Workforce Bulletin

Advisers and financial institutions that provide fiduciary investment advice have an additional 60 days before having to comply with the final regulations defining who is a fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (the “Fiduciary Rule”).  On April 4, 2017, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued a final rule (the “Final Rule”), which delays the applicability date of the Fiduciary Rule until June 9, 2017 and also extends for 60 days the applicability dates of the Best Interest Contract Exemption (the “BIC Exemption”) and the ...

Advisers and financial institutions that are compensated based on a fixed percentage of the value of assets under management may want to reconsider that compensation methodology as it could require compliance with a prohibited transaction exemption, such as the Best Interests Contract Exemption (the “BIC Exemption”), which is a component of the fiduciary rule issued by the Department of Labor (the “DOL”) in April 2016 (the “Final Rule”).  While stating in the recently published “Conflict of Interest FAQs” (the “FAQs”) that the ongoing receipt of a fixed ...

As with most aspects of the workplace, employee benefits are going digital.  From online enrollments and administration for all types of benefits, to electronic educational tools, employers are increasingly seeking ways to use new technologies to enhance their benefits programs, increase efficiencies and employee engagement.  Among these innovations is the proliferation of computer-driven, digitally-based investment advisers, or so-called “robo advisers.”  The market for robo-advisers is growing fast with many new companies entering the space with increasing ...