Coffee Talk with Benefits

In this episode, we're joined by Ameena Majid, Seyfarth's Impact & Sustainability Partner, to explore the intricacies of ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) investing. Ameena explains the core principles of ESG, why it has become a priority for companies, and the different types of ESG investing. We also discuss how corporate ESG goals influence 401(k) and pension plan investments, the regulatory landscape, and potential legal hurdles. Grab your cup of coffee and tune in to hear Ameena share her expertise on navigating the evolving ESG legal landscape.

In this episode, Richard and Sarah are joined by Ian Morrison, a Partner in Seyfarth's ERISA Litigation group to delve into a new line of cases alleging that forfeitures are plan assets, and must be used to benefit plan participants. The plaintiffs in these cases are claiming that using forfeitures to offset employer contributions – a common practice - amounts to disloyal conduct by the fiduciaries and self-dealing by the employer. This episode also explores the defense's arguments that this practice is lawful, backed by longstanding Treasury Regulations and Department of Labor guidance. Grab your cup of coffee and tune in to hear Richard and Sarah discuss these recent cases with Ian, and the steps plan sponsors can take to navigate this evolving legal landscape.

Released by the IRS in the final days of 2023, Notice 2024-2 offers guidance on several aspects of the SECURE 2.0 Act, particularly focusing on instructions related to designated Roth matching and nonelective contributions. In this episode, Seyfarth's Ben Spater provides insights on various aspects of the notice, including the participant eligibility to elect employer contributions, the irrevocability of Roth designations, the five-year holding period for tax benefits, and potential administrative complexities. Ben also clarifies how Roth contributions are treated for purposes of tax reporting. Grab your cup of coffee and tune in to hear Richard and Sarah discuss how these provisions impact retirement planning strategies, compliance considerations for employers, and what individuals need to know about managing their tax liabilities when it comes to Roth contributions in their retirement accounts.

On November 24, 2023, the IRS issued highly anticipated proposed regulations concerning the provisions under SECURE and SECURE 2.0, requiring 401(k) plans to expand deferral eligibility for long-term part-time employees. The proposed rules answer a number of burning questions that have been lingering since 2019 when SECURE was first enacted. In this special episode, Seyfarth Partner Diane Dygert and our very own co-host Sarah Touzalin delve into the intricacies of identifying long-term part-time employees, the nuanced vesting rules applicable to long-term part-time employees, the newly introduced concept of former long-term part-time employees, and what, if anything, plan sponsors and administers need to do for 2024. Grab your cup of coffee and tune in for a lively discussion of these proposed rules!

Earlier this year, the Biden-Harris Administration took a firm stance against 'junk insurance' by introducing regulations aimed at impacting short-term limited duration insurance policies, independent non-coordinated coverage, and level funded plan arrangements. In this episode, our guests Diane Dygert and Benjamin Conley provide insights on these proposed regulations, addressing employee comprehension gaps, coverage notifications, and potential tax implications. Diane and Ben also draw from practical examples, stressing the importance for employers to reassess FICA avoidance strategies. Grab your cup of coffee and tune in to hear Richard and Sarah discuss the current regulatory landscape and what employers should consider when offering or renewing such benefit plans.

Enacted in December 2022, the SECURE 2.0 Act contains over 90 provisions that impact qualified retirement plans. Notably, SECURE 2.0 mandates the adoption of auto-enrollment features for plans established after its enactment. Grab your cup of coffee and tune in to hear Richard and Sarah chat with Matthew Calloway from Mercer, about the effects that these requirements have on existing and new plans, as well as potential legislative developments, making this a must-listen for plan sponsors and HR professionals alike.

On this episode of Coffee Talk With Benefits, Richard and Sarah venture out of the office as part of an Employee Benefits retreat and engage in brief discussions with their colleagues, Diane Dygert, Caroline Pieper, Alisha Sullivan, Ben Conley, Jen Kraft, Sam Schwartz-Fenwick, and Ada Dolph covering a range of interesting topics. Join us as we discuss what it means to be a "slob" in the ERISA world, the gag rule and what are NOT fiduciary best practices, among other things. Grab your cup of coffee and tune in for a lively episode.

The 50th anniversary of the enactment of ERISA is next year, so we thought what better way to look back on those 50 years than with Seyfarth Partner, Howard Pianko, who was one of the original ERISA practitioners back in 1974. Listen in as Howard recollects his journey with ERISA these past almost 50 years, why he became a lawyer in the first place, and his involvement with ERISA when it was first enacted. Did you know that before Howard started practicing law he taught Social Studies (they call that History today!) in the New York City public school system, and that he decided to study tax law and get his LLM from NYU following a walk with his dog? It's all true! Grab your cup of coffee and tune in for a perspective of ERISA that many ERISA practitioners never get to hear.

Signed into law in the waning days of 2022, the SECURE 2.0 Act contains over 90 provisions impacting qualified retirement plans. Several of these provisions materially expand how Roth contributions are to be used, that impact employers and participants alike. We are witnessing the Rothification of retirement accounts. Grab your cup of coffee and tune in to hear Richard and Sarah chat with Seyfarth colleague Ben Spater about the many Roth related changes in SECURE 2.0. We will continue to discuss the multitude of other (non-Roth) provisions in SECURE 2.0 in future episodes as well. So bookmark us!

The Internal Revenue Code provides significant tax benefits for both employers and employees participating in a 401(k) or 403(b) plan. In exchange for these tax benefits, the plan must satisfy a litany of requirements, notably that a plan be administered in accordance with its plan document. Failure to do so could result in the plan's loss of its tax-qualified status, which would result in adverse tax consequences for the employer and plan's participants. A common failure is not following the participant's contribution election, or perhaps failing to auto-enroll a participant otherwise eligible to be. So how do employee contribution failures occur, and how are they typically corrected? How do the IRS correction procedures treat automatic deferral plans? Grab your cup of coffee and tune in to hear Richard and Sarah chat with Seyfarth colleague Sarah Magill about these pressing questions and more!

‘Missing' or lost participants often raise a handful of legal and administrative issues for plan sponsors. The lack of definitive guidance has led to confusion for plan sponsors in deciding what to do about missing participants. While the IRS and DOL have their own separate concerns, both agencies are concerned and likely to inquire about a plan's missing participants upon audit. What steps should plan sponsors take to decrease the chance that a participant will go missing, and what does the IRS and DOL expect you to do to find missing participants? Grab your cup of coffee and tune in to hear Richard and Sarah chat with their first external guest, Gary Chase of Willis Towers Watson, about these pressing questions that frankly, every retirement plan struggles with.

In December 2019, The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act (SECURE Act) was enacted and signed into law. The Act was the most significant piece of legislation impacting employee benefit plans since the Pension Protection Act in 2006, and includes a plethora of changes to the laws governing employer-sponsored retirement plans, specifically impacting defined contribution and defined benefit plans, IRAs, 529 plans and governmental plans. And then the pandemic hit. So while the SECURE Act has been in place for over two years, many employers are still grappling with what adjustments they need to make. How has the SECURE Act impacted post-death required minimum distributions? How has it impacted long-term part-time employees and their participation in defined contribution plans? Grab your cup of coffee and tune in to hear Richard and Sarah chat with Seyfarth's Irine Sorser about these pressing questions and more!

With interest rates on the rise, defined benefit pension plan sponsors and participants alike may be wondering how their pension plans and pension benefits are impacted. Rising interest rates lower lump sum values, which begs the question of who is impacted; the plan sponsor, the plan participant, or both? Do rising interest rates create any compliance issues? Does a pension plan sponsor have a legal obligation to explain to participants what rising interest rates will do? Grab your cup of coffee and tune in to hear Richard and Sarah chat with Seyfarth Partner Adam Greetis about these pressing questions and more!

Termination of employment is a distribution event under many retirement plans, and particularly under individual account defined contribution plans. But what does it mean to terminate employment? Is there such a thing as a “sham” termination? It's an important question for plans sponsors to consider before distributing a retirement benefit following the plan participant's departure, as a distribution attributable to a termination that is not bona fide could be considered a plan disqualification defect, putting the plan's tax-qualified status at risk. So how does a plan sponsor determine whether there was a “termination of employment” that constitutes a true distribution event? Does the possibility of being rehired put a distribution made on account of a prior termination of employment from that employer at risk? Grab your cup of coffee and tune in to hear Richard and Sarah chat with Seyfarth Partner Christina Cerasale about these pressing questions and more!

Cybersecurity has become an integral concern for employers and employee benefit plans alike. With an increase in DOL cybersecurity audits, plan fiduciaries are looking to strengthen their cybersecurity practices more than ever before. What specific risks are plans facing? Who is responsible for keeping plans safe, and what legal duties do they have? What steps should plan fiduciaries take to ensure the safety of their plan? Grab your cup of coffee and tune in to hear Richard and Sarah chat with Seyfarth colleague Benjamin Spater about these pressing questions and more!

Retirement plan investment in cryptocurrencies has been a hot topic of discussion in recent months. The Department of Labor's reaction to Super Bowl commercials with celebrities touting crypto-investments, followed by Fidelity's announcement that it would make cryptocurrency available for plan investment in the near future, has sparked some hot debate. In this episode of Coffee Talk With Benefits, Richard and Sarah speak with Linda Haynes, a partner in the Seyfarth Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Department, who specializes in plan investments and fiduciary matters.

Summary Plan Descriptions (SPDs) are an essential mechanism for employers to use when informing employees and participants of benefits offered under their plans. What kind of information is required to be included in an SPD? Should you consider including information that's not required? Who drafts them? How are SPDs distributed, and how often? Grab your cup of coffee and tune in to hear Richard and Sarah chat with Liz Deckman, a Partner in Seyfarth's Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Department, about these questions and more!

Should the recently leaked SCOTUS draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade become law this summer, trigger laws across the Country will go into effect, illegalizing abortion in a significant number of states. Other states are exploring implementing new restrictions on abortion, contraceptive and prenatal services. Many clients have already asked us about what options they may have available to them to support and assist their employees who live in those states. What can employers do if services provided under the terms of their health plan are not available to participants depending on where the participant lives? Can health plans cover expenses related to out of state travel for obtaining abortion services? Grab your cup of coffee and tune in to hear Richard and Sarah chat with Diane Dygert and Ben Conley, who are both Partners in Seyfarth's Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation department, about these timely questions and more.

Navigating the appropriate handling of a deceased participant's plan benefit is an all too common concern for retirement administrators. What's the big deal? Seems like it should be simple enough -- just pay the beneficiary -- but in practice it can be a major headache. How do plan administrators ultimately decide who the proper beneficiary is, and who will receive the plan benefit? How do beneficiary designations work in the context of divorce? What if the participant didn't designate a beneficiary at all? What can employers and plan administrators do to help mitigate common challenges associated with beneficiary designations? Grab your cup of coffee and tune in to hear Richard and Sarah chat with Jennifer Kraft, a Partner in Seyfarth's Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation department, about these burning questions and more!

One of your employees goes out on disability. What happens to their retirement plan participation while on disability? Is the individual still an employee? Do employee deferrals and loan repayments continue? What about employer contributions? Is the individual eligible to take a distribution while out on disability? So many questions, so little time! Grab your cup of coffee and tune in to hear Richard and Sarah chat with Diane Dygert, Chair of the Seyfarth Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation department, about these burning questions and more!

Coffee Talk With Benefits is brought to you by Seyfarth's Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation department. In each episode our hosts, Richard Schwartz and Sarah Touzalin, will be joined by an expert in the employee benefits world to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing large and small businesses in a broad variety of sectors, including retail, manufacturing, technology, health and hospital systems, and higher education, to name a few.