Retirement Regulation

The Washington Saves program, which will take effect in 2027, was signed into law late last week, and will require certain employers that do not offer a retirement plan to enroll employees into the state-run auto-IRA program.

The Insured Retirement Institute released its 2024 Federal Retirement Security Blueprint, urging Congress to enact changes within retirement legislation and the DOL to withdraw its proposed fiduciary rule.

The DOL has introduced complex admin costs – to support SECURE 2.0's new automatic transfer rule for small-balance 401(k)s of workers who change jobs – and they should be eliminated, says the ERISA Industry Committee.

Testifying before the Senate, SSA Commissioner Martin O'Malley said the agency is changing its policy of recouping past overpayments, after it took an aggressive stance last year by clawing back $4.7 billion from beneficiaries.

With new provisions in SECURE 2.0 taking effect in 2024, employers have new options they can leverage to engage with employees who want more workplace benefits, such as student loan matching and emergency savings.

The DOL offers guidance to assist fiduciaries in navigating a world where cyberattacks have become more and more commonplace, but plan sponsors also need to take the necessary steps to defray unwanted liability.

The RDS program has been the go-to choice for plan sponsors who offer group coverage to retired employees, however, the Inflation Reduction Act makes it difficult now for plans to meet the creditable qualification criteria.

Martin O'Malley, the new Social Security commissioner, is promising to overhaul the agency's system of clawing back $23 billion it claims was wrongly sent to beneficiaries, saying it "just doesn't seem right or fair."