Compliance

Seeking an alternative to the DOL's controversial proposed fiduciary rule, some members of Congress are drafting their own proposal that would establish rules for advisers working with savers and plans without the regulatory burdens and litigation risks that critics see in the DOL's plan.

Under new final regulations, which take effect Jan. 1, 2016, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation substantially reduced the reporting requirements for pension plan administrators, sponsors and contributing employers.

Care must be taken to coordinate your company’s efforts to review and revise employment terms. Here are a few common problem areas to which HR and benefit managers should pay particular attention.

Commentary: A former Intel Corporation employee is suing the company for allegedly breaching its fiduciary responsibilities by investing employees’ retirement money in “risky and high-cost” hedge funds and private equity funds.

Commentary: Adviser Jerry Kalish details a list of welfare benefits subject to ERISA that fall outside of health care reform.

ACA reporting becomes mandatory in 2016. Preparing employers to be compliant with reporting requirements is a core service that advisers should be offering, industry experts say.

Commentary: The rapidly evolving regulatory environment has increased benefit and tax complexities for most employees, making the open enrollment decisions more confusing and stressful than ever.

Employers can be vulnerable to lawsuits if they have staff members they think are exempt from overtime rules, but are really not.

The Department of Labor issued an interpretive bulletin Monday on open multiple-employer retirement plans, making it easier for states to run these types of plans.

Two Form 5500 draft documents released earlier this year suggest the IRS intends to begin collecting retirement plan compliance data on an annual basis from both ERISA-governed and certain non-ERISA plans.