Hidden Fees Can Make Plan Investments Imprudent

As a fiduciary, you may do everything by the book in choosing what to invest plan assets in. The investment may be safe, provide proper amounts of returns and not be overly risky. But there’s one thing that can derail...

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The Fiduciary Duty to Only Pay Reasonable Fees from ERISA Plan Assets

Plan sponsors may not realize this, but one of their numerous fiduciary duties is that they have a fiduciary duty to only pay reasonable and necessary fees from plan assets. The reason for this is that while slightly larger than necessary fees...

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Small Retirement Plans Seeing Increasing Fiduciary Breach Lawsuits

An excessive fee suit against a retirement plan holding $9 million in assets for 114 participants is being seen as the dawning of a new era in retirement plan fiduciary breach lawsuits. The suit, Damberg et al v. LaMettry’s Collision...

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Phishing Attacks Trick Your Employees Into Giving Hackers Access

How could there be a danger in clicking a link in an email that appears to be from your coworker down the hall? Clicking that link can provide a hacker access to your company’s system, starting a cyber attack. Many...

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Cyber Attackers Can Use Your Own Systems to Steal Your Data

It does not take a computer virus or public data mining for a cyber attacker to cause a data breach at your company. They can use your own systems against you to get what they want. In today’s world, nearly...

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An ERISA Plan Administrator’s Fiduciary Responsibilities

A person is a fiduciary under ERISA if they exercise discretionary control or authority over plan management or disposition of plan assets, provide investment advice for plan assets for a fee, or have discretionary authority or responsibility in plan administration....

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Failed Pension Investments Can Lead to Fiduciary Liability

Pension plan fiduciaries such as plan sponsors have to worry about a lot of different scenarios that could result in a fiduciary duty breach and liability. One of the most dangerous scenarios that fiduciaries have to worry about is risky pension...

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Non-diversified Investments Lead to Fiduciary Liability

As a plan sponsor, you may think one investment you have will work wonders for the plan funds you are in charge of. But what if it does not? What if it fails? Then you will be guilty of a...

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Slightly higher 401(k) Fees Make Plan Sponsors Liable

Paying 1% higher fees than the average rate for someone to administer a 401(k) plan does not sound like it would cause too many problems. But paying fees even 1% higher than average in 401(k) fees can cause you to...

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Fiduciary Liability of Administrative Staff

You may not think communications with plan administrative staff could cause a fiduciary breach, but you would be wrong. Plan administrative staff members are functionally plan fiduciaries when they communicate with plan participants and their beneficiaries. According to the appeal...

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