This week we try something a little different. This episode is the audio portion of a webinar I hosted a few weeks ago. The content was great and I thought it would make sense share with you. My conversation features Sam Henson and Ethan McWilliams, both members of Lockton's ERISA regulatory and compliance team and both spent time as investigators with the Department of Labor. We start with a quick overview of an employer's fiduciary responsibilities, then compare and contrast how they relate to retirement and benefits plans, next we hit on the DOL's enforcement priorities, the every popular topic of HSA plans and where they fit in the fiduciary conversation, plan assets and fees and close out with everyone's favorite topic compliance and reporting.
I host several webinars are year, if you did not get an invite to this one and would like to in the future, just go to www.401kfridays.com/subscribe today and join our email list. Next one is coming up in November and will feature a prior podcast guest as we talk about how a plaintiff's attorney views your retirement plan.
Guest Bios
Sam Henson serves as Director, Legislative & Regulatory Affairs
for Lockton Retirement Services. He acts as a subject
matter expert on ERISA compliance, DOL/IRS activities,
and the legislative landscape. In addition, Sam supervises
compliance services for more than 1,000 Lockton
retirement clients and 100 retirement Associates.
Prior to joining Lockton, Sam spent almost 10 years
with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits
Security Administration. While with the DOL, Sam was
a Senior Investigator, conducting more than 100 civil and
criminal investigations of employee benefits plans, service
providers, and fiduciaries. Sam supervised enforcement
efforts for benefit plans funded by prevailing wage laws
under the Service Contract Act and Davis-Bacon Act.
In his current role, Sam is able to leverage his past
experiences to assist employers with reducing their
fiduciary risks.
Ethan McWilliams brings five years of ERISA regulatory compliance
experience to his position as Lockton Benefit Group’s
Senior Compliance Analyst. At Lockton, Ethan’s
primary responsibility is heading up the newly launched
simulated Department of Labor investigation service,
ACE.
Working with client or prospect representatives and
Lockton’s account teams, Ethan simulates every step of
the DOL investigation process with the ultimate goal of
preparing plan sponsors for the process of a real DOL
investigation. Through a review of plan documents
and mock fiduciary interviews, Ethan identifies red-flag
items and suggests available remedies, recommends
the implementation of best practices where established
procedures may be weak, and educates plan sponsors
on exactly what to expect when their benefit plans are
chosen for investigation.
Before joining Lockton, Ethan worked
as an Investigator for the US Department of Labor -
Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA). At
EBSA, Ethan conducted a variety of employee benefit plan investigations on both the retirement and health/
welfare sides, running the gamut from complex defined
benefit pension plans and 401(k)/403(b) defined
contribution plans to multi-option medical, dental, and
life insurance plans. Ethan also served as a member of
several regional and national project teams, including
initiatives aimed at identifying best practices for plan
procedural prudence and establishing baselines for
reasonable plan fee calculations.
Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over 150 prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!