The Internal Revenue Code provides significant tax benefits for both employers and employees participating in a 401(k) or 403(b) plan. In exchange for these tax benefits, the plan must satisfy a litany of requirements, notably that a plan be administered in accordance with its plan document. Failure to do so could result in the plan’s loss of its tax-qualified status, which would result in adverse tax consequences for the employer and plan’s participants. A common failure is not following the participant’s contribution election, or perhaps failing to auto-enroll a participant otherwise eligible to be. So how do employee contribution failures occur, and how are they typically corrected? How do the IRS correction procedures treat automatic deferral plans? Grab your cup of coffee and tune in to hear Richard and Sarah chat with Seyfarth colleague Sarah Magill about these pressing questions and more!

‘Missing’ or lost participants often raise a handful of legal and administrative issues for plan sponsors. The lack of definitive guidance has led to confusion for plan sponsors in deciding what to do about missing participants. While the IRS and DOL have their own separate concerns, both agencies are concerned and likely to inquire about a plan’s missing participants upon audit. What steps should plan sponsors take to decrease the chance that a participant will go missing, and what does the IRS and DOL expect you to do to find missing participants? Grab your cup of coffee and tune in to hear Richard and Sarah chat with their first external guest, Gary Chase of Willis Towers Watson, about these pressing questions that frankly, every retirement plan struggles with.

In December 2019, The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act (SECURE Act) was enacted and signed into law. The Act was the most significant piece of legislation impacting employee benefit plans since the Pension Protection Act in 2006, and includes a plethora of changes to the laws governing employer-sponsored retirement plans, specifically impacting defined contribution and defined benefit plans, IRAs, 529 plans and governmental plans. And then the pandemic hit. So while the SECURE Act has been in place for over two years, many employers are still grappling with what adjustments they need to make. How has the SECURE Act impacted post-death required minimum distributions? How has it impacted long-term part-time employees and their participation in defined contribution plans? Grab your cup of coffee and tune in to hear Richard and Sarah chat with Seyfarth’s Irine Sorser about these pressing questions and more!

With interest rates on the rise, defined benefit pension plan sponsors and participants alike may be wondering how their pension plans and pension benefits are impacted. Rising interest rates lower lump sum values, which begs the question of who is impacted; the plan sponsor, the plan participant, or both? Do rising interest rates create any compliance issues? Does a pension plan sponsor have a legal obligation to explain to participants what rising interest rates will do? Grab your cup of coffee and tune in to hear Richard and Sarah chat with Seyfarth Partner Adam Greetis about these pressing questions and more!

Termination of employment is a distribution event under many retirement plans, and particularly under individual account defined contribution plans. But what does it mean to terminate employment? Is there such a thing as a “sham” termination? It’s an important question for plans sponsors to consider before distributing a retirement benefit following the plan participant’s departure, as a distribution attributable to a termination that is not bona fide could be considered a plan disqualification defect, putting the plan’s tax-qualified status at risk. So how does a plan sponsor determine whether there was a “termination of employment” that constitutes a true distribution event? Does the possibility of being rehired put a distribution made on account of a prior termination of employment from that employer at risk? Grab your cup of coffee and tune in to hear Richard and Sarah chat with Seyfarth Partner Christina Cerasale about these pressing questions and more!

Cybersecurity has become an integral concern for employers and employee benefit plans alike. With an increase in DOL cybersecurity audits, plan fiduciaries are looking to strengthen their cybersecurity practices more than ever before. What specific risks are plans facing? Who is responsible for keeping plans safe, and what legal duties do they have? What steps should plan fiduciaries take to ensure the safety of their plan? Grab your cup of coffee and tune in to hear Richard and Sarah chat with Seyfarth colleague Benjamin Spater about these pressing questions and more!

Retirement plan investment in cryptocurrencies has been a hot topic of discussion in recent months. The Department of Labor’s reaction to Super Bowl commercials with celebrities touting crypto-investments, followed by Fidelity’s announcement that it would make cryptocurrency available for plan investment in the near future, has sparked some hot debate. In this episode of Coffee Talk With Benefits, Richard and Sarah speak with Linda Haynes, a partner in the Seyfarth Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Department, who specializes in plan investments and fiduciary matters.

Summary Plan Descriptions (SPDs) are an essential mechanism for employers to use when informing employees and participants of benefits offered under their plans. What kind of information is required to be included in an SPD? Should you consider including information that’s not required? Who drafts them? How are SPDs distributed, and how often? Grab your cup of coffee and tune in to hear Richard and Sarah chat with Liz Deckman, a Partner in Seyfarth’s Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Department, about these questions and more!

Should the recently leaked SCOTUS draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade become law this summer, trigger laws across the Country will go into effect, illegalizing abortion in a significant number of states. Other states are exploring implementing new restrictions on abortion, contraceptive and prenatal services. Many clients have already asked us about what options they may have available to them to support and assist their employees who live in those states. What can employers do if services provided under the terms of their health plan are not available to participants depending on where the participant lives? Can health plans cover expenses related to out of state travel for obtaining abortion services? Grab your cup of coffee and tune in to hear Richard and Sarah chat with Diane Dygert and Ben Conley, who are both Partners in Seyfarth’s Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation department, about these timely questions and more.

Navigating the appropriate handling of a deceased participant’s plan benefit is an all too common concern for retirement administrators. What’s the big deal? Seems like it should be simple enough -- just pay the beneficiary -- but in practice it can be a major headache. How do plan administrators ultimately decide who the proper beneficiary is, and who will receive the plan benefit? How do beneficiary designations work in the context of divorce? What if the participant didn’t designate a beneficiary at all? What can employers and plan administrators do to help mitigate common challenges associated with beneficiary designations? Grab your cup of coffee and tune in to hear Richard and Sarah chat with Jennifer Kraft, a Partner in Seyfarth’s Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation department, about these burning questions and more!