The 18 newly elected attorneys general could affect federal and state cooperation on high-profile issues, as well as continue partisan litigation. For an analysis of the results of the 2018 state attorneys general elections, please see Morgan Lewis Consulting’s State Attorneys General Post-Election Report 2018.
The 18 newly elected attorneys general could affect federal and state cooperation on high-profile issues, as well as continue partisan litigation. For an analysis of the results of the 2018 state attorneys general elections, please see Morgan Lewis Consulting’s State Attorneys General Post-Election Report 2018.
Drafting and negotiating data protection provisions in services agreements is critical, but it can also be one of the trickier and more time-consuming aspects of the contracting process. Tech & Sourcing @ Morgan Lewis addresses data safeguards in services agreements in this comprehensive four-part series: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4. If you have questions on how to best protect data in your service provider relationships, please feel free to reach out to the author or your Morgan Lewis contact.
Join Morgan Lewis this month for these programs on a variety of topics in employee benefits and executive compensation.
- Regulatory and Compliance for Investment Managers Current Trends and Key Issues | November 7 | Dallas | Seminar hosted by BDO and presented by Morgan Lewis and BDO | Morgan Lewis panelist is David Zelikoff, Steve Giordano, Carrie Rief, and Joseph Zargari
- TEI Federal Chapter Meeting: Executive Compensation Update | November 8 | New York | Seminar presented by Mary B. (Handy) Hevener, Rosina Barker, Jeanie Cogill, and Jonathan Zimmerman
Congratulations to our employee benefits practice for being recognized as Law Firm of the Year in the Employee Benefits (ERISA Law) category by the US News & World Report– Best Lawyers Best Law Firms. The Law Firm of the Year distinction is awarded to only one law firm in each practice area nationwide. The rankings are determined by evaluating client, lawyer, and peer review.
Additional congratulations to Morgan Lewis’s securities regulation practice for also being named Law Firm of the Year in their subsequent category, and to the 256 practice areas named as leading law firms across national and metropolitan categories. Find more information via our firm press release.
With the economy humming along and unemployment at historic lows, it seems a strange time for a blog post about severance plans. This is the ideal time, however, to start planning for the next phase of the business cycle and the inevitable reductions in workforce that will follow. In connection with this planning, we wanted to remind our readers of the numerous advantages of adopting an ERISA-compliant severance plan. While many employers think they do not have an ERISA-covered plan—because it is not written or is not distributed to employees—they may in fact have a de facto plan if they have a routine policy for providing severance benefits that requires ongoing administrative discretion. Don’t panic: ERISA coverage is generally a good thing.
On September 14, 2018, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) published final regulations intended to facilitate plan mergers and transfers between multiemployer pension plans under ERISA Section 4231. These regulations become effective October 15, 2018.
ERISA Section 4231, as amended by the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014 (MPRA), permits the PBGC to facilitate mergers of multiemployer pension plans and to provide financial assistance for such mergers where at least one of the participating plans is in critical and declining status. Generally, a critical and declining plan is projected to become insolvent within 15 to 20 years.
The Morgan Lewis employee benefits and executive compensation practice proudly announces its new leadership, effective October 1, 2018:
Practice Leader: Craig A. Bitman
Deputy Practice Leader: Amy Pocino Kelly
Join Morgan Lewis this month for these programs on a variety of topics in employee benefits and executive compensation.
- 2018 Annual Private Fund Investors Roundtable | October 4 | All-day live event, including session on Fiduciary and Ethical Issues for Fund Investors by Craig Bitman and Jeremy Blumenfeld
- Executive Compensation Challenges | October 16 | Philadelphia | Seminar sponsored by NASPP and presented by Morgan Lewis and Korn Ferry | Morgan Lewis panelists are Mims Maynard Zabriskie and Erin Randolph-Williams
- Executive Compensation for Tax Exempts Just Got More Complicated | October 18 | Webinar presented by Morgan Lewis and Pearl Meyer | Morgan Lewis panelist is Mims Maynard Zabriskie
We’d also encourage you to attend the firm’s Global Public Company Academy series.
- Morgan Lewis Global Public Company Academy—Securities Litigation Update | October 3 | Webinar presented by Michael Blanchard, Marc Sonnenfeld, Andrew Southerling, and Laura McNally
- Morgan Lewis Global Public Company Academy—Issues Concerning Cross-Border Employees | October 10 | Seminar presented by Zaitun Poonja, Jonathan Zimmerman, and Pulina Whitaker
Visit the Morgan Lewis events page for more of our latest programs.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued guidance on September 18 that modifies its safe harbor explanations that may be (and typically are) used to satisfy Section 402(f) of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC). IRC Section 402(f) requires plan administrators of 401(a) qualified plans to provide a written explanation of an individual’s rollover rights (of eligible rollover distributions) within a reasonable period of time (i.e., no fewer than 30 days and no more than 180 days) before the date a plan distribution is to be made.
The modifications, described in Notice 2018-74, reflect changes made under the Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) relating to the rollover of qualified plan loan offset amounts and guidance issued in IRS Revenue Procedure 2016-47 (Rev. Proc. 2016-47) on self-certification of eligibility for a waiver of the 60-day deadline for completing a rollover.
