Legal

The Minnesota-based Post-it notes conglomerate was sued by employees, alleging eight years of underperformance of TDFs in comparison to peer benchmarks "is impossible to justify" for 58,000 employees.

It is crucial for plan sponsors to think ahead and familiarize themselves with new provisions coming in 2026, including higher catch-up contributions, big changes to required minimum distributions and changes for annuities.

While employers frequently believe vesting schedules support worker retention, "data does not support that," according to a Penn State law professor, who is requesting that the IRS prioritize recommending to Congress that it eliminates vesting schedules, in its 2025-2026 Priority Guidance Plan.

Some of the biggest ERISA issues over the last year included those over 401(k) forfeited contributions and ESG investing, according to Gerald Maatman, co-author of the 2025 ERISA Class Action Review.

President Trump is expected to sign an executive order to ease the path for private market investments to be included in employer-sponsored retirement plans, but hurdles remain.

The proposed class action ERISA lawsuit centers on two poorly performing funds offered by the $9 billion 401(k) plan covering more than 27,000 current and former employees of the giant telecommunications equipment maker.