Reliance Standard never should have terminated Fredrick Smith’s disability benefits. But appealing the District Court’s decision in favor of Mr. Smith was just plain dumb. Good news for claimants, the Fourth Circuit’s opinion in Smith v. Reliance Standard Life Insurance Company, ___ Fed.Appx. ___, 2019 WL 2539289 (June 20, 2019), contains a trove of pro-claimant rulings that can be cited … Read More
The Administrative Exemption to the Fair Labor Standards Act
The Administrative Exemption to the Fair Labor Standards Act The Fair Labor Standards Act provides that “no employer shall employ any employee any of his employees . . . for a workweek longer than forty hours unless such employee receives compensation for his employment in excess of the hours above specified at a rate not less than one and one-half … Read More
Fourth Circuit Clarifies that an Employer/Plan Administrator/Named Fiduciary is Indeed an ERISA Fiduciary
Fourth Circuit Clarifies that an Employer/Plan Administrator/Named Fiduciary is Indeed an ERISA Fiduciary In the case of Dawson-Murdock v. National Consulting Group, Inc., an employer argued that it was not an ERISA fiduciary of its own group life insurance plan, even though the employer was designated as the “plan administrator” and “named fiduciary” in the plan documents. The United States … Read More