ERISA Litigation

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By: Thompson Hine LLP

Latest from ERISA Litigation - Page 3

The Department of Labor’s (“DOL”) Employee Benefits Security Administration recently issued Pooled Employer Plans: Big Plans for Small Businesses, which contains interpretive guidance that seeks to encourage the establishment and adoption of pooled employer plans (“PEPs”) by demonstrating how DOL currently believes that PEPs can minimize employers’ fiduciary risks.  The guidance is accompanied by…

On July 4, 2025, President Trump signed into law the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (“OBBBA”). Among other things, the OBBBA created a “starter” individual retirement account called a “Trump Account” and authorized a program under which an employer can make non-taxable contributions to an employee’s Trump Account.  Employers considering the new Trump Account program…

A rapidly growing line of ERISA cases seeks to impose fiduciary standards of conduct—developed by courts largely in the retirement plan context—to health plan design choices.  The most recent, Barbich et al. v. Northwestern University et al., No. 1:25-cv-06849 (N.D. Ill.) filed on June 20, 2025, involves a new and potentially disruptive twist: plaintiffs allege…

On June 30, 2025, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in M&K Employee Solutions, LLC et al. v. Trustees of the IAM Nat’l Pension Fund to address whether the requirement under ERISA section 4211 that multiemployer pension plans compute withdrawal liability based on the plan’s unfunded vested benefits “as of the end” of the plan year…

The California wildfires were officially declared a federal disaster by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on January 7, 2025. Plan sponsors and participants continue to navigate the financial and administrative impacts of these events. During this unpredictable time, plan sponsors may be able to provide various forms of relief to impacted participants. Plan sponsors…

On March 28, 2025, two neighboring district courts issued sharply contrasting decisions on constitutional standing in lawsuits challenging pension risk transfers under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”).  The United States District Court for the District of Columbia, in Camire et al. v. Alcoa USA Corp. (“Alcoa Decision”), concluded plaintiffs lacked standing…

In Hansen v. Laboratory Corporation of America, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 193350 (E.D. Wis. 2024), the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin rejected a challenge to the authority of the Department of Labor (DOL) to promulgate a “payroll practice” exemption to the definition of plans covered by the Employee Retirement Income Security…

On January 17, 2025, the ERISA Industry Committee (“ERIC”) filed a lawsuit, The ERISA Industry Committee v. United States Department of Health and Human Services et al. challenging the final Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (“MHPAEA”) rule published by the Departments of Labor, Treasury, and Health and Human Services (the “Departments”) in…

In a closely watched ERISA case, the United States District Court for the District of Colorado has issued an order affirming the Magistrate Judge’s ruling in Harrison v. Envision Management Holding, Inc. Board of Directors et al (Case No. 21-cv-00304), concerning the discoverability of Department of Labor (“DOL”) interview reports plaintiffs had obtained under a…

A recently filed lawsuit is a good reminder that self-insured health plan fiduciaries have a fiduciary duty to ensure that their health plans are being administered according to the plan’s terms and in compliance with law, while defraying the reasonable expenses of administering the plan.  In discharging this responsibility, plan fiduciaries must oversee any party…