Member Articles

ERISA requires plan fiduciaries to discharge their fiduciary duties solely in the interests of the participants and beneficiaries of the plan, and imposes personal liability on plan fiduciaries who fail to do so. While these obligations have existed under ERISA for over 25 years, Enron has brought them into sharp focus and caused many employers to revisit the structure of, and the fiduciary responsibilities imposed on employees under, their 401(k) plans and other retirement plans ...

On Monday, January 14, 2002, the United States Supreme Court decided 6-3 that the EEOC is not limited by an arbitration agreement signed by an individual employee, but may seek back-pay, reinstatement or damages on behalf of that employee when it litigates. The lower appellate courts had split, with the most arbitration favorable courts holding that where an arbitration agreement existed, the EEOC was limited to seeking injunctive relief ...

As employers face the uncertainties of the post 9/11 era, we issue this Alert addressing five significant issues that the terrorist attacks raise for employers: (i) discrimination claims; (ii) the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994; (iii) workplace violence; (iv) background checks; and (v) security, evacuation, and safety. 1 ...

On December 27, 2001, President Bush signed the Administrative Simplification Compliance Act (the "Act") that delayed the effective date of the electronic data interchange ("EDI") requirements of HIPAA. The EDI regulations required health claim transactions transmitted electronically to be in a standard format. The Act delays the effective date of the EDI regulations until October 16, 2003 or 2004 depending upon the size of your group health plan ...

Many employers are busy planning and preparing for the HIPAA privacy regulations which become applicable on or after April 14, 2003 or 2004, depending on the size of the group health plan. In the past, many employers wrapped all welfare plans into one plan document to reduce their Form 5500 filing requirements ...