In a proposed rule issued July 20, the PBGC set out its first comprehensive rework of penalties for late notices and filings: daily amounts of $25 to $1,000 depending on severity, with waivers for reasonable cause, legal error, and self-correction. The quieter headline for plan sponsors is that the agency has ended the informal nonenforcement posture it held on reportable events and section 4010 filings from 2019 to 2024. Comment deadlines and compliance calendars both deserve a fresh look.

A health plan seeks to recover medical benefits it paid to a union member after he received a worker's compensation settlement for the same injury, and the court grants default judgment in the plan's favor.

On July 20, 2026, the PBGC proposed a framework modernizing how it calculates and enforces penalties for late required notices and filings, with daily penalty schedules ranging from $25 to $1,000 by violation severity and reductions or waivers for reasonable cause and self-correction. Plan sponsors should revisit compliance procedures for reportable events and section 4010 filings, as PBGC has ended its informal nonenforcement posture in these areas.

As the December 31, 2026 deadline approaches for adopting SECURE and SECURE 2.0 amendments, Milliman examines a key decision for defined benefit plan sponsors: whether to retain a required start date for benefit distributions that is earlier than the new later statutory required beginning date for RMDs, which has been raised to age 72, 73, and 75 depending on the participant's birth year.

Lawmakers found bipartisan ground on retirement-plan and small-business financing reform, but split sharply over private markets, crypto oversight and risks facing ordinary investors.

Vanguard studied several match formulas and found that pairing a non-elective contribution with a stretched match (25 to 50 cents per dollar over a longer deferral range) is the most cost-effective design, though richer match rates still drive higher employee saving, with respondents deferring 1.8 to 4.9 percentage points more under more generous formulas.

The DOL’s proposed prudence safe harbor regulations have pretty much made it “table stakes” for some responsible person somewhere to read and understand any annuity contracts on behalf of the plan which are provided as part of any DC lifetime income program.

Congress created a meaningful incentive, and the administration wants workers to use it. Now Treasury and the retirement industry must build the bridge to make it work.

A Milliman case study on designing a cash balance pension plan for a law firm's partners, allowing deferral of significant taxable income until retirement with contribution flexibility by career stage. The design supported deferrals exceeding $250,000 annually per participant, with potential accumulations over $3.5 million by retirement.

After 24 years, the Department of Labor is looking to leave “snail mail” behind. Proposed electronic disclosure rules would make it easier for ERISA-covered group health plans to deliver required notices electronically while preserving important participant protections.

The Department of Labor has issued a proposed rule to create a new, optional electronic disclosure safe harbor for ERISA group health plans. If finalized, this proposal would allow the provision of required disclosures electronically to a broader group through a notice-and-access framework.

Milliman examines how employers are positioning fertility coverage amid cost pressures and new market dynamics, covering utilization trends, treatment costs, benefit design approaches, and emerging access pathways through retail and digital health partnerships, against a backdrop of state mandates and drug-pricing initiatives.

In Havlik, the University of Chicago rejected a beneficiary change form that would have redirected an ERISA-qualified Section 403(b) retirement plan participant’s benefits from his spouse to trusts, and the Seventh Circuit looked to state law to decide whether the power of attorney was valid to waive the spousal benefit.

A suit alleging a breach of fiduciary duty in retaining an allegedly underperforming target-date fund series has been dismissed for lack of a meaningful benchmark comparison.

The court held that Indiana employers may enforce clearly stated vacation-forfeiture policies, and that the Class Action Fairness Act’s home-state exception is not automatic; parties can waive the right to seek remand by waiting too long.

Though the plan document appeared to require arbitration in pursuing recovery in a fiduciary breach suit, a federal appellate court has affirmed a district court decision rebuffing that requirement.

Private letter ruling addressing the section 4980 transfer of surplus assets from a terminating defined benefit plan to a replacement defined contribution plan. A PLR binds only its recipient.

In a recent survey, half of plan sponsors said they seek ‘minor’ or ‘moderate’ plan design updates to improve their plan’s impact upon participants.