Labor & Employment Developments Blog

In a recent Revenue Procedure (Rev. Proc. 2019-20), the IRS announced the limited expansion of the determination letter program for individually designed plans.  The program is limited to (1) certain cash balance plans and (2) retirement plans that merge as the result of a corporate transaction.  The window for determination letter submissions for eligible cash balance plans will run from September 1, 2019 to August 31, 2020.  Submissions for merged plans will begin on September 1, 2019 and will be ongoing.

This opportunity is especially important for cash balance plans since the IRS ...

The U.S. Department of Labor Employee Benefits Security Administration (“EBSA”) discovered that William H. Minor, a former board member of Rehabilitation Center for Children & Adults Inc. who also volunteered to manage its pension plan, embezzled approximately $2 million from the pension plan.  Minor operated Multi Financial Insurance Corp. an entity that provided investment advice and administrative services to pension plans. 

EBSA discovered that Minor moved the plan’s assets to a life insurance company with which Minor was a registered agent.  Minor then falsely ...

The Justice Department filed a letter in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on March 25, 2019 (Letter) supporting the decision of a Texas District Court ruling that the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) is unconstitutional.  In its ruling (Ruling), the District Court held the individual mandate under the ACA is unconstitutional given the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.  The court further held that the remaining provisions of the ACA are also unconstitutional because those provisions cannot be severed from the individual mandate.  The Justice Department intends to file a ...

The IRS reversed its previous position that prohibited defined benefit plan sponsors from offering lump payments to terminated participants currently receiving annuity payments.  The IRS announced in Notice 2019-18 that until further guidance is issued it will not assert that a plan amendment providing for a retiree lump sum window program violates Section 401(a)(9) of the Internal Revenue Code.  The Notice also provides that the IRS will evaluate the plan amendment to ensure it satisfies the relevant provisions of the Code. 

Based on this latest development, it appears plan ...