.jpg)
ERISA Watch with Elizabeth Hopkins
ERISA stands for the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 and governs most of our employee benefits. While this area of law may not seem as engrossing as other areas of law such as criminal law, the impact labor laws have on our lives are just as compelling and the stakes are just as high.
ERISA law blankets areas such as mental health, long-term disability, retirement accounts, life insurance, and more. ERISA watch will tell stories of individuals whose lives have been dramatically affected and show why ERISA law matters. Elizabeth Hopkins is a partner at Kantor & Kantor LLP and leads their Retirement Benefits team, is a highly regarded lawyer on ERISA class action lawsuits and is an expert analyst with Law360.
Enjoy hearing Elizabeth and her guests dig deep and discuss the behind-the-scenes stories on these important cases. Real talk about real legal cases!
ERISA Watch with Elizabeth Hopkins
The Vig
On this special ERISA Watch episode, our host Elizabeth Hopkins examines the upcoming Supreme Court argument in the Hughes v. Northwestern University case, which will be held on Monday December 6, 2021. In Hughes, participants in a defined-contribution retirement plan allege the plan paid too much in fees for the investments offered, but the lower courts dismissed without even considering the merits of the case.
Elizabeth speaks to Former Assistant Secretary of Labor, Phyllis Borzi, about the importance the of the investment fee issue and why it matters to anyone with a pension. They discuss how paying too much in fees over the course of a career can potentially cut retirement income for an individual by over one-third, and how management companies are profiting to the tune of many millions of dollars per year by skimming from retirement plans.
Paying the vig in this instance might not implicate loan sharks and bookies, but with all of the risk on the plan participants and none of it on the employer and investment managers, the end result of the cuts being taken might not look all that different.
