Employer Strategies

With the Supreme Court tackling constitutional challenges to the Affordable Care Act during oral arguments March 26-28, the Kaiser Family Foundation has published a 10-page primer of the issues and arguments before the court.

Skinner is a welcome decision for plan fiduciaries. It is, however, only the first appellate opinion on the subject post-Amara. Additionally, the facts of the case were not particularly compelling for the plaintiffs, since they received accurate information before making their retirement decisions and thus never relied on the faulty SPD. Undoubtedly other courts will tackle the issue of ERISA remedies in the coming months. In the meantime, however, employer/plan administrators should continue to subject their plan documents and benefits communications to a careful review to ensure their accuracy and clarity. Skinner teaches that, in the context of benefit communications, an ounce of prevention is truly worth a pound of cure.

More Americans are feeling optimistic about their retirement savings, according to a new survey.

More than half of U.S. employers say they are expanding the use of technology to manage costs associated with employee benefits programs. This is according to new research from Prudential Financial.

The Department of Labor is not going to let push-back from the financial services industry delay its fiduciary rule for advisers who handle retirement plans — but that does not mean the regulation will be out anytime soon.

Financial services firms, advisers and brokers can get themselves caught in their own tracks on social media, worrying excessively about Securities and Exchange Commission rules on disclosures, marketing and communication, as well as Financial Industry Regulatory Authority guidelines.

The economy is causing employees, particularly younger generations, to turn with greater interest to employers for help with establishing financial security. According to a new survey, nearly half of all employees say that because of the economy they are counting on employers’ benefits programs to help with their financial protection needs, and that percentage climbs to 55% for Gen X workers and 66% for Gen Y.

Although hundreds of financial advisers, consultants, fiduciaries, IRA experts and record keepers gathered in the ‘Big Easy,’ event goers can agree that fee disclosures and regulations are anything but simple when it comes to the retirement industry.

Most advisers and their clients don’t see eye to eye on measuring portfolio performance, according to global asset manager Russell Investments’ latest quarterly survey of U.S. financial advisers.

The U.S. Supreme Court said on Friday it will release audio recordings and transcripts of oral arguments in the health care challenge immediately after the March 26-28 sessions, responding to what it called "extraordinary public interest."