Benefits

  • January 03, 2025

    George Santos Wants Fraud Sentencing Delayed For Podcast

    Expelled U.S. Rep. George Santos on Friday urged a New York federal judge to delay sentencing in his federal fraud case for six months, saying he needs time to earn money through his new "Pants On Fire" weekly gossip podcast to pay roughly $580,000 owed in restitution and forfeiture.

  • January 03, 2025

    PBMs 'Wasting' Time in Opioid MDL Discovery Spat: Judge

    An Ohio federal judge overseeing multidistrict opioid litigation on Friday denied pharmacy benefit managers a stay to appeal a discovery order and said he believed the PBMs were "wasting" the court's time.

  • January 03, 2025

    NY Nursing Home Blames AG's 'Crusade' For Ch. 11

    The owner of a 588-bed nursing facility on Long Island has filed for Chapter 11 protection in a New York bankruptcy court with more than $58 million in debt, saying it was the victim of a "crusade" and "smear campaign" launched by the state attorney general's office.

  • January 03, 2025

    Biden Signs Bill To Stop Convicted Lawmakers' Pensions

    President Joe Biden has signed a law that would close a "loophole" to prevent former members of Congress convicted of certain crimes from receiving pensions during their appeals process.

  • January 03, 2025

    Laborers Benefit Funds Get OK For $4.7M Class Settlement

    A New York federal judge signed off on a $4.7 million settlement of a long-running dispute between a class of workers and two union benefit funds, giving final approval to a deal that ends 16 years of litigation over a transfer of money between funds in the 2000s.

  • January 02, 2025

    Tesla Investors Appeal Chancery Rulings In Musk Pay Suit

    Three Florida-based Tesla Inc. stockholders have moved ahead with Delaware Supreme Court appeals aimed at Court of Chancery decisions that short-circuited the electric car company's 10-year, $56 billion compensation plan for Elon Musk and granted a $345 million cash award for class attorneys who won the decision.

  • January 02, 2025

    1st Private Co. Joins Insulin Price-Fixing MDL

    A Florida-based car dealer is the first private company to join a multidistrict litigation accusing Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly and Sanofi-Aventis of fixing the prices of insulin and other drugs to treat diabetes.

  • January 02, 2025

    ERISA Can't Shield Packaging Co. From Genetic Privacy Suit

    A food packaging company must face a former employee's lawsuit claiming it unlawfully asked about her family medical history, an Illinois federal judge ruled, saying the claims weren't preempted by federal benefits law because it wasn't clear a corporate wellness plan was involved.

  • January 02, 2025

    Amazon Used Forfeited 401(k) Cash For Self Gain, Suit Says

    Amazon violated federal benefits law by using millions in abandoned retirement plan funds to its own benefit by offsetting its own contributions instead of using the extra cash to cut down on expenses, according to a worker's proposed class action filed in Washington federal court.

  • January 02, 2025

    Conn. High Court Slams Insurer's 'Conflicting' Policy Letters

    An insurance company violated basic contract law by mailing four "conflicting" letters to a roofing contractor purporting to end worker's compensation coverage while also explaining how to keep it, Connecticut's highest court has ruled.

  • January 02, 2025

    Aetna Sues Drugmakers In Conn., Alleging Generics Price-Fixing

    Health insurer Aetna has sued 23 drugmakers, including Novartis and Pfizer, over an alleged scheme to fix the prices of 111 generic medications, citing information gleaned from a congressional probe, lawsuits by state attorneys general, a Pennsylvania multidistrict litigation proceeding, and U.S. Department of Justice findings.

  • January 01, 2025

    High-Stakes Healthcare Court Battles To Watch In 2025

    With pivotal health law cases on the docket in 2025, attorneys will be watching how the incoming Trump administration proceeds in ongoing litigation over abortion care, the Affordable Care Act and the Medicare drug price negotiation program.

  • January 01, 2025

    5 Cases Benefits Attorneys Should Keep An Eye On In 2025

    The U.S. Supreme Court will hear Cornell University workers' bid to revive a retirement plan lawsuit, the Ninth Circuit will weigh whether a nicotine surcharge dispute belongs in arbitration, and the Second Circuit will hear Yale University defend a win in a fight over retirement plan fees and investments. Here are five cases benefits lawyers should have on their radar in the new year.

  • January 01, 2025

    5 Policy Changes Benefits Attys Should Watch For In 2025

    With President-elect Donald Trump poised to return to the White House, experts are bracing for potential changes including shifts from the U.S. Department of Labor on who qualifies as a regulated fiduciary under benefits law to whether retirement plans can consider environmental and social factors when picking investments. Here, Law360 looks at five employee benefits policy issues to keep an eye on in the new year.

  • January 01, 2025

    Key W&H Legislative Trends For 2025

    In 2025, states and cities will intensify their efforts to experiment with employment law in the shadow of a Republican-controlled federal government, be it by expanding overtime protections for workers or refining pay transparency obligations, attorneys say. Here, Law360 explores the legislative trends employment law practitioners should look out for in the new year.

  • December 20, 2024

    High Court Bar's Future: Williams & Connolly's Sarah Harris

    Sarah M. Harris of Williams & Connolly LLP never planned on being a U.S. Supreme Court advocate, or even an appellate one. She stumbled upon that career path after realizing her initial goal of becoming a national security or government lawyer wasn't the right fit.

  • December 20, 2024

    A Look Back At 2024's Major Securities Litigation Moments

    The private securities litigation bar experienced a busy 2024, with meaningful and significant rulings in almost all of the nation's leading courts, and corporations, investors, government agencies and executives fighting over pay packages, disclosures, class certifications and mergers.

  • December 20, 2024

    6th Circ. To Group FedEx, Kellogg Pension Data Appeals

    The Sixth Circuit on Thursday rejected a request to stay a case alleging FedEx Corp. uses outdated actuarial assumptions in calculating certain retirees' annuities, pending a similar appeal from Kellogg Co. retirees, saying it would instead group the cases together.

  • December 20, 2024

    DOL Sues Over New York BBQ Co.'s $99M Stock Plan Deal

    The U.S. Department of Labor sued Argent Trust Co. and several New York City restaurant operators in federal court, alleging they violated federal benefits law by causing a barbecue company's employee stock ownership plan to pay $99 million for overvalued company stock in a leveraged transaction.

  • December 20, 2024

    Fla. Labs Appeal $7.3M Conn. Jury Verdict Favoring Cigna

    Three Florida substance abuse testing laboratories filed notice Thursday promising to appeal a $7.3 million loss to Cigna Health and Life Insurance Co. over billings for recurring tests on drug treatment patients the insurer said were not medically necessary.

  • December 20, 2024

    Yellow Corp. Layoff Notices Had Too Little Info, Judge Says

    A Delaware bankruptcy judge has shot down some of trucking company Yellow Corp.'s defenses against claims it failed to give proper notice of more than 25,000 layoffs just before it entered Chapter 11, saying the notices it sent weren't informative enough.

  • December 20, 2024

    Prudential Freed From 401(k) Mismanagement Suit

    A New Jersey federal judge tossed a class action claiming Prudential bogged down its retirement plan with underperforming funds while also funneling money into a proprietary investing tool that benefited the company over employees, ruling the case lacks proof that mismanagement occurred.

  • December 20, 2024

    Sutter Health Settles Retirement Plan Mismanagement Suit

    A health care company has agreed to settle a federal benefits class action from employee retirement plan participants alleging mismanagement, the parties told a California federal court Friday.

  • December 20, 2024

    Honeywell Escapes Ex-Employee's 401(k) Forfeiture Suit

    Honeywell International defeated a proposed class action alleging it violated federal benefits law when it used ex-employees' forfeited 401(k) funds to offset its retirement plan contributions rather than cover administrative expenses, with a New Jersey federal judge finding the company's actions complied with the plan's terms.

  • December 19, 2024

    FTC Says PBMs Can't Get Preliminary Block In Insulin Case

    The Federal Trade Commission urged a Missouri federal judge Thursday not to temporarily block its in-house case accusing pharmacy benefits managers of artificially inflating insulin prices through unfair rebate schemes, arguing Congress clearly empowered such in-house adjudications and the officials who handle them.

Expert Analysis

  • 5 Employer Defenses To Military Status Discrimination Claims

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    A Colorado federal court's recent ruling, finding a Navy reservist wasn't denied promotion at his civilian job due to antimilitary bias, highlights several defenses employers can use to counter claims of violations of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, say attorneys at Littler Mendelson.

  • Firms Still Have The Edge In Lateral Hiring, But Buyer Beware

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    Partner mobility data suggests that the third quarter of this year continued to be a buyer’s market, with the average candidate demanding less compensation for a larger book of business — but moving into the fourth quarter, firms should slow down their hiring process to minimize risks, say officers at Decipher Investigative Intelligence.

  • Opinion

    Congress Should Expand Investment Options For 403(b)s

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    Lawmakers should pass pending legislation to give 403(b) plan participants access to collective investment trusts, leveling the playing field for public sector retirement investors by giving them an investment option their private sector counterparts have had for decades, says Jason Levy at Great Gray Trust Company.

  • Think Like A Lawyer: 1 Type Of Case Complexity Stands Out

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    In contrast to some cases that appear complex due to voluminous evidence or esoteric subject matter, a different kind of complexity involves tangled legal and factual questions, each with a range of possible outcomes, which require a “sliding scale” approach instead of syllogistic reasoning, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • Think Like A Lawyer: Note 3 Simple Types Of Legal Complexity

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    Cases can appear complex for several reasons — due to the number of issues, the volume of factual and evidentiary sources, and the sophistication of those sources — but the same basic technique can help lawyers tame their arguments into a simple and persuasive message, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • Justices Mull Sex-Based Classification In Trans Law Case

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    After the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in U.S. v. Skrmetti this week, it appears that the fate of the Tennessee law at the center of the case — a law banning gender-affirming healthcare for transgender adolescents — will hinge on whether the majority read the statute as imposing a sex-based classification, says Alexandra Crandall at Dickinson Wright.

  • Every Dog Has Its Sick Day: Inside NYC's Pet Leave Bill

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    In what would be a first-of-its-kind law for a major metropolitan area, a recent proposal would amend New York City's Earned Safe and Sick Time Act to include animal care as an accepted use of sick leave — and employers may not think it's the cat's meow, say attorneys at Morrison Cohen.

  • Rethinking Clawback Policies For 2025 Compensation Season

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    The start of a new year presents an opportunity for companies to reassess their executive compensation clawback policies, and while mandatory Dodd-Frank clawbacks are necessary, discretionary policies can offer companies greater flexibility to address misconduct, protect their reputations and align with shareholder priorities, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • Series

    Gardening Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Beyond its practical and therapeutic benefits, gardening has bolstered important attributes that also apply to my litigation practice, including persistence, patience, grit and authenticity, says Christopher Viceconte at Gibbons.

  • ERISA Ruling Is A Win For DOL Regulatory Authority

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    In Rappaport v. Guardian Life Insurance, a New York federal court recently issued a notable disability benefits ruling in finding that the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright opinion does not affect how existing U.S. Department of Labor regulations apply in Employee Retirement Income Security Act litigation, says Mark DeBofsky at DeBofsky Law.

  • Litigation Inspiration: Reframing Document Review

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    For attorneys — new ones especially — there is much fulfillment to find in document review by reflecting on how important, interesting and pleasant it can be, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.

  • Unpacking Arguments From High Court's Rural Hospital Case

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    During oral arguments in Advocate v. Becerra, the U.S. Supreme Court justices focused questions on the meaning of being "entitled to" supplementary security income assistance, and there's reason for optimism that the likely split decision will break in favor of hospitals, say attorneys at King & Spalding.

  • California Supreme Court's Year In Review

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    Attorneys at Horvitz & Levy highlight notable decisions on major questions from the California Supreme Court's last term, including voter initiatives, hostile work environment and the economic loss rule.

  • The Challenges Of Abandoned Retirement Plans In Ch. 7

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    The Department of Labor's rule for unwinding retirement accounts when plan sponsors file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy was intended to alleviate trustees' administration issues, but practical challenges, like unresolved fee and identification matters, could hinder its implementation, say David Goodrich at Golden Goodrich and Nancy Simons at Stretto.

  • Best Practices For Effective Employee Assistance Programs

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    Employee assistance programs can be a powerful tool for establishing health and wellness initiatives in workplaces, and certain implementation steps can help both employers and workers gain maximum benefit from EAPs, say attorneys at Foley & Lardner.

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