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Benefits

  • June 30, 2025

    Justices Will Review Union Fund's Withdrawal Liability Math

    The U.S. Supreme Court took up a fight Monday over the correct way to calculate how much employers must pay when they withdraw from multiemployer retirement plans, granting an employer-side petition for review of a D.C. Circuit decision favoring a machinists' union.

  • June 27, 2025

    Fed Circ. Passes On VA, Veteran Dispute Over GI Bill Benefits

    A three-judge Federal Circuit panel said it lacked jurisdiction to step into an ongoing GI Bill dispute as a long-serving veteran challenges an education benefits denial that purportedly flies in the face of a U.S. Supreme Court decision handed down last year.

  • June 27, 2025

    Google Fired Worker For Taking Medical Leave, Suit Claims

    A former Google employee said she was discriminated against and fired for taking approved medical leave, according to a lawsuit filed in Washington state court.

  • June 27, 2025

    Contractor Must Face OT Suit Over Fringe Benefits Payments

    A federal contractor cannot escape a lawsuit accusing it of failing to include cash in lieu of benefits payments in overtime pay calculations, a California federal judge ruled, saying the firm failed to show that the fringe benefits payments should be exempt from the regular rate of pay.

  • June 27, 2025

    DC Judge Says Teen Health Projects Can 'Shutter' Temporarily

    Five Planned Parenthood affiliates will not be irreparably harmed by changes to federal guidance for teen health programs instructing grantees to demonstrate alignment with executive orders from the Trump administration rejecting transgender identity and diversity programs, a D.C. federal judge has ruled.

  • June 27, 2025

    3 DOL Policy Shifts On Benefits Attys' Radar

    Since President Donald Trump's administration took over in January, the U.S. Department of Labor has changed its tack on several issues related to employee benefits. Here, Law360 looks at three moves that caught lawyers' attention.

  • June 27, 2025

    Justices Back Task Force That Sets ACA Care Requirements

    The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Friday that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' secretary had authority over a preventive care task force, rejecting a constitutional challenge to an Affordable Care Act clause that requires health insurers to cover certain treatments at no cost to patients.

  • June 26, 2025

    Bayer Investors' $38M Settlement Over Monsanto Deal OK'd

    A California federal judge on Thursday preliminarily approved Bayer AG's $38 million settlement with investors who accused the German multinational of downplaying litigation risks related to the weedkiller Roundup when it acquired Monsanto in 2018, saying the deal appeared to be "fair, reasonable and adequate."

  • June 26, 2025

    SEC Members Hint At Curtailing CEO Pay Disclosure Rules

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Republican majority Thursday expressed support for paring back disclosures requiring publicly traded companies to compare CEO pay to that of the median worker as well as reporting requirements that detail how executive pay stands up to financial performance.

  • June 26, 2025

    No Work Needed For Military Leave Pay, Wash. Justices Say

    Washington state public employees are entitled to paid military leave even if they are not scheduled to work because they are on active duty during an extended military leave of absence, the state's Supreme Court ruled Thursday, saying the state's paid military leave statute is unambiguous.

  • June 26, 2025

    Natixis Beats Suit Claiming Self-Serving Funds Hurt Its 401(k)

    Natixis defeated a 1,200-member class action Thursday claiming the French investment firm burdened its retirement plan with funds that performed poorly and benefited the company over employees, after a Massachusetts federal judge ruled the case lacked evidence of actionable lapses.

  • June 26, 2025

    Judge Tosses Biogen MS Drug Antitrust Suit, For Now

    An Illinois federal court tossed a proposed class action accusing Biogen of reducing competition for its multiple sclerosis drug Tecfidera through payments to pharmacy benefit managers, after finding that only some drug pricing lists would have been affected.

  • June 26, 2025

    Key DOL Nominees Clear US Senate Committee

    U.S. Department of Labor nominees cleared a U.S. Senate committee Thursday and are set to head to a vote in the full chamber, moving the agency closer to having a complete leadership team that is likely to proceed with policy changes.

  • June 26, 2025

    Former Hoops Star Telfair Gets 6 Mos. For Violating Release

    A Manhattan federal judge sentenced former high school basketball star and ex-NBA player Sebastian Telfair to six months in prison Thursday for violating the terms of his supervised release, after sparing him prison last year for defrauding the league's health plan.

  • June 26, 2025

    Fire Chief Says City Got 'Cold Feet' On Race Bias Deal

    A $180,000 settlement resolving a race bias suit should be enforced, a fire chief told a North Carolina federal court, saying he canceled his jury trial against the city of Charlotte because the parties reached a deal, despite the city's argument that no final written agreement exists.

  • June 26, 2025

    EQT Investors Ink $167.5M Deal In Rice Energy Merger Suit

    EQT Corp. has agreed to pay $167.5 million to investors who claimed the company overstated the benefits of its $6.7 billion merger with Rice Energy, according to a motion filed Thursday seeking preliminary approval of what the investors called the largest-ever stockholder suit deal lodged in Western Pennsylvania federal court. 

  • June 26, 2025

    Justices Say SC Medicaid Patient Can't Sue To Pick Provider

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that a patient can't challenge South Carolina's decision to kick Planned Parenthood from the state Medicaid program because it includes abortions among its services.

  • June 25, 2025

    BofA Benefit Card Recipents Get Cert. In Covid Fraud MDL

    A California federal judge has granted certification to five different classes in a multidistrict litigation alleging Bank of America NA's security failures exposed their unemployment and disability benefits cards to fraud and led the bank to breach their contracts by freezing all accounts during the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • June 25, 2025

    Georgia College Settles Ex-Groundskeeper's Race Bias Suit

    A Georgia chiropractic school has settled a lawsuit filed by a former groundskeeper who claimed he was fired after reporting his boss for helping his girlfriend steal company time.

  • June 25, 2025

    Ohio Judge Halts Insurance Broker's Biz Amid AG's Fraud Suit

    Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost secured a temporary restraining order Wednesday against an insurance broker he accused of pulling a rug out from under first responders and leaving them hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills that should have been covered.

  • June 25, 2025

    Trans Worker Says Metal Co.'s Health Plan Discriminatory

    A subsidiary of Kaiser Aluminum discriminated against transgender employees by including an exclusion in its health plan barring coverage for medical treatments related to gender-affirming care, according to a new suit filed in Washington federal court.

  • June 25, 2025

    Aetna, CVS Slam Lab's Revised Suit Seeking $20.6M Payment

    Aetna and its owner, CVS Health Corp., say a medical laboratory's revamped lawsuit alleging that $20.6 million in invoices remain unpaid fares no better than an earlier version that led a Connecticut federal judge to show the lab the courthouse door earlier this year.

  • June 25, 2025

    CVS PBM Hit With $95M Judgment For Overbilling Medicare

    A Pennsylvania federal judge on Wednesday ruled that CVS's pharmacy benefits manager owes the government $95 million for overbilling Medicare Part D-sponsored drugs, leaving the door open for the amount to be tripled later.

  • June 24, 2025

    Dollar General Beats Investor Suit Over Short Inventory, Staff

    A Tennessee federal judge on Tuesday dismissed a proposed securities class action accusing Dollar General and its executives of hiding inventory and staffing issues, saying the plaintiffs have failed to show that the defendants acted with an intent to deceive.

  • June 24, 2025

    Whole Foods Staffers Seek Greenlight For $2M 401(k) Fee Deal

    Whole Foods workers urged a Texas federal court on Tuesday to preliminarily approve a $2 million deal they hammered out with the Amazon-owned grocery chain to end their putative class action alleging excessive fees were charged to their employee 401(k) retirement plan in violation of federal benefits law.

Expert Analysis

  • Plan Sponsors Must Prep For New Mental Health, Drug Rules

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    To comply with newly published health insurance rules requiring parity between access to mental health and substance use services compared to medical and surgical services, employers with self-insured plans will need to update third-party administrator agreements and collect data, among other compliance steps, say attorneys at Kilpatrick.

  • How Cos. Can Protect Supply Chains During The Port Strike

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    With dock workers at ports along the East and Gulf Coasts launching a strike that will likely cause severe supply chain disruptions, there are several steps exporters and importers can take to protect their businesses and mitigate increased costs, say attorneys at Thompson Hine.

  • Litigation Inspiration: Honoring Your Learned Profession

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    About 30,000 people who took the bar exam in July will learn they passed this fall, marking a fitting time for all attorneys to remember that they are members in a specialty club of learned professionals — and the more they can keep this in mind, the more benefits they will see, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.

  • FTC Focus: How Scrutiny Of PBMs And Insulin May Play Out

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    Should Express Scripts' recent judicial challenge to the Federal Trade Commission succeed, any new targets could add litigation and choice of forum to their playbooks, and potential FTC court action on insulin could be forced to parallel venues as the issues between the commission and PBMs evolve, say attorneys at Proskauer.

  • Opinion

    AI May Limit Key Learning Opportunities For Young Attorneys

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    The thing that’s so powerful about artificial intelligence is also what’s most scary about it — its ability to detect patterns may curtail young attorneys’ chance to practice the lower-level work of managing cases, preventing them from ever honing the pattern recognition skills that undergird creative lawyering, says Sarah Murray at Trialcraft.

  • Series

    Round-Canopy Parachuting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Similar to the practice of law, jumping from an in-flight airplane with nothing but training and a few yards of parachute silk is a demanding and stressful endeavor, and the experience has bolstered my legal practice by enhancing my focus, teamwork skills and sense of perspective, says Thomas Salerno at Stinson.

  • SEC Settlement Holds Important Pay-To-Play Lessons

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s recent fine of an investment adviser, whose new hire made a campaign contribution within a crucial lookback period, is a seasonable reminder for public fund managers to ensure their processes thoroughly screen all associates for even minor violations of the SEC’s strict pay-to-play rule, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.

  • Why Now Is The Time For Law Firms To Hire Lateral Partners

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    Partner and associate mobility data from the second quarter of this year suggest that there's never been a better time in recent years for law firms to hire lateral candidates, particularly experienced partners — though this necessitates an understanding of potential red flags, say Julie Henson and Greg Hamman at Decipher Investigative Intelligence.

  • Considering Possible PR Risks Of Certain Legal Tactics

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    Disney and American Airlines recently abandoned certain litigation tactics in two lawsuits after fierce public backlash, illustrating why corporate counsel should consider the reputational implications of any legal strategy and partner with their communications teams to preempt public relations concerns, says Chris Gidez at G7 Reputation Advisory.

  • It's No Longer Enough For Firms To Be Trusted Advisers

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    Amid fierce competition for business, the transactional “trusted adviser” paradigm from which most firms operate is no longer sufficient — they should instead aim to become trusted partners with their most valuable clients, says Stuart Maister at Strategic Narrative.

  • Basics Of Collective Bargaining Law In Principle And Practice

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    Rebecca Bernhard and Jennifer Service at Barnes & Thornburg discuss the nuts and bolts of what the National Labor Relations Act requires of employers during collective bargaining, and translate these obligations into practical steps that will help companies prepare for, and succeed during, the negotiation process.

  • Missouri Injunction A Setback For State Anti-ESG Rules

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    A Missouri federal court’s recent order enjoining the state’s anti-ESG rules comes amid actions by state legislatures to revise or invalidate similar legislation imposing disclosure and consent requirements around environmental, social and governance investing, and could be a blueprint for future challenges, say attorneys at Paul Hastings.

  • How Methods Are Evolving In Textualist Interpretations

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    Textualists at the U.S. Supreme Court are increasingly considering new methods such as corpus linguistics and surveys to evaluate what a statute's text communicates to an ordinary reader, while lower courts even mull large language models like ChatGPT as supplements, says Kevin Tobia at Georgetown Law.

  • Employers Should Not Neglect Paid Military Leave Compliance

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    An August decision from the Ninth Circuit and the settlement of a long-running class action, both examining paid leave requirements under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, are part of a nationwide trend that should prompt employers to review their military leave policies to avoid potential litigation and reputational damage, says Bradford Kelley at Littler.

  • Opinion

    Congress Must Do More To Bolster ERISA Protections

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    As the Employee Retirement Income Security Act turns 50 this month, we applaud Congress for championing a statute that protects worker and retiree rights, but further action is needed to ban arbitration clauses in plan provisions and codify regulations imperiled by the U.S. Supreme Court’s Chevron ruling, say Michelle Yau and Eleanor Frisch at Cohen Milstein.

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