October 28, 2024
A recent crop of suits accusing large employers of violating nondiscrimination provisions in federal benefits law by making workers who use nicotine pay more for health insurance underscore the risk of using fees to offset healthcare costs, attorneys say. Here are five nicotine surcharge suits to keep an eye on.
September 06, 2024
The Ninth Circuit will weigh two cases involving whether class claims under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act can be forced into solo arbitration, and the Second Circuit will hear Yale University workers' bid to revive their retirement plan mismanagement suit. Here are four upcoming oral argument sessions that benefits attorneys should have on their radar.
May 24, 2024
A split Second Circuit panel backed workers — and joined three other circuits — when it rejected an attempt to force a proposed class action Employee Retirement Income Security Act lawsuit into individual arbitration, but employers are seizing on a dissent from the recent ruling to try to turn the tide.
March 07, 2024
A Sodexo employee alleging that the company overcharged smokers for health insurance told the Ninth Circuit that a North Carolina federal court decision supports his efforts to keep his suit in court, saying it backs up his assertion that arbitration agreements can't be added to plans without participants' consent.
March 04, 2024
The U.S. Department of Labor backed a proposed class action accusing food provider Sodexo of unlawfully charging employees who use nicotine $1,200 more per year for health insurance, telling the Ninth Circuit that the arbitration agreement the company wants to use to sink the case conflicts with federal benefits law.
January 01, 2024
Employees will seek to revive their suit claiming Yale University mismanaged its $5.5 billion retirement plan, Republican attorneys general will try to sink Labor Department regulations on socially conscious investing, and a food services company will look to force a suit over a healthcare surcharge for nicotine users into arbitration. Here are five cases benefits attorneys should watch in 2024.
December 01, 2023
Sodexo urged the Ninth Circuit to force a worker to arbitrate his claims alleging the food services company unlawfully required workers who use nicotine products to pay $1,200 more per year for health insurance, saying it doesn't matter that he didn't consent to the insurance plan's arbitration provision.