US Supreme Court to review ERISA case

The United State Supreme Court has accepted review of a new ERISA case involving the statute of limitations in retirement fund cases. (Tibble v. Edison Int'l, U.S., No. 13-550, cert. granted 10/2/14)

"The case presents the question: whether participants in retirement plans can hold plan fiduciaries liable for including higher-cost investment funds in the plan when those funds were initially chosen more than six years before the lawsuit, or whether these types of claims are barred by the six-year statute of limitations found in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act."

Check out the full article here.

Word to the Wise : When is investment advice subject to a fiduciary standard?

An interesting article here:

http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2014/01/07/problem-with-investment-advice/


The article discusses how ERISA holds that people advising employees/retirees on investment accounts are held to a fiduciary standard - meaning they have to put the interests of the client first before their own. However, when is advice really investment advice, and when is it not? Since this is narrowly defined in ERISA, often advice does not meet the criteria of "investment advice", and therefore the advisor is not held to the standard of a fiduciary.

Moral of the story: be careful and do your own research when someone from your financial institution gives you advice or information. It may not always be what is in your own personal best interest - and the advisor does not always need to tell you the motivation behind their advice.

Be wary, investors!

Pension Plans and ERISA

ERISA is the federal law that spells out the rules regarding pension plans available to employees through their workplace. While ERISA does not generally regulate the content of plans, it does provide minimum standards for certain aspects of the plan such as how employees are informed about the pension plans, how plans should be funded, and how an employee's pension rights can become vested and therefore cannot be forfeited. ERISA also gives employees the right to sue the plan fiduciaries if they have wrongfully been denied benefits or if the plan fiduciaries have breached their fiduciary duty to plan participants.

Some common issues that employees encounter are miscalculation of benefits due to them under a pension plan or wrongful denial of benefits to which an employee is entitled. If you have been wrongfully denied benefits due to you because the plan has incorrectly determined you are not entitled to benefits, or has miscalculated the amount you are entitled to, you should speak to an attorney who specializes in ERISA who can guide you through what remedies may be available.

The Department of Labor has a wonderful resource for frequently asked questions at http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/faqs/faq_compliance_pension.html.

What the Heck is ERISA?

What the Heck is ERISA?

Even after completing law school, most lawyers have no idea what ERISA is other than a vague impression that it involves employee benefits and that they should consult an expert if they encounter it. If you are not a lawyer, the first time you hear “ERISA” is likely to be only if you’ve been denied some type of benefit that was provided by your employer.

            So what the heck is ERISA?

            ERISA is an acronym for the “Employee Retirement Income Security Act,” a federal law enacted in 1974 that sets minimum standards for employee benefit plans including: pension plans, long and short-term disability plans, health insurance plans, life insurance plans and other types of employee benefits. ERISA requires plans to provide participants (typically employees or their dependents) with certain information about the plans such as what benefits are provided, how to apply for them and what to do if benefits are denied. The ERISA law also sets out standards of fiduciary conduct for those people who manage and control plan assets.  The fiduciary standards are meant to assure that people who are plan fiduciaries act in the best interests of the plan participants as a group.  ERISA also gives participants certain rights to sue for benefits or to sue if the fiduciary breaches a duty to participants.

What Does an Attorney who Focuses on ERISA Do?

            As attorneys working on ERISA matters, we help people obtain benefits through their employee plans. This could mean helping a person with a disabling condition who cannot work apply for disability benefits.  It could mean helping a person appeal to the insurer if they do not get approval for medical care they need.  It might mean challenging the decision of a life insurance company if it denies the proceeds from an employer-provided life insurance policy. Practicing in the area of ERISA might mean assisting a retiree to get the correct amount of monthly pension payments after he or she retires.

Here at the Law Office of Katherine MacKinnon we really enjoy helping people get the benefits they need and are entitled to receive.