Benefits Law Group of Chicago

About one year ago, in anticipation of social gatherings to celebrate the upcoming Fourth of July holiday, President Biden informally observed that the COVID emergency was over. Subsequent legislative and executive action formally ended the COVID national emergency as of May 11, 2023. Various relief provisions relating to employee benefits, like COBRA continuation coverage, wound down in the aftermath of that action. More recently, legislation raising the national debt ceiling “clawed back” unspent COVID relief funds. You might have concluded that the COVID pandemic and related government programs were behind us. But you would be wrong. FEMA’s “funeral assistance” program … Read more […]

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The Secure Act 2.0 deals with many benefit related matters including changes to the prior law which generally required retirement plan fiduciaries to take reasonable action to recover any overpayment of plan benefits – even if the overpayment resulted from mistakes made by administrators of the plan. Such action would require efforts to recover benefit overpayments from participants and their surviving beneficiaries by cash payments to the plan or recoupment from future benefit payments in the case of befits paid in the form of a monthly pension. The prior law is summarized in court opinions such as Bacckes v. Kaiser … Read more […]

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Fiduciaries who handle investments for self-directed 401(k) plans are increasingly exposed to liability for their investment decisions.  Those fiduciaries, including employers and individuals charged with investment selection, are being second guessed in  court actions for the investment funds they select.  Plan fiduciaries are being sued for a variety of allegations ranging from excessive fees, poor investment performance, self-dealing and lack of transparency. Many of these actions are filed as class action and, like other fiduciary liability claims, they assert personal liability against plan fiduciaries. Recent court decisions have grappled with the basic issue of low cost index funds versus actively … Read more […]

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The recently adopted American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) includes in its $1.9 trillion of relief spending reimbursement of the premium cost of COBRA continuation coverage for employees and their covered family members who lose their group coverage as a result of an involuntary termination of their employment or a reduced number of employment hours. These qualified individuals may be entitled to free COBRA continuation coverage during the six-month subsidy period period from April 1, 2021 through September 30, 2021. Here are the highlights of the ARPA’s COBRA subsidy: (a) People who enroll in or become eligible for COBRA coverage between … Read more […]

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