Employee benefit plan drafters frequently complete plan documents for their client’s use assuming that the document’s status as an employee benefit plan under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (‘‘ERISA’’) or under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the ‘‘Code’’), is definitive. The Ninth Circuit decision in Flores v. City of San Gabriel, (824 F. 3d 890 (9th Cir. 2016), cert. den’d 137 S. Ct. 2117 (2017)), which the U.S. Supreme Court permitted to stand, calls into question that assumption. READ MORE

Reproduced with permission from Bloomberg Law, Pension & Benefits Daily, 227 PBD, November 2017