Our Blog - Surety Matters

  Navigating the pandemic continues to force companies to make tough choices, including temporarily or permanently reducing the workforce. Plan sponsors need to assess the ramifications for 401(k) plans.  Understanding the IRS Partial Termination Rule…
Read Moreabout The 401(k) Partial Termination Rule: Have You Invoked It?

Employees lack trust in benefit plans. As a business owner—and plan sponsor,  take action to respond to their needs. A great first step: provide more information. What Do Employees Want to Know About Benefit Plans?…
Read Moreabout The Importance of Communicating About Employee Benefit Plans

All of us! Even before the financial challenges brought on by COVID-19, retirement saving for workers in the US was insufficient—and in fact, worsening. For example, data from 2014-2017 shows that only 40% of employers…
Read Moreabout Who Needs to Save for Retirement?

Identity theft has been on the rise—and that means plan sponsors have to up their cybersecurity efforts. According to AARP: Identity theft occurs when someone obtains someone else’s personal information, such as a Social Security…
Read Moreabout Identify Theft—Are Your Benefit and Retirement Plans Safe?

Plan sponsors have a lot of responsibility as fiduciaries when managing an employee benefit plan. They have to make sure that the plan assets are invested properly, employees are given adequate information about benefits, employees…
Read Moreabout Hiring Outside Advisors Does Not Remove Plan Sponsor Fiduciary Liability

A former worker of Omnicom Group, Inc. is suing the company and plan fiduciaries, accusing them of ERISA violations while managing the firm’s employee benefit plan. The complaint, filed on July 31 in a U.S. District…
Read Moreabout Omnicom Slammed with Fiduciary Breach

In the past few months, Wisconsin, among other states, has seen a rise in class litigations involving breach of fiduciary duty claims under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, or ERISA. These types…
Read Moreabout Wisconsin Sees Spike in ERISA Class Action Claims

A fiduciary is an organization or individual that holds the critical power and responsibility of acting on behalf of others. A fiduciary pledges to carry out their daily duties honestly and through good faith. A fiduciary…
Read Moreabout What is a Fiduciary Duty?

Retirement plan sponsors are beginning to see more claims involving the alleged wrongful use of personal information belonging to retirement plan participants claimed to be “plan assets”. The specifics of these allegations is that employers…
Read Moreabout Is Personal Information of Plan Participants An ERISA Plan Asset?