Rethink Unique ERISA Rule, Seafood Workers Tell Eleventh Circuit

The call for a fresh look at a unique ERISA rule applied by the Eleventh Circuit intensified this week, when seafood company employees requested rehearing after an October decision rejecting their case.

The employees on Wednesday petitioned the court’s full panel of judges to rehear their case and end the circuit’s “outlier” practice of requiring benefit plan participants bringing fiduciary breach claims under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act to first exhaust their plan’s internal appeals process before going to court. This “judge-made” rule isn’t supported by the text of ERISA, and it’s contrary to US Supreme Court precedent and ...