The Daily Brief for Benefits Professionals
BenefitsWire
Retirement Plans
September 2, 2026
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11 items · ~3 min read
Top of the Brief
Stable Value Funds: The Latest Wave of Class Action ERISA Litigation"Since the beginning of 2025, over two dozen putative class action lawsuits have been filed against retirement plan sponsors and their fiduciaries challenging the stable value funds offered in their plans. The complaints follow a common template. A participant alleges that the plan’s stable value fund credited a lower rate of return than other products the fiduciaries could have selected, and asks the court to infer from that comparison that the fiduciary process in selecting and monitoring the fund was flawed."
In this issue
Regulatory Action and Guidance (2) · Retirement Plans (3) · Litigation (6)
Regulatory Action and Guidance
2 items“On August 20, 2026, the Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (REG-107855-25, RIN 1545-BR50) that would significantly modify the minimum funding rules for single-employer defined benefit pension plans under Internal Revenue Code § 430....” MORE >>
Source: Falcon Rappaport & Berkman LLP
“The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) has relaunched its Opinion Letter Program to provide enhanced compliance guidance under Title IV of ERISA. Employers, plan sponsors, unions, and practitioners can request opinion letters to clarify PBGC’s application of ERISA regulations to specific situations. Such requests will be reviewed, and any opinions issued by PBGC’s Office of the General Counsel. ... In its first opinion letter since 2002, PBGC advised that an annuity purchase for actively employed participants in a frozen defined benefit plan is “not the type of event that the statute or regulation were designed to capture” and that such a transaction does not, by i” MORE >>
Source: Morgan Lewis (ML BeneBits)
Retirement Plans
3 items“The recordkeeper found target-date funds and automatic enrollment are key factors in simplifying investment options.” MORE >>
Source: PLANSPONSOR
“Both firms introduced collective investment trusts designed to diversify exposure within professionally managed products and services.” MORE >>
Source: PLANSPONSOR
“Deel Retirement” embeds enrollment, contributions and reconciliation directly into the platform, aiming to eliminate the administrative friction of connecting payroll with retirement plan providers Global payroll and HR platform Deel today announced the creation of Deel Retirement, bringing retirement plan enrollment, contributions, and reconciliation directly inside the Deel platform. The first phase of the launch goes live in the US, in partnership with Human Interest and Basic Capital, with a UK rollout to follow in the coming months. The new offering is meant to save employers the manual admin of syncing payroll and retirement, and gives employees a place to enroll, invest, and track sav” MORE >>
Source: 401(k) Specialist
Litigation
6 items“The ERISA Industry Committee argued that Congress and the Treasury Department have long permitted employers’ use of unvested funds to offset plan expenses.” MORE >>
Source: PLANSPONSOR
“The suit lacks sufficient evidence that AT&T was involved in the selection of Athene, according to a Massachusetts federal magistrate’s recommendation.” MORE >>
Source: PLANSPONSOR
“A Massachusetts federal magistrate submitted a report and recommendation granting a motion to dismiss a pension risk transfer suit against AT&T Inc. on Monday. Magistrate Judge Paul G.” MORE >>
Source: PLANADVISER
“The ERISA Industry Committee filed on Monday an amicus brief with the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals urging the court to affirm the dismissal of a suit accusing WPP Group USA Inc.” MORE >>
Source: PLANADVISER
“Another federal court of appeals recently vacated a class certification order in a breach of fiduciary duty case under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) involving a defined contribution retirement plan....” MORE >>
Source: Carlton Fields
"Since the beginning of 2025, over two dozen putative class action lawsuits have been filed against retirement plan sponsors and their fiduciaries challenging the stable value funds offered in their plans. The complaints follow a common template. A participant alleges that the plan’s stable value fund credited a lower rate of return than other products the fiduciaries could have selected, and asks the court to infer from that comparison that the fiduciary process in selecting and monitoring the fund was flawed." MORE >>
Source: Trucker Huss