DOL’s Pro-Employer 401(k) Forfeiture Brief Signals New Approach

The US Labor Department’s support of employers in the litigation wave targeting how they handle 401(k) plan forfeitures signals where the second Trump administration stands, but it may ultimately be marginal in restraining these cases.

The department backed HP Inc. in its effort to kill a Ninth Circuit appeal by employees who say the company wrongly puts the 401(k) money forfeited by departing workers toward the contributions it’s required to make to the plan, instead of using it to lower their fees.

The allegations against HP ignore the realities of funding a retirement plan and the constraints placed on this ...