WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration, the IRS, and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced a final rule that allows plan fiduciaries to consider climate change and other environmental, social and governance factors when they select retirement investments and exercise shareholder rights, such as proxy voting.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced that its Employee Benefits Security Administration has proposed updates to its Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program, including a self-correction component for employers who fail to send employee salary withholding contributions or participant loan repayments to retirement plans in a timely manner. 

NEW YORK – The U.S. Department of Labor issued the following statement on today’s sentencing of George Laufenberg, former plan administrator of the Northeast Carpenters Benefit Funds, who pleaded guilty on June 3, 2022, to embezzling approximately $140,000 and making false statements to the department.

ATLANTA – A federal court judge has ordered TPP Holdings Inc., an Atlanta architecture and interior design firm operating as The Preston Partnership, LLC, and its CEO, Robert N. Preston, to restore $540,658 to TPP’s employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) following an investigation and litigation by the U.S. Department of Labor.

Date of Action:                      Oct. 20, 2022

Type of Action:                     Employee Retirement Income Security Act judgment

Company/Officers:               David Rine and Julieta Mitra

Date of Action:          Oct. 11, 2022

Type of Action:         Employee Retirement Income Security Act consent judgement

Company/Owners:    Paramount Industrial Machining Inc., Maxwell Schwartz, Sheila Rossmann

MOORESTOWN, NJ – The fiduciaries of an international design firm in Moorestown must pay more than $2 million to restore mismanaged assets to the company’s retirement plan and in penalties after the U.S. Department of Labor agreed to a settlement following an investigation and litigation.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration is seeking nominations to fill five, three-year vacancies on the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans, known as the ERISA Advisory Council. Nominations must be submitted by Oct. 3, 2022.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced a settlement with Wells Fargo and Company and Wells Fargo Bank and GreatBanc Trust Company – a plan trustee – that recovers more than $131.8 million for the retirement plan’s participants after a department investigation found that, from 2013 through 2018, the fund overpaid for company stock purchased for the plan.

CHICAGO – Following a U.S. Department of Labor investigation, a federal court has approved an order requiring the president and owner of a Chicago-area real estate company to restore financial losses to participants after he misappropriated funds from the company’s cash balance pension and profit-sharing plans.

WASHINGTON – Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh met with leading mental health advocacy groups, health care professional associations and other stakeholders today in Washington to discuss workers’ access to mental health services, treatment and supportive workplaces.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration today announced that it will hold an online public hearing on the proposed amendment to its Class Prohibited Transaction Exemption 84-14, also known as the Qualified Professional Asset Manager Exemption. The department is also extending the public comment period for the proposed amendment for an additional 15 days, through Oct.

WILLIAMSON, WV – The U.S. Department of Labor has taken legal action after an investigation by its Employee Benefits Security Administration found the former CEO of a West Virginia hospital, who was a fiduciary of the company’s healthcare plan, failed to forward contributions to the plan. This led to the plan’s cancellation and left participating employees with a significant number of unpaid claims – and without health coverage.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration today announced the release of Interpretive Bulletin 2022-01 updating its guidance on the “independence” requirement for accountants who audit employee benefit plans under section 103(a)(3)(A) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. 

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the Treasury today issued final rules concerning standards related to the arbitration process implementing the No Surprises Act, a bipartisan law to protect consumers against surprise medical bills.

NEW YORK –Trustees to the Teamsters Local 272 Welfare Fund in New York City have agreed to amend the fund to resolve a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Labor, regarding a fund requirement that participants bear 90 percent of the cost of medical and pharmacy claims above certain annual thresholds.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration today announced a proposed amendment to the Class Prohibited Transaction Exemption 84-14, also known as the Qualified Professional Asset Manager Exemption, to ensure the exemption continues to protect plans, participants and beneficiaries, individual retirement account owners and their interests.

WASHINGTON – In an effort to better understand long COVID-19 in U.S. workplaces, the U.S. Department of Labor, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Surgeon General are inviting the public to join a national online dialogue beginning today to gather ideas to better support workers coping with symptoms, their co-workers and their employers.

COLUMBUS, OHIO – A federal judge sentenced Cindy Hardway – a Newark, Ohio resident – to six months in prison on July 8, 2022, after she pleaded guilty to one count of theft of public money and one count of theft or embezzlement from an employee benefit plan. Hardway’s guilty plea comes after she collected $254,116 from her deceased father’s pension fund and Social Security following his death in 2005.