BENEFITS DIGEST

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A publication of The Inner Firm

Friday, July 31, 2026

№ 21

20 items · ~4 min read

Court Decisions (1)·Retirement Plans (5)·Health & Welfare (4)·Case Commentary (8)·Regulatory & Guidance (2)

The One Thing

The DOL's proposed e-disclosure safe harbor carries a catch plan sponsors may not expect: despite the name, it doesn't cover email. Aon's compliance team flags that PHI concerns keep direct email delivery off the table for group health plan disclosures entirely, so administrators must instead post documents online and rely on a Notice of Internet Availability, the same web-and-notice structure IRS and DOL built for retirement plans back in 2020. Comments on the proposal are due September 21, 2026.

Court Decisions (1)

Pover v. the Capital Group Companies, Inc.
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit 2026-07-30

Employee sued her former employer's retirement plan for fiduciary mismanagement; Ninth Circuit upheld denial of arbitration, finding the plan's class-action waiver unenforceable under ERISA's effective-vindication doctrine.

Retirement Plans (5)

Health & Welfare (4)

New Jersey Telemedicine and Telehealth Update
McCarter & English, LLP · via JD Supra 2026-07-30

The New Jersey Legislature recently adopted two bills that extend and expand telehealth flexibilities regarding payors and controlled dangerous substances.

Do You Provide a COBRA Notice for Your On-Site Clinic?
Bricker Graydon 2026-07-30

Employers who offer an on-site health clinic as an employee benefit may not realize it can qualify as an ERISA group health plan in its own right, which can trigger COBRA notice obligations most sponsors don't associate with an in-house clinic.

Case Commentary (8)

Employer Lessons From Apple Ruling Resolving OT Question
Foley & Lardner 2026-07-30

On June 11, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California issued the first-ever ruling to squarely address whether restricted stock units must be included in the regular rate of pay when calculating overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Credit Union Sues TruStage Over Cybersecurity Incident
American Banker 2026-07-21

Bessemer System Federal Credit Union sued TruStage Financial Group days after a cybersecurity incident forced TruStage, which serves 93% of U.S. credit unions, to shut down its systems and lock members out of 401(k) plans. The suit is an early test of whether institutional clients can hold a vendor liable for cybersecurity failures based on operational disruption alone, without proof that data was actually stolen.

Additional Details of CU's Suit Against TruStage Over System Shutdown Are Revealed in Filing
Credit Union Daily 2026-07-20

A closer read of the Bessemer FCU filing against TruStage shows the complaint specifically alleges some credit unions temporarily lost employee access to 401(k) and other retirement accounts when TruStage shut its network down after the July 15 breach. A concrete look at how a recordkeeping vendor's outage becomes a retirement-plan access problem for plan sponsors.

When a Vendor Goes Dark: Lessons From the TruStage Incident
Ncontracts 2026-07-20

A vendor-risk-management take on the TruStage outage, aimed at institutions that rely on outside providers for retirement and investment account services. Steve Fochler walks through practical steps for assessing exposure and preparing a response before a critical vendor's own incident becomes an operational problem for your own members or participants.

Regulatory & Guidance (2)

DOL Proposes Updated E-Disclosure Rule for ERISA Group Health Plans
Lockton 2026-07-29

Lockton reviews the DOL's newly proposed rule letting group health plan administrators default to posting disclosures online and notifying participants by email instead of mailing paper copies, with participants still able to request paper or opt out entirely. Comments on the proposed rule are due September 21, 2026.