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Benefits

  • April 04, 2025

    Ohio AG Takes Trans Care Limits Bid To State Justices

    Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has taken his bid to reinstate limits on gender-affirming care for transgender youths to the state's highest court and wants the law's enforcement to continue throughout his appeal.

  • April 04, 2025

    2nd Circ. Won't Revisit Benefit Math In Colgate ERISA Suit

    The Second Circuit refused Friday to rethink the methodology Colgate-Palmolive must use to recalculate retirement benefits for pensioners who said they were underpaid to the tune of $300 million, saying the issues raised by the company had already been decided.

  • April 04, 2025

    No Basis To Upend Time Bar On Veterans' Claims, DOJ Says

    Veterans challenging a federal appeals court's ruling that a six-year statute of limitations applies to retroactive combat-related special compensation that Congress has authorized can't show lawmakers intended otherwise, the federal government told the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • April 04, 2025

    Masimo Shareholder Vote Suit Against Founder Moved To Calif.

    A New York federal judge has transferred to California Masimo Corp.'s suit against its founder over allegations he manipulated a shareholder vote at the medical technology company, finding that the "locus of operative facts" warrants the move.

  • April 04, 2025

    Pension Fund Miscalculated Co.'s $23M Exit Fee, Judge Says

    A Teamsters pension fund erred when it determined that a concrete company owed $23 million for withdrawing from the plan, an Illinois federal judge ruled, saying an arbitrator needs to reassess the calculation and give the employer proper credit for other payments made.

  • April 04, 2025

    Pension Annuity Rulings Leave Attorneys Looking For Clarity

    Benefits attorneys say they'll be watching the circuits, and perhaps the nation's highest court, for clarity after recent divergent decisions in cases accusing defense and aerospace manufacturer Lockheed Martin and aluminum giant Alcoa of violating federal benefits law by converting pension benefits into annuity insurance contracts.

  • April 03, 2025

    Optum, Express Scripts Want Judge Ousted From Opioid MDL

    Pharmacy benefit managers Optum and Express Scripts say the Ohio federal judge overseeing multidistrict opioid litigation should recuse himself because he "regularly communicates" with plaintiffs' attorneys in the litigation and is biased in favor of plaintiffs, according to a motion filed Wednesday.

  • April 03, 2025

    TV Star Dr. Oz Confirmed As New Medicare, Medicaid Leader

    The U.S. Senate on Thursday voted 53 to 43, along party lines, to confirm former talk show host and surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz to be the next administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

  • April 03, 2025

    Home Depot Workers Must Pay $39K Costs In ERISA Suit

    A Georgia federal judge has said Home Depot workers must pay more than $39,000 in legal fees to the home improvement retailer after the Eleventh Circuit affirmed a lower court's decision to end the Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit in Home Depot's favor in August.

  • April 03, 2025

    2nd Circ. Judge Thinks Drug Price Fight Sounds Like Antitrust

    A Second Circuit judge on Thursday suggested that the federal government may be insulated from claims over its demand for lower prices for Medicare and Medicaid recipients, musing that Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s constitutional challenge to an Inflation Reduction Act provision sounds more like an antitrust allegation.

  • April 03, 2025

    7th Circ. Doubts SuperValu's Bid To Lower $22.5M Pension Bill

    The Seventh Circuit appeared Thursday to lean against a grocery store's effort to lower its $22.5 million union pension bill, with multiple judges challenging the employer's argument that stores sold months before a complete fund withdrawal should be excluded from its annual payment calculation.

  • April 03, 2025

    'No Serious Question' Federal Firings Broke Law, Justices Told

    Federal employee unions and advocacy groups urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday to reject the Trump administration's bid to pause a California court order reinstating tens of thousands of probationary workers fired from six agencies, arguing the government can't escape self-inflicted harms brought on by its allegedly unlawful actions.

  • April 03, 2025

    Ex-Weil Atty To Co-Lead Sidley's Employee Benefits Team

    Sidley Austin LLP said Wednesday that a former Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP partner will co-lead its employee benefits and executive compensation practice from New York.

  • April 03, 2025

    Jackson Walker Adds Chamberlain Hrdlicka Labor Duo In Texas

    Jackson Walker LLP has strengthened the firm's labor and employment offerings with a pair of lawyers in Houston who came aboard from Chamberlain Hrdlicka White Williams & Aughtry.

  • April 03, 2025

    2nd Circ. Revives IBM Retirees' Mortality Data Fight

    The Second Circuit on Thursday reopened a proposed class action accusing IBM of shorting retirees on pension payments by using outdated mortality data, saying the trial court should've sought clarity about certain documents before tossing the case.

  • April 02, 2025

    Northrop Retirees Can Pursue Some Claims Against Committee

    A California federal judge trimmed, but refused to throw out, proposed class action claims two Northrop Grumman Corp. retirees lodged against their former employer's pension plan administrator, saying the Employee Retirement Income Security Act is unclear if their claims fall outside its statute of limitations.

  • April 02, 2025

    Sotomayor Seems Wary Of 'Magic Words' For Medicaid Rights

    The U.S. Supreme Court's liberal bloc on Wednesday bristled at the notion that "magic words" were necessary to cement a public insurance program recipient's right to sue, suggesting that a private right of action is inherent in the Medicaid Act's provider choice provision.

  • April 02, 2025

    9th Circ. Gives Ex-CoreLogic Worker 2nd Shot At 401(k) Suit

    The Ninth Circuit revived a suit Wednesday from a former CoreLogic worker who claimed the company stacked its retirement plan with costly and underperforming investment funds, ruling a district judge erred by tossing the case rather than giving the ex-worker a chance to revise his complaint.

  • April 02, 2025

    Amazon Worker Can't File Amended Military Leave Suit

    It's too late for a former Amazon employee to add a claim that the company put up barriers for workers requesting active duty leave in her suit accusing the commerce giant of failing to fully provide the paid leave for service member employees, a New York federal judge ruled.

  • April 02, 2025

    'Ashamed' COVID Fraudster Asks To Keep Firefighter Pension

    A former West Haven, Connecticut, municipal employee testified Wednesday that he is "ashamed" of stealing tens of thousands of dollars of COVID-19 relief money from the city, but he is asking a state court judge to prevent the attorney general's office from docking or revoking the pension that he separately earned as a New Haven firefighter.

  • April 02, 2025

    Cedars-Sinai To Pay $3M To End Retirement Plan Suit

    Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Inc. has agreed to pay $3 million to resolve a suit from current and former workers claiming the healthcare system loaded down its $2 billion retirement plan with high fees and poor-performing investment funds, according to a California federal court filing.

  • April 01, 2025

    Tesla Asks Del. Justices To Undo $176M Atty Fee 'Windfall'

    Tesla urged the Delaware Supreme Court on Tuesday to slash a $176 million attorney fee award granted as part of an excessive director compensation suit settlement, saying it amounts to a "windfall in a case that settled well before trial and after three years of only tepid litigation."

  • April 01, 2025

    7th Circ. Revives Officer's Back Pay Bid In ADA Row

    The Seventh Circuit reinstated Tuesday a former corrections officer's back pay request that was rejected by a lower court after a jury found the county sheriff he worked for violated disability bias law by subjecting him to an unnecessary medical exam, but didn't owe him any damages.

  • April 01, 2025

    Trump Admin Fights Wash.'s Bid To Expand Layoff Injunction

    The Trump administration has urged a California federal judge to reject the state of Washington's request to expand an injunction blocking federal agencies from firing probationary employees, saying the bid to broaden the order to other agencies is unnecessary and based on unfounded speculation of harm. 

  • April 01, 2025

    Tenn. PBM Statute Conflicts With ERISA, Judge Says

    Tennessee law requiring pharmacy benefits managers to accept "any willing pharmacies" into their network clashes with the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, a federal judge ruled, saying the state can't enforce its statute against McKee Foods Corp. or other plans governed by the federal benefits law.

Expert Analysis

  • How Justices Upended The Administrative Procedure Act

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    In its recent Loper Bright, Corner Post and Jarkesy decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court fundamentally changed the Administrative Procedure Act in ways that undermine Congress and the executive branch, shift power to the judiciary, curtail public and business input, and create great uncertainty, say Alene Taber and Beth Hummer at Hanson Bridgett.

  • Opinion

    DOL's Impending Mental Health Act Regs Should Be Simplified

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    The U.S. Department of Labor should consider revising these six issues in its forthcoming Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act regulations to ease the significant compliance hurdles for group health plan sponsors, says Alden Bianchi at McDermott.

  • Opinion

    Texas Judges Ignored ERISA's Core To Stall Fiduciary Rule

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    Two recent rulings from Texas federal courts, which rely on a plainly wrong reading of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act to effectively strike a forthcoming rule that would impose functional fiduciary duties onto sellers of investment services, may expose financially unsophisticated 401(k) participants to peddlers of misleading advice, says Mark DeBofsky at DeBofsky Law.

  • Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, Is My Counterclaim Bound To Fall?

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    A Pennsylvania federal court’s recent dismissal of the defendants’ counterclaims in Morgan v. Noss should remind attorneys to avoid the temptation to repackage a claim’s facts and law into a mirror-image counterclaim, as this approach will often result in a waste of time and resources, says Matthew Selmasska at Kaufman Dolowich.

  • Series

    Playing Dungeons & Dragons Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Playing Dungeons & Dragons – a tabletop role-playing game – helped pave the way for my legal career by providing me with foundational skills such as persuasion and team building, says Derrick Carman at Robins Kaplan.

  • Del. Dispatch: Director Caremark Claims Need Extreme Facts

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    The Delaware Court of Chancery recently dismissed Caremark claims against the directors of Centene in Bricklayers Pension Fund of Western Pennsylvania v. Brinkley, indicating a high bar for a finding of the required element of bad faith for Caremark liability, and stressing the need to resist hindsight bias, say attorneys at Fried Frank.

  • Parsing NJ Court's Rationale For Denying Lipitor Class Cert.

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    A New Jersey federal court's recent Lipitor rulings granting summary judgment and denying motions for class certification for two plaintiff classes offer insight into the level of rigorous analysis required by both parties and their experts to satisfy the requirements of class certification, says Catia Twal at Edgeworth Economics.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Challenges Loom For PBGC Actions

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    After Loper Bright, two recent actions taken by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. already under scrutiny seem destined to be challenged and resolved under the new standard of judicial deference, which will greatly affect employers with potential withdrawal liability exposure, say Robert Perry and David Pixley at Jackson Lewis.

  • 3 Leadership Practices For A More Supportive Firm Culture

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    Traditional leadership styles frequently amplify the inherent pressures of legal work, but a few simple, time-neutral strategies can strengthen the skills and confidence of employees and foster a more collaborative culture, while supporting individual growth and contribution to organizational goals, says Benjamin Grimes at BKG Leadership.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Rulings On Hyperlinked Documents

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    Recent rulings show that counsel should engage in early discussions with clients regarding the potential of hyperlinked documents in electronically stored information, which will allow for more deliberate negotiation of any agreements regarding the scope of discovery, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Loper Bright Limits Federal Agencies' Ability To Alter Course

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision to dismantle Chevron deference also effectively overrules its 2005 decision in National Cable & Telecommunications Association v. Brand X, greatly diminishing agencies' ability to change regulatory course from one administration to the next, says Steven Gordon at Holland & Knight.

  • Series

    Teaching Scuba Diving Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    As a master scuba instructor, I’ve learned how to prepare for the unexpected, overcome fears and practice patience, and each of these skills – among the many others I’ve developed – has profoundly enhanced my work as a lawyer, says Ron Raether at Troutman Pepper.

  • A Guide To Long-Term, Part-Time Employee Determinations

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    With final regulations under the Secure Act requiring 401(k) retirement benefits for long-term, part-time employees expected soon, Amy Sheridan and David Guadagnoli at Sullivan & Worcester look at how the proposed rules would shift the risk-reward calculus on excluding categories of employees, and what plan sponsors would need to consider when designing retirement plans.

  • Lawyers Can Take Action To Honor The Voting Rights Act

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    As the Voting Rights Act reaches its 59th anniversary Tuesday, it must urgently be reinforced against recent efforts to dismantle voter protections, and lawyers can pitch in immediately by volunteering and taking on pro bono work to directly help safeguard the right to vote, says Anna Chu at We The Action.

  • Series

    After Chevron: ERISA Challenges To Watch

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    The end of Chevron deference makes the outcome of Employee Retirement Income Security Act regulatory challenges more uncertain as courts become final arbiters of pending lawsuits about ESG investments, the definition of a fiduciary, unallocated pension forfeitures and discrimination in healthcare plans, says Evelyn Haralampu at Burns & Levinson.

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