used for the automatically contributed amounts, subject to modification by participants.  

Seven.  Repayment Deadline for Qualified Birth or Adoption Distributions (If Offered)

This is a mandatory change to a discretionary provision from SECURE 1.0.  SECURE 1.0 introduced the option of allowing participants to take qualified birth or adoption distributions (QBADs), which are distributions from a 401(k) or 403(b) plan (or IRA) of up to $5,000 per parent that are not subject to the early withdrawal penalty tax and that are taken within one year of the date of a birth or finalization of adoption proceedings.  SECURE 1.0 provided that these amounts may be repaid back to the qualified plan or IRA notwithstanding normal contribution dollar limits, but did not specify a deadline for repayment.  For plan sponsors that did add QBADs to their plans, and for IRA custodians that made them available, SECURE 2.0 now requires that repayment be made within three years.  The repayment period ends December 31, 2025 for QBADs that are currently outstanding.

Eight.  Surviving Spouse Election to be Treated as Employee

Surviving spouses have several special options with regard to a spouse’s retirement accounts, that are not available to non-spouse beneficiaries.  Effective for 2024, SECURE 2.0 adds one more option:  the surviving spouse of the account holder who is the designated beneficiary of the account can irrevocably elect to be treated for RMD purposes as the deceased account holder of the retirement account him or herself.  As a consequence, RMDs will be paid no sooner than when the account holder would have reached his or her required beginning date, and will be paid out according to the account holder’s life expectancy, rather than the spouse’s life expectancy, using the Uniform Life Table rather than the Single Lifetime Table.  Note that this option is different from the surviving spouse electing to treat the account as his or her own, which would also result in use of the Uniform Life Table, but using the spouse’s birthdate.  This new option under SECURE 2.0 would primarily be of interest to an older surviving spouse, as it would permit use of the younger account holder’s life expectancy for RMD purposes. 

Nine.  Required Annual Paper Account Statement

Under a Department of Labor “safe harbor” set forth in final Department of Labor regulations published in 2020, retirement plan sponsors may deliver plan disclosures such as Summary Plan Descriptions, quarterly or annual account statements, and other items, by electronic means, either through email or posting on a company website.  EforERISA posted about the electronic disclosure safe harbor back in 2020.  Effective for plan years beginning after December 31, 2025, SECURE 2.0 requires that defined contribution plans, which include 401(k) and 403(b) plans, provide a paper benefit statement at least once per year.  The other three required quarterly statements may be delivered electronically provided the safe harbor delivery requirements are met.  Participants are permitted to opt-out of paper delivery.   SECURE 2.0 also instructs DOL to revise the electronic delivery regulations by December 31, 2024, to require a one-time initial paper notice to new participants that informs them of their right to receive all required disclosures on paper.  This initial written disclosure would be required to be delivered prior to issuance of any electronic communications about the plan.

Ten.  Annual “Reminder” Notice for Unenrolled Participants (Sec. 320)

This is a required provision for employers who opt to use simplified disclosure procedures for employees who are eligible under their plan, but do not actively participate. This is a discretionary provision under SECURE 2.0 and it is unclear how many employers will adopt it, due to the administrative challenges of segregating the two employee populations for different notice purposes. Currently required ERISA disclosures must be made to employees who have met eligibility requirements under a retirement plan, but do not actively participate, equally to those who are actively participating in a retirement plan. Effective immediately, a plan sponsor may carve unenrolled participants out of normal notification procedures, provided that they supply an annual notice of the employees’ eligibility to participate in the plan, and any applicable election deadlines. Other prerequisites to this simplified annual notice procedure are that (a) the employee is provided any notification they expressly request be supplied; and (b) the employee received a Summary Plan Description and all other required notices upon initially becoming eligible to participate in the plan.

If you are a 401(k) or 403(b) plan sponsor, or advise plan sponsors, and have questions about these required changes under SECURE 2.0, use the Contact form at EforERISA to get more information on next steps.

The above information is a brief summary of legal developments that is provided for general guidance only and does not create an attorney-client relationship between the author and the reader. Readers are encouraged to seek individualized legal advice in regard to any particular factual situation. © 2023 Christine P. Roberts, all rights reserved.

Photo credit: Ross Findon, Unsplash

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The Dobbs Decision: Client Talking Points for Brokers and Advisors


The decision of the United States Supreme Court on June 24, 2022 in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization means that, for the first time in almost 50 years, employers that sponsor group health plans are subject to state-level regulation of abortion access. Employers will naturally turn to their group health brokers and advisors for initial guidance. Below are some talking points for brokers and advisors, including tips on when legal guidance from ERISA counsel may be required.

  1. First, be aware that there will be no one-size-fits all approach. Each client’s path forward will vary depending upon whether their group health plan is self-insured, or insured, what states they operate and have employees in, and on whether they offer additional benefits such as health flexible spending accounts (health FSAs), health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs), or Health Savings Accounts (HSAs).
  2. With that in mind, you can start by cataloguing the plans each client has in place, and the states in which they have group health insurance policies in place and employ personnel. Remote work in the post-COVID environment may make it challenging to identify all states in which employees perform services for your client.
    a. If, for instance, a client has a fully insured group health plan under a policy issued in a state that has a trigger law, such as Kentucky, then abortions will likely become unavailable under the insured plan. (A discussion of state trigger laws prepared for the American Society for Reproductive Medicine is found here.) You will want to work with the carrier and the client to communicate potential changes to the policy and coverage around abortion services.
    b. If, for instance, your client has a self-insured group health plan, it is not directly impacted by state laws prohibiting abortion due to ERISA preemption. However, state criminal laws of general application are not preempted by ERISA. Employers with self-insured group health plans with employees in states that make abortion a crime may need to address potential liability and ERISA preemption issues with legal counsel.
  3. Medical travel benefits are trending as an area of interest for clients with insured plans in states that prohibit abortion, and for all clients with employees living in those states that may need to travel for abortion services. There are a variety of ways to provide medical travel benefits and a whole host of potential compliance issues that arise. You may not be in a position to advise on all of the issues, some of which cross over into legal advice, but you should be familiar with key points, as follows:
    a. Whether to offer the benefit pre-or post-tax – medical travel reimbursements are fairly limited under the tax code and fairly low dollar limits apply under health FSAs ($2,850) and Excepted Benefit HRAs ($1,800). An integrated HRA or a post-tax arrangement can be in an amount the employer chooses.
    b. ERISA compliance – a medical travel reimbursement arrangement will be subject to ERISA disclosure requirements and ERISA reporting requirements depending upon the number of participants eligible under the arrangement.
    c. Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act and HIPAA Privacy issues – if the arrangement covers medical travel only for abortion services, parity for mental health benefits is a problem. For this reason, it may be preferable to offer benefits for all types of medical travel. Processing reimbursements for such plans will involve review of protected health information and trigger HIPAA compliance if the arrangement covers 50 or more participants or is an arrangement of any size that is administered by a third party. For this latter reason some employers are offering generalized travel reimbursement plans that do not require proof of medical treatment. Note that such arrangements would not be subject to ERISA (and ERISA preemption would not apply to any aiding and abetting laws asserted against employers offering them). Such arrangements would also potentially trigger wide uptake among employees and considerable employer expense.
    d. Medical travel reimbursement arrangements will need to be coordinated with other arrangements such as health FSAs and eligibility under a medical travel arrangement will impact HSA eligibility. A careful survey of clients’ benefit landscape is necessary before implementing a medical travel reimbursement arrangement.
    e. States such as Texas and Oklahoma have laws that prohibit “aiding and abetting” abortion – including through provision of insurance and reimbursements – which could be directed at employers offering these benefits. Further, a group of Texas legislators (the “Texas Freedom Caucus”) has threatened criminal prosecution of at least one employer that offers travel benefits for those seeking abortion services. The ultimate enforceability of these provisions against employers will need to be determined through litigation, which may take years to unfold. In the meantime, clients contemplating medical travel benefits for abortion services will need competent legal counsel on potential liability and ERISA preemption issues that are raised.
  4. Be mindful of stop-loss coverage and the need to involve the stop-loss carrier in discussions of any change in self-insured plan design, around abortion services.
  5. Be aware that the compliance landscape is shifting constantly and that it is important to closely monitor your sources for benefits news. Even as this post was being finished, it was announced that the Dick’s Sporting Goods chain, which had offered a $4,000 travel benefit to employees seeking out-of-state abortions, was sued by “America First Legal,” a conservative group, on the grounds that the travel benefit violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act by discriminating against female employees who choose to give birth. As many of the key issues in this area will be litigated, fast answers are not available. The safest strategy for the foreseeable future is to stay informed and proceed with caution. The above information is a brief summary of legal developments that is provided for general guidance only and does not create an attorney-client relationship between the author and the reader. Readers are encouraged to seek individualized legal advice in regard to any particular factual situation. © 2022 Christine P. Roberts, all rights reserved.

Photo credit: Cody Engel, Unsplash

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Five Good Reasons to Correct Retirement Plan Errors

If your business sponsors a Section 401(k) or other retirement plan, it is governed by a lengthy plan document, often a separate trust agreement or custodial account agreement, and multiple other documents (salary deferral agreements, loan policy statement, investment policy statement, etc.)  Not surprisingly, most plan sponsors get something wrong somewhere along the way, whether with respect to the plan document, or operation of the plan.  Below are five reasons why taking prompt action to correct plan errors is in the best interests of your business, and your employees.   

  1. To preserve the tax-qualified status of your plan.

Contributions to your plan are deductible to your business and excluded from your employees’ taxable compensation (i.e., are “tax-qualified”) because the plan document, and operation of the plan, conform to certain requirements under the Internal Revenue Code.  Under the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System or EPCRS, the Internal Revenue Service permits plan sponsors to voluntarily correct a wide range of errors that, if left uncorrected, could result in a loss of the plan’s tax-qualified status and subject plan assets to taxation.   There are costs associated with participating in the EPCRS, including amounts that may be owed to the plan, attorneys’ fees, and program fees, but they are usually only a fraction of the potential expense of plan disqualification. 

  1. To correct prohibited transactions.

While the IRS monitors the tax-advantaged status of benefit plans, the Department of Labor policies the actions of plan fiduciaries, both with respect to plan assets, and in fulfilling reporting and disclosure duties.  When salary deferrals and loan repayments are withheld from employees’ pay and not promptly deposited in the plan’s trust account, the Department of Labor essentially views this as an interest free loan, by the employer, of employee money.  Technically speaking, it is a “prohibited transaction” that requires correction under the DOL’s Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program.  Uncorrected prohibited transactions, if discovered on audit, can result in civil monetary penalties to the fiduciaries, and also triggers excise taxes payable to the Internal Revenue Service.  Prohibited transactions also must be disclosed on the annual Form 5500 Return/Report, potentially alerting the Department of Labor to initiate further inquiry or audit.  Timely participation in VFCP eliminates the fiduciary penalties and offers alternatives to payment of the excise taxes in some circumstances (e.g., if the same amount is paid to the plan). 

  1. To minimize penalties in the event of a plan audit.

The IRS, on audit, may assess penalties for uncorrected errors in plan documentation and operation, that can reach many thousands of dollars, on top of the amounts owed to the plan in order to correct operational errors.  And, as mentioned, prohibited transactions trigger potential civil monetary penalties.  Participation in IRS and DOL voluntary correction programs protects plan sponsors from these potential large assessments.  Whatever the cost of taking part in the voluntary program, whether it be costs of corrective contributions and earnings, attorneys fees, and the program fee, it is a quantifiable cost and one that is much smaller than the cost of correcting under the supervision of the IRS or DOL.

  1. To ensure the saleability of your business.

Plan sponsors sometimes think that their uncorrected plan errors are only at risk of discovery if they are audited, and point to low levels of IRS and DOL audit activity as proof that they can safely play “audit roulette.”  However they are forgetting that, if they want to sell their business – particularly stock sales – or merge with another business, the due diligence process preceding the transaction will likely require them to identify any errors in plan documentation or operation within a 3 year or longer period.  An unresolved plan error could derail the transaction, or at best require correction under terms and conditions that are not as favorable, to the plan sponsor, as self-correction would have been.  If you envision your business as a purchase target or merger partner in the future you owe it to yourself to make sure that plan errors are corrected promptly and in advance of any due diligence inquiries. 

  1. Because it’s the right thing to do.

Your retirement plan document is a contract you have entered into for the benefit of plan participants and beneficiaries and you should take it as seriously as any contract you enter into with a third party.  It spells out the right way to do things, for the most part, and the IRS and DOL self-correction programs are there to minimize the downside when plan documentation or operation falls short of perfection.  Whether your goal is to sell your business without a hitch, or glide through an IRS or DOL audit with a minimum of fuss, fixing plan errors promptly is the right choice every time.

The above information is a brief summary of legal issues that is provided for general guidance only and does not create an attorney-client relationship between the author and the reader. Readers are encouraged to seek individualized legal advice in regard to any particular factual situation. © 2021 Christine P. Roberts, all rights reserved.

Photo credit:  Sasun Bughdaryan, Unsplash

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Scary Surprise for Some New 401(k) Sponsors: Plan Audit Costs

Imagine you are a California business owner, with three fast-casual restaurant operations throughout the state. You employ over 100 employees, such that by September 30, 2020, you were either required to have a retirement plan in place, or to begin to participate in the CalSavers program by forwarding employee contributions to Roth IRAs managed by a state-appointed custodian.

Your decisions about whether to adopt your own retirement plan were made in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic when business operations, cash flow, and staffing needs were chaotic and fast-changing. On balance, however, you decided to adopt your own plan and ultimately chose a deferral-only 401(k) plan as the best fit for your business. You adopted the plan by July 1, 2020 in advance of the September 30, 2020 CalSavers deadline for employers with over 100 employees.

Your restaurants pivoted to take out and food delivery services and you were lucky not to have to furlough or lay off any employees, but employee wages were lower than before the pandemic and you had high turnover. In June of 2020 you conducted enrollment meeting for the 401(k) plan but employee response was tepid. Only a few dozen employees actually enrolled in the plan, although most all employees (well over 100) were eligible to make salary deferrals.

Fast forward to the end of 2021. You find out that as part of your Form 5500 filing obligations you need to engage the services of an independent qualified public accountant (IQPA) to audit plan operations and finances. The cost of these services run about $10,000. This is a scary surprise for you. Did things have to end up this way?

In a word, no, although the 401(k) plan design may still have been the best fit for your business, and there may be light at the end of the tunnel for you, regarding the audit requirement.

Let’s break it down.  First, the audit requirement.  Under Section 103 of ERISA, a qualified retirement plan with 100 or more participants as of the first day of the plan year generally must provide an audit report prepared by an IQPA together with their “long form” Form 5500.  “Participants” means those employees who meet eligibility requirements under the plan, even if they don’t contribute to the plan or have an account under the plan (it also includes former employees who retain an account under the plan because they have not taken a distribution or rollover).  A special rule – the “80-120 rule” applies to plans that filed a Form 5500-SF (Short Form) in the prior year and have 120 or fewer participants as of the first day of the plan year in question, but if you adopt your plan in a year where you meet or exceed the 100 participant rule – again, counting those who are eligible regardless of participation status – you will be required to provide an audit report for your first Form 5500 filing.  That is the situation of the restaurant owner in our example.

Second, plan design. The restauranteur could have adopted a SEP-IRA, which is exempt from Form 5500 filing requirements, and with it, the requirement for an audit. However, SEP-IRAs require employer contributions and the 401(k) required only employee elective deferrals, so the cost of a SEP-IRA may not have worked for the business. The hiccup here is that the “no cost” 401(k) plan carried the hidden cost of a plan audit.

Lastly, a potential change to counting 100 participants for purposes of the audit requirement may be in the offing.  Proposed regulations from the Department of Labor, Department of the Treasury, and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation would change the participant headcount methodology to look only at participants with account balances, and disregard those who are eligible but not participating.  If finalized and adopted, these regulations would generally apply to plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2022.  So for the restaurant owner in question it may be that another audit is required for the 2021-2022 plan year but that the audit requirement goes away if plan participation remains low. 

The hidden cost of a plan audit is also a concern for a wider group of employers, irrespective of state auto-IRA plan mandates, in 2024 when the SECURE Act rules for long-term, part-time employees go into full effect.  If the Form 5500 proposed regulations do become law, then the fact that part-time employees are eligible to make elective deferrals under their employers’ 401(k) plans will not trigger audit requirements unless they actually participate in the plan, and the plan’s active and former participant ranks meet or exceed 100 as of the first day of any given plan year.  The coming increase in participant ranks due to long-term, part-time employees increase in plan participant ranks was identified as one reason for the proposed change in headcount methodology.

The above information is provided for general informational purposes only and does not create an attorney-client relationship between the author and the reader. Readers should not apply the information to any specific factual situation other than on the advice of an attorney engaged specifically for that or a related purpose. © 2021 Christine P. Roberts, all rights reserved.

Photo credit: Colton Sturgeon, Unsplash

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VP of HR Sued Over 401(k) Operational Error

A proposed class action lawsuit in the Northern District of Illinois involving a failure to follow the terms of a 401(k) plan personally names the Vice President of Human Resources for Conagra Brands, Inc. Karlson v. Conagra Brands, Case No. 1:18-cv-8323 (N.D. Ill., Dec. 19, 2018) as a defendant, and, as it happens, the lead plaintiff is the former senior director of global benefits at the company. Other named defendants included the benefits administrative and appeals committee of the Conagra board, both of which committees included the named VP of Human Resources among its members.

Generally, class action litigation over 401(k) plans has alleged fiduciary breaches over plan investments, such as unnecessarily expensive share classes, undisclosed revenue sharing, and the like. However a failure to follow the written terms of a plan document is also a fiduciary breach under ERISA § 404(a)(1)(D), which requires fiduciaries to act “in accordance with the documents and instruments governing the plan” insofar as they are consistent with ERISA.

In the Conagra case, the plan document defined compensation that was subject to salary deferrals and employer matching contributions to include bonus compensation that was paid after separation from employment provided that it would have been paid to the participant, had employment continued, and further provided that the amounts were paid by the later of the date that is 2 ½ months after the end of employment, or end of the year in which employment terminated. Post-severance compensation was included in final regulations under Code § 415 released in April 2007 and is generally an option for employers to elect in their plan adoption agreements.  Note that, when included under a plan, post-severance compensation never includes actual severance pay, only items paid within the applicable time period that would have been paid in the course of employment had employment not terminated.

Karlson was terminated April 1, 2016 and received a bonus check 3 ½ months later, on July 15, 2016, and noted that the Company did not apply his 15% deferral rate to the bonus check and did not make a matching contribution. Because the bonus check fell squarely within the definition of “compensation” subject to contributions under the plan, Karlson filed an ERISA claim and exhausted his administrative remedies under the plan before filing suit.

The complaint alleges that the failure to apply deferral elections and make matching contributions on the bonus check was not a mere oversight on Conagra’s part. Instead, until 2016 Conagra had allowed deferrals to be made from all post-termination bonus checks (provided they were paid by the end of the year in which termination occurred), but in 2016 it limited it to instances where the bonus check was paid within 2 ½ months of termination.  In claim correspondence with Karlson, Conagra referred to this as an “administrative interpretation” of the terms of the Plan that was within its scope of discretion as Plan Administrator, and did not require a plan amendment.

Karlson maintained that the “administrative interpretation” contradicted the written terms of the plan and pursued his claim through the appeals stage. Karlson alleged, in relevant part, that Conagra’s narrowed administrative interpretation coincided with a layoff of 30% of its workforce and was motivated by a desire to reduce its expenses and improve its financial performance.  This, Karlson alleged, was a breach of the fiduciary duty of loyalty to plan participants and of the exclusive benefit rule and hence violated ERISA.  In addition to the fiduciary breach claim under ERISA § 502(a)(2), Karlson also alleged a claim to recover benefits under ERISA § 502(a)(1)(B).

As of this writing, per the public court docket the parties are slated for a status hearing to discuss, among other things, potential settlement of Karlson’s claims.

Although the timing of the layoff certainly adds factual topspin to Karlson’s fiduciary breach claim, the troubling takeaway from this case is that Conagra’s simple failure to follow the written terms of the plan is sufficient for a court to find that it violated its fiduciary duty. The other concern is that operational errors relating to the definition of compensation are among the IRS “top ten” failures corrected in the Voluntary Compliance Program and are also among the most frequent errors that the author is called upon to correct in her practice.

To limit the occurrence of operational failures related to the definition of compensation, plan sponsors should do a “table read” of the definition of compensation in their adoption agreement and summary plan description, together with all personnel whose jobs include plan administration functions (e.g., human resources, payroll, benefits, etc.) Reference to the basic plan document may also be required.  Most important, outside payroll vendor representatives should attend the table read meeting either in person, or by conference call.  All attendees should review, and be on the same page, as to the items that are included in compensation for plan contribution purposes, and on procedures relating to post-termination compensation.

If questions ever arise in this regard, benefit counsel can help.

The above information is provided for general informational purposes only and does not create an attorney-client relationship between the author and the reader.  Readers should not apply the information to any specific factual situation other than on the advice of an attorney engaged specifically for that or a related purpose.  © 2019 Christine P. Roberts, all rights reserved.

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Update on ACA Reporting Duties – Revised for IRS Notice 2016-70

ACA reporting deadlines for applicable large employers arrive early in 2017 and, through Notice 2016-70,  the IRS has now offered a 30-day extension on the January 31, 2017 deadline to furnish employee statements – Forms 1095-C.  The new deadline is March 2, 2017 and it is a hard deadline, no 30-day extension may be obtained.  There is no extension on the deadline to file Forms 1095-C with the IRS under cover of transmittal Form 1094-C.  The deadline for paper filing is February 28, 2017 and the electronic filing deadline is March 31, 2017.  (Electronic filing is required for applicable large employers filing 250 or more employee statements.)

Also in Notice 2016-70, the IRS extended its good faith compliance policy for timely furnished and filed 2016 Forms 1095-C and 1094-C that may contain inaccurate or incomplete information.  This relief is only available for timely filed, but inaccurate or incomplete returns.  Relief for failure to furnish/file altogether is available only on a showing of reasonable cause, and this is a narrow standard (e.g., fire, flood, major illness).

In addition to covering the new transition relief, this-brief-powerpoint-presentation summarizes some changes in the final 2016 Forms 1094-C and 1095-c, from last year’s versions, and includes some helpful hints for accurate and timely reporting.