DeMario Carswell was quoted in PLANADVISER regarding a recent U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals decision holding that a long-term incentive program used by Merrill Lynch does not qualify as a retirement plan under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). The decision issued by the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Milligan v. Merrill Lynch et al. emphasized that only eight percent of plan payouts occurred after employees left the company, a statistic it found critical to determining that the program functioned as a bonus rather than a pension. Commenting on the ruling, Carswell noted that the court's focus on post-termination payments highlighted that such payments "were the exception rather than the rule."