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Here is a recent roundup of industry accomplishments. Check to see if a colleague is mentioned this week.

It’s time to nominate your outstanding colleagues — or yourself — for Employee Benefit Adviser’s 2012 Adviser of the Year awards! EBA’s Advisers of the Year are recognized for their stellar performance in sales, client service and overall impact on the profession.

By the time our third child arrives this summer, I’ll have more than met the family deductible under our HDHP. Thankfully, pregnancy is not a chronic condition. However, chronically ill Americans must navigate our nation’s health care system 365 days a year. And a new NPR poll finds that even for those not covered by HDHPs, they find the experience extremely tough.

Participating in a three-year initiative in 10 cities that offered strategies for supporting older workers, these workers are finding new work through a plan that placed them in paid temporary internships. The program, which allowed workers to try new jobs while gaining experience and education, is a model that could be replicated in other parts of the country.

JPMorgan Chase & Co has been hit with a lawsuit brought on behalf of employees whose retirement holdings fell in value after the largest U.S. bank revealed a surprise $2 billion trading loss earlier this month. The defendants are accused of violating fiduciary duties to 401(k) and other retirement plan participants by including company stock as an investment option, hiding the stock's risk, and failing to move participants to safer choices.

Venture capital is a male-dominated world, but sexual harassment lawsuits are rare. A lawsuit was filed against one firm earlier this month, alleging that executives excluded women from email chains, allowing fewer female junior partners board seats and investment sponsorships compared to male junior partners, allocating women a smaller percentage of profits. Avoiding even the appearance of such gender discrimination is where the human resources function becomes crucial.

A significant number of U.S. employers that still offer defined benefit pension plans are committed to providing those benefits to new salaried employees, according to a survey by Towers Watson. The survey also finds that employers are adding features to their defined contribution plans that mirror DB design to help close possible retirement savings gaps created by the shift from DB to DC plans.

New findings from Tiburon Strategic Advisors reveal some interesting facts about advisers’ appetite, or lack thereof, for headline grabbing products such as alternatives and exchange-traded funds.

Financial advisers are so uncomfortable speaking about life insurance that more than half (56%) simply don’t do it, according to a recent survey by consultancy Saybrus Partners Inc.

More than 75% of health care incentives are so small or poorly communicated that they go unnoticed by providers. As a result, more than $20 billion in incentives may be wasted annually, according to a study.