Legal

More than 600,000 American companies could be at risk of fines, legal penalties and fiduciary failure for failing to auto-enroll, offer qualified investments or transmit payments on time, according to Abernathy Daley 401k Consultants.

Seven GOP-led states had filed suit against former President Joe Biden's SAVE student loan relief plan, arguing that debt cancellation should be addressed through legislation, and the judge agreed, saying “ that a taxpayer-funded bailout is blatant executive overreach."

The DOL’s ESG rule has been challenged since it took effect in 2023, but now a Texas judge has ruled that retirement fund managers may consider environmental, social and governance factors when choosing investment funds.

Forfeiture cases are no longer nuisance lawsuits, as top law firm Schlichter Bogard, which has been representing many plaintiffs in recent 401(k) excessive fee lawsuits, is representing the telecommunications company’s participant-plaintiffs.

The lawsuit, like many 401(k) lawsuits filed by employees over the last year, challenged HP’s decision to use “forfeitures” to reduce employer contributions rather than to pay administrative costs.

A group of 17 Republican state attorneys general are demanding answers from top asset managers, who they say are misleading investors and retirement plan fiduciaries by omitting “essential disclosures for funds that include Chinese investments,” according to the AG letter.

Both brokerage firms moved a customer’s uninvested cash from a brokerage account into an interest-bearing account, violating the Advisers Act, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

About 70% of the 401(k) plan—nearly $2 billion—was invested in one fund, when "much cheaper" versions of this investment were available, allege employees in the class action lawsuit, on behalf of 38,000 participants.