Every autumn, retirement plan sponsors must meet a fundamental compliance obligation: communicating about plan status to participants via the Summary Annual Report (SAR). For calendar-year plans, the standard distribution deadline for sharing 2025’s information is September 30, 2026 (or December...

When you sponsor a retirement plan regulated by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), you're responsible for decisions that benefit participants — and that includes making sure plan fees stay reasonable. This is part of your fiduciary duty of...

Compiled with guidance from accountants, attorneys, and ERISA compliance experts If you sponsor a workplace retirement plan — a 401(k), profit-sharing plan, or similar arrangement — you carry one of the most consequential legal obligations in employment law. Embedded within...

When you sponsor a retirement plan for employees, such as a 401k, you exercise discretion whenever you make decisions about the plan’s management. That’s why, under the Employee Retirement Income and Security Act, you are considered a fiduciary, and can...

Sponsoring a workplace retirement plan comes with significant fiduciary duties and regulatory responsibilities. Under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), plan sponsors are held to strict standards enforced by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL).To safeguard both your plan’s...

When you sponsor a retirement plan, it is tempting to assume your service providers have everything covered. However, under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), selecting and monitoring these vendors is a fiduciary act. Because retirement accounts house highly...

When you sponsor a 401(k), securing expert help is wise—but understanding what you can't give away is imperative too. While 3(16) administrators, 3(21) advisors, and 3(38) managers can handle a lot of the heavy lifting, you retain the ultimate legal...

Though it’s the big dollar cases against big companies with large 401k plans that make headlines, the reality is that sponsors with businesses of every size need to beware of their ERISA litigation risks. Attorneys and 410k specialists provide insights...

With the exploration of private equity and other alternative investments in 401k plans underway, plan sponsors are confronting increased uncertainty and complexity as ERISA fiduciaries. Decision making errors in the face of duties like prudence and loyalty come with the...

The Department of Labor obligates retirement plan sponsors to mitigate cybersecurity threats to plan assets and data, and provides specific guidance for doing so. Still, many retirement plan sponsors find it overwhelming to develop action steps, which is understandable in...