Pension fund sues five janitorial service contractors for failing to pay required pension contributions and provide reporting information; court grants motion to dismiss but allows amended complaint.
Tuesday, July 21, 2026
№ 13Court Decisions (1)·Retirement Plans (9)·Case Commentary (4)·Also Noteworthy (1)
The One Thing
The sleeper in today's issue is PBGC's proposed penalty rule, which moves the agency's practices for calculating, imposing, and waiving the monetary penalties that follow late required notices, long housed in informal policy statements, into binding regulation. Codified penalty policy cuts both ways for defined benefit sponsors. Enforcement gets more predictable, and pleading ignorance gets weaker. The comment period is the chance to shape the waiver standards, and sponsors with a history of borderline-late filings should read this one closely.
Court Decisions (1)
Retirement Plans (9)
This proposed rule would provide the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation's policies for calculating, imposing, and waiving monetary penalties to pension plans for failure to provide certain required notices or other material information timely to PBGC and plan participants.
Key Wealth survey finds many mass affluent inheritors are reducing retirement savings and taking on more investment risk based on inheritances they often haven't confirmed they'll receive.
Employers who recognize these compromises are most likely to see behavioral changes from participants, Schroders’ study reports.
As market conditions grow more complex, retirement plan fiduciaries are rethinking the traditional active-versus-passive debate.
As a plan provider, one of the more frustrating parts of asset sale transactions is watching a perfectly salvageable retirement plan get marched toward termination because the M&A lawyers want zero daylight between the buyer and anything that smells like seller liability.
Large slices of public pension portfolios are reported at manager estimates rather than market prices, and the author argues that real valuation and reporting standards are overdue.
I’ve always believed the retirement plan business needs its own version of a greatest hits album for bad decisions. Not because I enjoy watching train wrecks, although professionally speaking, they can be educational.
Physician and outpatient services and prescription coverage pose a significant threat to US fiscal resources, according to Boston College’s Center for Retirement Research.
Nearly two-thirds of surveyed defined contribution plan participants relied on their own financial adviser or one provided by an employer for plan decisions.
Case Commentary (4)
For more than a decade, the Department of Labor’s participant fee disclosure regulation under ERISA Section 404(a)(5) has been promoted as the cornerstone of transparency in defined contribution plans.
The federal court rejected most of the defendant’s bid to end the suit, but abstained from intervening in related divorce proceedings.
The use of forfeitures to offset contributions continues to draw industry support.
The deal, if approved by a federal district court in California, would require updates to future pension calculations.
Also Noteworthy (1)
The figure jumped by more than 7% year-over-year.