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Retirement Security Law Commons

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Articles 1 - 15 of 15

Full-Text Articles in Retirement Security Law

Erisa Defined Benefit Plans Are Not "Trust"Worthy, Stewart E. Sterk Jan 2021

Erisa Defined Benefit Plans Are Not "Trust"Worthy, Stewart E. Sterk

William & Mary Law Review Online

What role does the common law of trusts play in policing investment decisions made in the context of a defined-benefit retirement plan governed by ERISA? That issue, among others, divided the Supreme Court this past term in Thole v. U.S. Bank N.A. The Court’s majority decided the case by holding that plan beneficiaries had no Article III standing to challenge allegedly self-interested investment decisions made by the plan’s sponsor and administrator. Because the Court grounded its decision in constitutional standing, Congress would be powerless to confer standing on plan beneficiaries without also amending the substantive rights accorded those beneficiaries. This …


Cutting Pension Rights For Public Workers: Don't Look To The Courts For Help, Ronald H. Rosenberg Jan 2019

Cutting Pension Rights For Public Workers: Don't Look To The Courts For Help, Ronald H. Rosenberg

Faculty Publications

Every day we rely on public employees to provide us with a broad range of services necessary to daily life. These workers include public school teachers, fire and police, emergency medical technicians, park rangers, nurses just to name a few. As public employees, these people work for local and state government and they are compensated by us for their services through the taxes we pay. In general, these are modestly paid workers who also receive pensions when they retire after many years of work. Following the financial crisis of 2008-2009, government retirement trust funds significantly lost value and their long-term …


Untrustworthy: Erisa’S Eroded Fiduciary Law, Peter J. Wiedenbeck Feb 2018

Untrustworthy: Erisa’S Eroded Fiduciary Law, Peter J. Wiedenbeck

William & Mary Law Review

The trust law analogy has come to dominate judicial thinking about employee benefit plans. Yet despite its rise to rhetorical prominence, ERISA fiduciary law has been dramatically transformed by a series of uncoordinated, low-visibility judicial decisions on multiple fronts. These apparently unconnected case law developments reveal a startling pattern of mutually reinforcing restrictions on ERISA’s protection of pension and welfare benefits. This study chronicles ERISA’s trust law turn to expose how untrustworthy workers’ benefit safeguards have become. Both the scope and the intensity of fiduciary oversight have been radically pruned back in the courts. Notwithstanding the congressional declaration that attempts …


The Separation Of Intelligence And Control: Retirement Savings And The Limits Of Soft Paternalism, Jacob Hale Russell Feb 2015

The Separation Of Intelligence And Control: Retirement Savings And The Limits Of Soft Paternalism, Jacob Hale Russell

William & Mary Business Law Review

“Soft paternalism” is in vogue among academics and lawmakers, but too much is being asked of it. This Article studies soft paternalist techniques—including nudging and disclosure—which have been used in the employersponsored retirement system. Defined-contribution retirement plans represent an ideal test case for libertarian paternalism: there has been extensive experimentation, and nudge advocates have often held up such plans as successes. In particular, this Article focuses on investment allocation decisions in retirement portfolios, and suggests that we should be skeptical of the ability of soft paternalism to improve those decisions. When a domain is rife with conflicts of interest—as in …


Applying Equitable Estoppel To Erisa Pension Benefit Claims, Adam S. Mcgonigle Dec 2012

Applying Equitable Estoppel To Erisa Pension Benefit Claims, Adam S. Mcgonigle

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.


Erisa Preemption Doctrine As Health Policy, Joshua P. Booth, Larry I. Palmer Oct 2010

Erisa Preemption Doctrine As Health Policy, Joshua P. Booth, Larry I. Palmer

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.


Redressing All Erisa Fiduciary Breaches Under Section 409 (A), Eric D. Chason Oct 2010

Redressing All Erisa Fiduciary Breaches Under Section 409 (A), Eric D. Chason

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.


Outlawing Pension-Funding Shortfalls, Eric D. Chason Jan 2007

Outlawing Pension-Funding Shortfalls, Eric D. Chason

Faculty Publications

Before ERISA, employees faced a large risk that their employers would default or renege on pension obligations. By creating a federal guarantor of pensions (the PBGC), ERISA has greatly reduced this risk. All else being equal, low-risk pensions are worth more to employees but cost more to provide. Congress has never had a coherent policy on who should pay for these extra costs. Moreover, legal scholars have failed to create a theoretical framework for dealing with these costs, focusing instead on the supposed "moral hazard" that the PBGC guaranty creates. This Article inserts itself into the scholarly vacuum, asserting that …


Settlements And Waivers Affecting Pension Benefits Under Erisa, Eric D. Chason Jan 2001

Settlements And Waivers Affecting Pension Benefits Under Erisa, Eric D. Chason

Faculty Publications

Waivers affecting pension benefits may be entered into as part of a controversy (for example, a settlement agreement) or in isolation (for example, a disclaimer). Under current law, however, it is unclear how these waivers fit within the protections of ERISA, particularly the antialienation rule. Courts have generally honored settlement agreements so long as they are procedurally fair to participants. However, the antialienation rule looms in the background. The IRS and Treasury, in contrast, have focused on waivers outside the settlement context, prohibiting participants from making them but allowing beneficiaries to do so if the waiver satisfies gift-tax rules for …


For Richer Or Poorer, 'Til Decree Do Us Part - A Spouse's Entitlement To Division Of Pension Funds And Professional Degrees As Marital Property, Linda A. Malone Jan 1984

For Richer Or Poorer, 'Til Decree Do Us Part - A Spouse's Entitlement To Division Of Pension Funds And Professional Degrees As Marital Property, Linda A. Malone

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.


Pre-Retirement Qualified Plan Pay-Outs Under Erisa, Harry V. Lamon, John W. Lee Apr 1978

Pre-Retirement Qualified Plan Pay-Outs Under Erisa, Harry V. Lamon, John W. Lee

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.


Erisa's "Bad Boy": Forfeiture For Cause In Retirement Plans, John W. Lee Oct 1977

Erisa's "Bad Boy": Forfeiture For Cause In Retirement Plans, John W. Lee

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.


Credited Service After Erisa, John W. Lee Jul 1976

Credited Service After Erisa, John W. Lee

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.


The "Elaborate Interweaving Of Jurisdiction": Labor And Tax Administration And Enforcement Of Erisa And Beyond, John W. Lee Apr 1976

The "Elaborate Interweaving Of Jurisdiction": Labor And Tax Administration And Enforcement Of Erisa And Beyond, John W. Lee

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.


Joint And Survivor Annuities Under Erisa -- The Gamble On Survival, John W. Lee Jan 1976

Joint And Survivor Annuities Under Erisa -- The Gamble On Survival, John W. Lee

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.