This book is for the proactive business owner, the CEO who knows her highest and best use of time and talent is acting as her team’s quarterback and not getting stuck “in the weeds.” This book is for the CFO who knows, perhaps firsthand, the weighty difference between an ounce of prevention and pounds upon pounds of cure. This book is for the HR Director whose harried day doesn’t allow for additional concerns related to retirement plan design or governance. This book is directed toward the CPAs, the business attorneys, the third-party administrators, and the benefits brokers who recognize the value of forming a team with other specialists to achieve the greatest good for a client. ERISA. The acronym itself suggests simplicity, but businesses of all sizes struggle with legal compliance when it comes to the Employee Retirement Income Securities Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”). Over the past year, the team at Hall Benefits Law collectively cringed as multiple plan sponsors (employers) asked us whether ERISA legal compliance was actually important, citing the current Administration’s seemingly more lax approach to benefits legal compliance. Specifically, they point out that in January of 2017, President Trump issued an Executive Order Minimizing the Economic Burden of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Pending Repeal, an order that permits federal agencies to exercise authority to reduce the potential burdens of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (“ACA”).
However, statistics from the Department of Labor (DOL) show that ERISA enforcement activity has increased in recent years and under the Trump administration!