Plans, Perks & Pay | Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Blog

For the past few years, we have been reading about litigation against large employers and financial institutions regarding fees charged to participant accounts in 401(k) plans. These lawsuits generally allege a breach of fiduciary duty under ERISA by selecting poorly performing funds that carry higher expenses than similar investment alternatives.

An employee stock ownership plan, or ESOP, is a type of defined contribution retirement plan in which employees’ accounts are invested primarily in stock of the sponsoring employer. In other words, the ESOP literally owns the corporation — whether partly or fully — allowing the employees to benefit from its success.

The Department of Labor, the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services have released final versions of the Summary of Benefits and Coverage (SBC) template and Uniform Glossary documents required under the Affordable Care Act.