To meet the growing need in the New York City area, HANYS Benefit Services (HBS), an industry leader with more than 45 years of providing trusted advisory services, retirement plan offerings, and best-in-class employee benefits products, recently expanded operations to a new location in Melville, New York. HBS hired a new team of executives, led by Peter Margiotta, Vice President, Client Relationship Development, to deepen access to senior executives for New York City area clients. “We are very excited to have Peter on board, leading the charge to strengthen our downstate presence,” said James Kelley, HBS President. “HBS strives to build real relationships with our clients, creating a shared fiduciary responsibility with the companies we advise. Having a full team based in Melville will allow us to better serve our New York City clients in this capacity.” Peter Margiotta has more than 25 years of experience in the retirement benefit planning industry, specializing in retirement plans ...

The recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Tibble vs. Edison has been described as “historic,” “ground-breaking,” and even “revolutionary.” The significant attention this case has generated is due in large part to the fact that a case about retirement plans reached the Supreme Court and that the Supreme Court unanimously overturned the lower courts’ decisions. Yet, the underlying premise behind the decision in this case is not particularly glamorous. It is very familiar to us all: the fiduciary responsibilities of a plan sponsor. The key points of the case are as follows: Mr. Tibble argued that his employer, Edison International, acted imprudently by including higher-cost retail mutual funds in the retirement plan when lower-cost institutional-class funds were available. Both the District Court and the Ninth Circuit Court ruled that the six-year statute of limitations precluded the claims from being brought. The Supreme Court overturned the lower courts’ rulings and declared that “a fi...

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently announced modified correction methods for errors relating to automatic contribution features, including automatic enrollment, automatic escalation, and employee elective deferrals in both 401(k) and 403(b) plans. The correction methods in the new Revenue Procedure 2015-28 are in addition to those previously identified in Revenue Procedure 2013-12. These new correction methods will encourage employers to more readily include automatic enrollment features in their defined contribution plans. BACKGROUND: ELECTIVE DEFERRAL FAILURES Defined contribution plans with automatic enrollment or automatic escalation must take deductions from employees as soon as possible after enrollment. An “elective deferral failure” occurs if an employer fails to implement deductions properly or in a timely manner because: the eligible employee was not automatically enrolled; the employee’s deferral election was not properly implemented; the deferral percentage was ...