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Michael T. Graham
Subscribe to Michael T. Graham's PostsSupreme Court to Hear Church Plan Litigation
By McDermott Will & Emery and Michael T. Graham on Dec 22, 2016
Posted In Retirement Plans
On December 2, 2016, the Supreme Court of the United States granted the petitions for writs of certiorari to Advocate Health Care, et al. v. Stapleton, Maria, et al., St. Peter’s Healthcare, et al. v. Kaplan, Laurence and Dignity Health, et al. v. Rollins, Starla, all of which previously requested the Court review their arguments...
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More Paid Sick Leave – The New Trend Sweeping California
By McDermott Will & Emery and Michael T. Graham on May 19, 2016
Posted In Employment, Labor
Employers with employees throughout California must be wary of the patchwork of cities enacting their own paid sick leave requirements that may differ from statewide law. Read the full article.
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Two Adverse Decisions against Church Plans Reached at Appellate Court Level
By McDermott Will & Emery and Michael T. Graham on Apr 26, 2016
Posted In Employment, Health and Welfare Plans, Labor, Retirement Plans
Since 2014, large church-controlled health systems that offer defined benefit pension plans have seen lawsuits filed as to whether such plans are eligible to qualify for the ERISA church-plan exemption, which governs those arrangements. When a retirement plan meets the ERISA church-plan exemption, it is exempt from the typical funding and vesting requirements of ERISA...
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Seventh Circuit Finds that State Insurance Law Applies, Resulting in De Novo Review of Benefit Claim
By Jacob Mattinson, Michael T. Graham and Todd Solomon on Sep 24, 2015
Posted In Benefit Controversies, Employee Benefits, Employment, Retirement Plans
On September 4, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled in Fontaine v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Company that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA), does not preempt an Illinois state insurance regulation that prohibits discretionary authority clauses in health and disability plan insurance policies. The Seventh...
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California Amends Its Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Law
By Chris C. Scheithauer and Michael T. Graham on Aug 14, 2015
Posted In Employee Benefits, Employment, Executive Compensation, Health and Welfare Plans, Labor
As previously reported, California’s Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014 (California’s Sick Leave Law) took full effect on July 1, 2015, although some provisions were effective as of January 1, 2015. The new law generally requires most employers to allow employees to accrue paid sick leave. This On the Subject discussed requirements employers must...
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View From McDermott: 2014 ERISA Litigation Review–Decisions From the Supreme Court and Beyond
By Michael T. Graham on Apr 7, 2015
Posted In Retirement Plans
Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a number of significant ERISA cases. In its 2013-14 term, the Supreme Court decided two ERISA-based appeals – Fifth Third Bancorp v. Dudenhoeffer and Heimeshoff v. Hartford Life & Acc. Ins. Co. In the current 2014-15 term, the Supreme Court already issued one ERISA decision in M&G Polymers USA,...
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Sixth Circuit Rejects Claim that Disgorgement of Profits Is Appropriate Remedy in ERISA Benefit Denial Action
By Michael T. Graham and Patrick Ryan on Mar 31, 2015
Posted In Benefit Controversies, Retirement Plans
On March 5, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reversed the finding of a prior Sixth Circuit panel that allowed successful plaintiffs to recover additional equitable relief in the form of disgorgement of profits under a return-on-equity analysis in addition to the recovery of the denied benefits. This decision realigns the...
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Supreme Court Rejects Sixth Circuit’s Yard-Man Inferences in M&G Polymers USA, LLC v. Tackett
By Diane Morgenthaler, Joshua D. Rogaczewski and Michael T. Graham on Feb 24, 2015
Posted In Benefit Controversies, Health and Welfare Plans
M&G Polymers USA, LLC v. Tackett, a recent unanimous decision by the Supreme Court of the United States, is a game changer. By expressly repudiating the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit’s 1983 Yard-Man decision and the many decisions following it, the Supreme Court rejected three decades of Sixth Circuit law inferring that...
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California Imposes Mandatory Sick Leave Law
By McDermott Will & Emery and Michael T. Graham on Jan 14, 2015
Posted In Employment
On September 10, 2014, California’s Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014 (California’s sick leave law) became law. The new law requires most employers to allow employees to accrue up to three days of paid sick leave per year based on an accrual of at least one hour of paid sick leave for every 30...
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Senate Unanimously Approves Bill Modifying ERISA Section 4062(e)
By Michael T. Graham and Patrick Ryan on Sep 30, 2014
Posted In Retirement Plans
On September 16, 2014, the United States Senate unanimously approved Senate Bill 2511, which would amend Section 4062(e) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA), to clarify the definition of substantial cessation of operations. ERISA Section 4062(e) enables the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation to require that employers financially guarantee pension...
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