06 Jun 2023

Stake a Claim: Applying Claims Procedures in ERISA Plans

A recent case in the Eighth Circuit makes clear that plan documents, and what they say, are important. We know this, but sometimes, especially in welfare benefit plans, the particulars aren’t always spelled out. ERISA plans often require participants to exhaust internal claim procedures before they can take the plan, or its fiduciaries, to court. In this Eighth Circuit case, the claim denial letter to a life insurance beneficiary required exhaustion, but the plan document didn’t. ERISA requires that the terms of an employee benefit plan be committed to written plan documents so that plan participants, by reviewing those documents, can learn their rights and obligations under the plan. So said the court, too.

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- ERISA. DOL provides guidance to multiemployer pension plans receiving Special Financial Assistance regarding information to be included in their Annual Funding Notice. Field Assistance Bulletin 2023-01.
- Retirement Plans. IRS provides interim guidance on expansion of its EPCRS program as provided under the SECURE 2.0 Act (Pub. L. No. 117-328, Div. T). SECURE 2.0 expanded IRS’ self-correction program (SCP) to permit plan sponsors to self-correct “eligible inadvertent failures” unless the plan or plan sponsor is under IRS examination and has not demonstrated a commitment to self-correct the issue (outside of insignificant failures). IRS Notice 2023-43.
- Health and Welfare Plans. IRS issues 2024 inflation adjusted amounts for Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) as determined underR.C. § 223 and the maximum amount that may be made to health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs). Rev. Proc. 2023-23.
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