Recent internal audit guidance issued by the federal Department of Labor DOL, however, directs its investigators to verify the designation of a CISO when auditing retirement plans.
As the sponsor of a 401k plan, you have a fiduciary responsibility to timely deposit participant contributions in your plan’s trust or custodial account. Failing to do so is a fiduciary violation, and constitutes a prohibited transaction that subjects you to an excise tax.
On December 21, 2021, the Department of Labor published a Supplemental Statement to its June 3, 2020 Information Letter addressing fiduciary considerations for including private equity within an investment option under an ERISA-covered defined contribution plan.
Consulting firm October Three says lawyers will likely set their sights on MEPs.
Multiple employer pension (MEP) plan sponsors should brace themselves as a potential target for litigation as the plans continue to emerge as a provider-based alternative to single-employer 401(k) plans, according to consulting firm October Three.
In a recent article, the firm said that as MEPs begin to accumulate participants and assets, it is “inevitable that plaintiffs’ lawyers will train their sights on MEPs as a fiduciary litigation target” with the “the same sort of fiduciary litigation that has afflicted the single-employer 401(k) plan community.”
The firm said the flood of defined contribution (DC) litigation over the past 15 years has focused on a relatively narrow set of issues: 401(k) plan fees, including investment management fees, recordkeeping fees, and revenue sharing, as well as fund performance, particularly related to actively managed funds and target-date funds (TDFs).