SECURE Act 2.0 Mandatory Automatic Enrollment Requirements for New Retirement Plans Guidance Released (US)

One of the hallmarks of the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (SECURE Act 2.0) legislation was to increase participation in retirement plans. On January 10, 2025, the Treasury Department and the IRS came one step closer when they announced the issuance of proposed regulations requiring automatic enrollment for new Code Section 401(k) and 403(b) retirement plans (Proposed Regulations). As background, the SECURE Act 2.0 added Code Section 414A, which provides that a retirement plan will not be qualified unless it satisfies certain automatic enrollment requirements under Code Section 414(w). These requirements:

  • Require automatic enrollment of employees with elective deferral contributions of at least 3% and no more than 10% in the first year of participation (with 1% increases between 10-15%)
  • Permit participants to withdraw their automatic elective deferrals within 90 days of their first elective deferral contributions being made
  • If no investment election is made, permit the automatic elective deferrals to be invested in qualified default investment alternatives (QDIAs)

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To seek a return to the office, or not to seek? Increasingly, that is the question (UK)

It is clear from the press in recent weeks that there has been a widespread shift in terms of how much homeworking employers are willing to allow and indeed, in some cases, an almost complete volte face – with numerous house-hold name employers reportedly mandating their staff to work four or five days in the office. Towards the end of last week, the BBC reported that Lord Sugar is telling workers to get their (if you’ll pardon the phrase) “bums back to the office”. Indeed, KPMG’s latest CEO Outlook at the end of 2024 revealed that

CEOs are hardening their stance on returning to pre-pandemic ways of working, with 83 percent expecting a full return to the office within the next three years – a notable increase from 64 percent in 2023”.

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The Department of Labor Adopts Self-Correction for Common Retirement Plan Fiduciary Breaches

In a timely blog post on our firm’s Pensions and Benefits blog, Squire Patton Boggs’ Stacey Grundman and Joseph Yonadi, Jr. of our Tax Strategy & Benefits practice discussed recent changes to the Department of Labor’s Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program. The changes added a Self-Correction Component for fiduciary failures and finalized an amendment to an existing prohibited transaction exemption that provides excise tax relief for transactions that have been self-corrected. These new changes become effective March 17, 2025. Read the full update on these important changes here.

Europe – the AI revolution is underway but not quite yet in HR?

A couple of weeks ago we asked readers of this blog to answer a couple of questions on their organisation’s use of (generative) artificial intelligence, and we promised to circle back with the results. So, drum roll, the results are now in.

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Employment Options for Terminating or Suspending Operations in Mexico

Considering the fluidity of the current US/Mexico situation and the potential for the escalation of destabilizing tariffs, we prepared a short summary of available employment options in Mexico for companies to keep in mind as they consider their operations in that country.

Under Mexican labor law, there are primarily three ways for companies to terminate all employment in a non-unionized facility: (i) collective termination of all employment relationships, (ii) collective suspension of all employment relationships, or (iii) mutual termination of individual employment relationships.

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UPDATE: US DOL Order Directing Departments to Cease Enforcement of Affirmative Action Requirements of EO 11246

Following President Trump’s Executive Order “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity,” on January 24, acting U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Secretary Vincent Micone issued an agency Order instructing DOL employees to cease and desist “all investigative and enforcement activity” under Executive Order 11246 (Equal Employment Opportunity) as the Secretary said the DOL “no longer has any authority” under the rescinded order. The Secretary further stated that the order applies to “all DOL employees, including the OFCCP, OALJ, and ARB.”

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Trump DEI Order: How Could the Administration’s Plans to Target Private Sector Impact Employers? (US)

In just his first days in office, President Donald Trump has signaled that his Administration’s efforts to curb Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) practices will start with the federal government but may soon have sweeping impacts on the private sector. This post details President Trump’s Executive Order that directs the U.S. Department of Justice, and other agencies, to begin preparing to combat the DEI initiatives of private employers, and what’s to be expected in the months ahead.

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Trump Transition: Shakeup at National Labor Relations Board Stalls NLRB Action (US)

It’s been a little more than a week since Inauguration Day, but the seismic shifts of presidential change in Washington, D.C. continue, now extending to and impacting the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board). On January 28, President Donald Trump shook up the NLRB with two major personnel decisions: one anticipated, the other unprecedented.

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WEBINAR – February 5 – Employers, Buckle Up: Addressing the Trump Administration’s Recent Actions on DEI and Immigration

📅February 5, 2025, 12 – 1 p.m. ET

Join us for a timely webinar where we will highlight some of the key issues employers are facing in light of the recent executive orders signed by President Trump.

The orders impacting employers include an order ending certain federal contractor affirmative action requirements and terminating federal DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) policies, immigration orders focusing on birthright citizenship, extreme vetting of foreign nationals, border enforcement and the suspension of US refugee and asylum processing. President Trump also rescinded several Biden Administration executive orders related to immigration.

Partners Jill KirilaCarmen Cole and Sam Mudrick will discuss:

  • What the executive orders mean for employers
  • How DEI and immigration-related directives and initiatives will affect the private sector and strategies to respond
  • How employers can navigate DEI and Immigration related state law issues that remain following the orders
Register

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