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Benefits

  • April 28, 2025

    Union Tells 3rd Circ. Healthcare Fight Belongs In Arbitration

    A Pennsylvania federal judge properly concluded that a healthcare dispute between a power plant operator and an International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers local was arbitrable, the union said, asking the Third Circuit to uphold the judge's decision to send the fight to arbitration.

  • April 28, 2025

    Justices Won't Disturb 9th Circ.'s AT&T 401(k) Suit Revival

    The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to hear AT&T's bid for review of a Ninth Circuit panel decision reviving a class action against the telecom giant alleging mismanagement of an employee 401(k) plan, rejecting employers' request for more clarity from the court on the pleading standard for federal benefits lawsuits alleging excessive fees.

  • April 25, 2025

    Justices Want More Info On HHS Authority In Task Force Row

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday ordered the federal government and a group of Texas businesses and individuals to compile more information as to whether the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services secretary has the authority to appoint members of a task force under the Affordable Care Act.

  • April 25, 2025

    Sutter Health To Pay $228M In Years-Old Antitrust Suit

    A class of millions of health insurance premium payors asked a California federal judge Friday to greenlight an eleventh-hour $228.5 million settlement resolving their long-running claims that hospital chain Sutter Health drives up costs by pushing all-or-nothing network deals on insurers.

  • April 25, 2025

    Up Next At High Court: Class Cert., Religious Charter Schools

    The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in five cases this coming week, including in disputes over whether courts can certify classes of plaintiffs when some members haven't suffered an injury and whether students alleging disability discrimination in public schools must meet a higher standard of proof to bring claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

  • April 25, 2025

    Tesla, Allies Urge Reversal Of Musk's $56B Pay Veto

    Pointing to solid Tesla stockholder approval of Elon Musk's $56 billion, multiyear compensation plan, the Chamber of Commerce's national office has urged Delaware's Supreme Court to reverse a Chancery Court strikedown of the plan and reconsider a $345 million winning-side class attorney fee.

  • April 25, 2025

    US Trustee Says Benson Hill Can't Seal Exec Bonus Info

    The U.S. Trustee's Office on Friday asked a Delaware bankruptcy judge to reject bankrupt soybean company Benson Hill's request to seal the names of executives it wants to pay bonuses to, along with the amounts it wants to pay.

  • April 25, 2025

    Defunct Media Co. To Pay $4.5M In NY WARN Act Case

    Former digital media startup The Messenger has agreed to pay $4.5 million to a class of 275 workers who claimed in New York federal court that the company didn't give them enough notice about its layoffs and shutdown, the parties said on Friday.

  • April 25, 2025

    Ex-CFO Says CEO Fired Him To Avoid Paying Bonus

    A company that produces adhesives and fasteners for the construction industry fired its vice president and chief financial officer to avoid paying him nearly $300,000 in bonuses, according to a contract suit removed to Connecticut federal court.

  • April 25, 2025

    10th Circ. Backs Spirit Aero's $31M Clawback From Ex-CEO

    The Tenth Circuit on Friday backed Spirit AeroSystems Inc.'s decision to claw back $31 million worth of stock awards because a former CEO violated his noncompete agreement with the aircraft structure manufacturer, holding a lower court properly ruled the employment pact was enforceable under Kansas law.

  • April 25, 2025

    AAA Club To Pay $1M To Settle COBRA Notice Suit

    An American Automobile Association club agreed to pay $1 million to resolve a proposed class action in Michigan federal court claiming that it failed to give workers notices for health insurance continuation coverage in a timely manner.

  • April 25, 2025

    X Can't Nix Unjust Discharge Claim In $20M Severance Suit

    Twitter's former chief marketing officer will keep her claim accusing X, Elon Musk and others of unlawfully firing her after suggesting that Musk meet with an employee who didn't agree to let President Donald Trump back on the platform, a California federal judge said.

  • April 25, 2025

    Benefits Co. Failed To Protect Personal Info, Suit Says

    An employee benefits administrator failed to properly secure and safeguard private information of benefits recipients, including their names and Social Security numbers, that was later compromised in a data breach, according to a proposed class action in Maryland federal court.

  • April 25, 2025

    5 Issues Benefits Attys Want The Gov't To Shed Light On

    The first three months of President Donald Trump's administration have left lawyers who represent employers and benefit plans hungry for clarity on issues like cryptocurrency as a 401(k) investment and coverage for gender-affirming care. Here, Law360 looks at five areas where attorneys are hoping for guidance or regulations.

  • April 25, 2025

    Santos Gets Over 7 Years For Campaign Finance Fraud

    Former U.S. Rep. George Santos was sentenced Friday to over seven years in prison after admitting he falsely inflated fundraising reports to qualify for National Republican Congressional Committee funding during the 2022 election.

  • April 24, 2025

    Rising Gold Prices Should Nix $3M SEC Deal, Ex-Exec Says

    A former executive of a company that solicited investments in gold and silver coins has pushed back on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's efforts to collect on a $3 million settlement he struck with the agency, telling a federal judge the deal should be vacated because prices for precious metals have recently "skyrocketed."

  • April 24, 2025

    GE Investors' $362.5M Deal Gets Final OK, Attys Get $70M

    A New York federal judge on Thursday gave final approval to a $362.5 million deal and awarded attorneys from Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check LLP and Grant & Eisenhofer PA nearly $70 million in attorney fees for their work in a class action that accused General Electric Co. of fraudulently concealing cash flow problems.

  • April 24, 2025

    Ex-Guard Claims Security Co. Cheated Her On Pay, Insurance

    A security company failed to pay a former security guard wages while also making illegal deductions from her pay, including for bogus health insurance coverage, and fired her once she complained, the former employee said in a lawsuit in California state court.

  • April 24, 2025

    7th Circ. Backs Employers In Pension Fund Withdrawal Fight

    The Seventh Circuit upheld Thursday a trial court's ruling that two employers aren't required to pay a higher rate calculating how much it would cost to jump ship from a failing pension plan, knocking down arguments from the pension fund that an exception to the rate limit applied.

  • April 24, 2025

    JPMorgan, Retiree Resolve Benefits Freeze Suit

    A former JPMorgan worker dropped a Second Circuit bid to revive his lawsuit claiming the financial giant failed to properly disclose how changes to an employee pension plan could result in a freeze on participants' benefits.

  • April 23, 2025

    Retirement Co. Hit With $38.8M Jury Verdict In ERISA Action

    A New York federal jury Wednesday awarded a 27,000-member class of retirement plan participants nearly $38.8 million after finding that Pentegra Retirement Services violated federal benefits law by saddling a $2.1 billion 401(k) plan with excessive administrative fees.

  • April 23, 2025

    GoodRx Beats Investor Suit Over Kroger-Linked Biz

    GoodRx Holdings Inc. has escaped a proposed shareholder class action alleging it concealed from investors the indispensability of its relationship with Kroger, according to an order signed by a California federal judge who said the suit does not show GoodRx knew Kroger had plans to renegotiate its contracts.

  • April 23, 2025

    Severance Deal Bars 401(K) Suit, Whataburger Tells 5th Circ.

    Whataburger asked the Fifth Circuit on Wednesday to uphold the dismissal of an ex-worker's suit claiming the company failed to trim underperforming investment funds from its $215 million retirement plan, stating the lower court correctly found a release he signed doomed his case.

  • April 23, 2025

    Software Co. Can't Escape 401(k) Investment Suit

    A California federal judge refused to toss a federal benefits lawsuit from former ServiceNow employees alleging the cloud computing company kept an underperforming suite of target-date funds in its 401(k) plan for over a decade, finding allegations of a deficient process should proceed to discovery.

  • April 23, 2025

    GOP Leader Proposes Modernizing Contractor Rules

    U.S. Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy, R-La., on Wednesday unveiled proposals he says will modernize the independent contractor model without hindering workers' flexibility and profit opportunities, suggesting several changes Congress could take.

Expert Analysis

  • 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.

  • How Fund Advisers Can Limit Election Year Pay-To-Play Risks

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    With Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz now the Democratic candidate for vice president, politically active investment advisers should take practical steps to avoid triggering strict pay-to-play rules that can lead to fund managers facing mutli-year timeouts from working with public funds after contributing to sitting officials, say attorneys at Dechert.

  • Why Attorneys Should Consider Community Leadership Roles

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    Volunteering and nonprofit board service are complementary to, but distinct from, traditional pro bono work, and taking on these community leadership roles can produce dividends for lawyers, their firms and the nonprofit causes they support, says Katie Beacham at Kilpatrick.

  • How NJ Temp Equal Pay Survived A Constitutional Challenge

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    The Third Circuit recently gave the New Jersey Temporary Workers' Bill of Rights a new lease on life by systematically dismantling multiple theories of the act's unconstitutionality brought by staffing agencies hoping to delay their new equal pay and benefits obligations, say attorneys at Duane Morris.

  • Firms Must Offer A Trifecta Of Services In Post-Chevron World

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    After the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision overturning Chevron deference, law firms will need to integrate litigation, lobbying and communications functions to keep up with the ramifications of the ruling and provide adequate counsel quickly, says Neil Hare at Dentons.

  • 6th Circ. Ruling Highlights Complexity Of ERISA Preemption

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    The Sixth Circuit’s recent ruling in Standard Insurance v. Guy — that the defendant couldn't collect his mother’s life insurance after being convicted of murdering his parents — illustrates how courts must engage in mental gymnastics to avoid the broad reach of Employee Retirement Income Security Act preemption, says Mark DeBofsky at DeBofsky Law.

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