ERISA sets minimum standards that covered retirement and health plans must meet to ensure participants’ and beneficiaries’ interests are protected.
In June, the Kraft Heinz Co. sued insurer Aetna for allegedly “breach[ing] its fiduciary duties and engag[ing]in prohibited transactions” in its administration of Kraft Heinz’s self-funded medical and dental plans, benefiting itself at the expense of Kraft Heinz. That litigation is ongoing.
In August 2022, the U.S. Department of Labor filed a lawsuit against the owner of a New Jersey design firm and her spouse for allegedly breaching their fiduciary duty by investing most of the assets of an employee profit-sharing plan in a bank the spouse owned, costing the plan more than $17 million after the bank’s shares nosedived, according to the lawsuit.
