PROFESSOR PRINCE’S ARTICLE ACCEPTED FOR PUBLICATION BY MARQUETTE LAW REVIEW
April 2024 — “Benefits Transparency,” written by Professor Samantha Prince, was accepted for publication by Marquette Law Review. The article is slated for publication in October 2024.
Recently, several states and cities have enacted equal pay laws in a push for pay transparency in job postings to help reduce wage gaps. While some of these laws require a description of the employee benefits the company offers, none of the laws require a detailed description of benefits. This is even more startling when employee benefits on average make up 30 percent of an employee’s compensation.
To make matters worse, businesses may engage in “benefits washing” — a practice where companies provide vague or misleading information about their employee benefits. Benefits washing has become problematic because applicants decide where to work based off information from the internet, like company websites. A bulleted list of benefits that simply includes “401(k) plan” without the plan’s details hinders an applicant’s ability to make an informed decision because plans have vastly different matching and vesting provisions.
Benefits transparency with respect to 401(k) plan benefits is essential. Mandatory detailed disclosure of employee benefits — specifically 401(k) plan benefits — is a public necessity as these benefits are exceedingly complex. Myriad stakeholders — employees, jobseekers, consumers, investors, companies — would find more detailed, understandable disclosure of interest. One would also hope that the prevalence of such detailed disclosure would help to normalize the value of retirement saving to all stakeholders.
Governmental regulation mandating detailed disclosure is necessary to bring such transparency to fruition in an organized, comparable manner. State and local transparency laws, a federal amendment to ERISA, or increased SEC and FASB disclosure could accomplish benefits transparency — but only if enforcement and penalties come with teeth.
Professor Samantha Prince is an Assistant Professor of Law and Director of Legal Analysis & Writing at Dickinson Law. She has a Master of Laws in Taxation from Georgetown University Law Center and was a partner in a regional law firm where she handled transactional matters that ranged from an initial public offering to regular representation of a publicly-traded company. Most of her clients were small to medium sized businesses and entrepreneurs, including start-ups. A significant part of her practice was in employee benefits including retirement plan design and operation. An expert in entrepreneurship law, she established the Dickinson Law entrepreneurship program, is an advisor for the Entrepreneurship Law Certificate that is available to students, and is the founder and moderator of the Inside Entrepreneurship Law blog. Her research mainly comprises the changing world of work.