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On Tetreault, Gabriel, and the First Circuit's Reluctance to Recognize Equitable Estoppel in ERISA Cases

"As an evidentiary bar, [the Ninth Circuit's requirement of extraordinary circumstances] separates the routine case where there is a random misstatement from a low level HR person upon which a plaintiff's lawyer tries to fashion an entire estoppel claim (which federal court judges have been seeing, and for the most part rejecting, for years) from a deliberate pattern and practice of self-serving conduct that harms participants (and which federal court judges don't see all that often). These types of additional requirements for estoppel claims under the equitable relief provision of ERISA, above and beyond the standard requirement of reasonable reliance on a misstatement of fact, allow the courts to limit this type of relief, in the ERISA context, to the more egregious circumstances only." [Tetreault v. Reliance Standard, No. 13-2353 (1st Cir. Oct. 6, 2014); Gabriel v. Alaska Electrical Pension Fund, No. 12-354581 (9th Cir. June 6, 2014)]  MORE >>

Priest Retirement: Unanswered Questions Can Have Unintended Consequences (PDF)

"When asked who is financially responsible for retirement, most priests respond that it is a shared responsibility. However, there is no consensus on what this means (e.g., equal sharing, diocese has the majority, priest has the majority, etc.). Perhaps the most uniform response is related to the question, 'Does the Diocese do a good job providing you with retirement planning information?' Surveys show that 60%-80% respond with a 'NO' to this question."  MORE >>

Fundamentals of Section 415(b) (PDF)

8 pages. "In some plans, it may be obvious that no one is affected by the Section 415(b) limit. In most other plans, simplified procedures may be applied to test the vast majority of retiring participant's benefits against the Section 415(b) limit and to isolate those few individuals whose benefits are close enough to the applicable limit to warrant detailed testing. In most cases, detailed testing will require the services of one or more outside experts[.]"  MORE >>

Prior-Period Adjustment in Transitioning to GASB Statement No. 68 (PDF)

5 pages. "[GASB] Statement No. 68 became effective for employer fiscal years beginning after June 15, 2014 ... Incorporating the requirements of Statement No. 68 will be a significant change to pension accounting and reporting by state and local governments. The purpose of this memo is to assist governmental employers that sponsor or contribute to a pension plan by providing an overview of the prior-period adjustment necessary to transition their financial statements from Statement No. 27 to Statement No. 68."

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Text of Actuarial Valuation Report for the State of California Retiree Health Benefits Program as of June 30, 2013 (PDF)

"Fully funding retiree healthcare benefits increases cash contributions by 103 percent from $1.78 billion to $3.62 billion; however, the result is a smaller increase in the expected balance sheet liability at fiscal year end 2014. Under the full funding scenario, the balance sheet liability is expected to increase from $16.12 billion at fiscal year end 2013 to $16.42 billion at fiscal year end 2014. The partial funding policy also controls the growth in the balance sheet liability and reduces the expected balance sheet liability at fiscal year end 2014 by approximately 8 percent from $19.46 billion to $17.81 billion."

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Maximum Deferral and Threshold Limits for 2013 and 2014 (PDF)

"The limits are located in various sections of the Code and often apply in different ways to private and public-sector plans.... The table [in this memo] presents the key limits for 2014 and compares them with the 2013 limits. The remainder of this memo briefly describes these limits."

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Interpretation of Code Section 415(b) Related to Reduced Early Retirement Benefits and Qualified Joint and Survivor Annuities (PDF)

"According to the 2013 Gray Book [of the American Academy of Actuaries]... the early retirement reduction factor and the optional form factor apply to the accrued benefit (rather than the formula benefit), which must be limited to the Section 415(b) limit applicable at the plan's normal retirement age.... [This] interpretation ... could significantly and unexpectedly limit the benefits that plans can pay to some participants. Although the Gray Book is not authoritative, it does reflect the views of certain U.S. Treasury and IRS staff."

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Milliman on Mortality: Hope to Die

"The Milliman report criticizing assumptions used by Detroit's erstwhile actuaries Gabriel Roeder Smith & Company (GRS), whose reports showed Detroit's plans to be among the healthier public plans in the nation, kicked off with a scathing indictment of mortality assumptions used by GRS which Milliman characterizes as too 'optimistic'. You tell a layman that mortality assumptions are 'optimistic' and the assumption would be that people are living longer but in the perverted world of public pension funding an optimistic assumption (and they're all optimistic) is one that lowers costs and having retirees die sooner is good news."

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Reducing Retiree Medical Costs with an Indirect Employer Group Waiver Plan with Wrap Arrangement (PDF)

"[T]he Indirect Employer Group Waiver (EGWP) with Wrap arrangement, using a Standard Medicare Part D plan design and a second plan that wraps around the EGWP [can produce] annual savings [of] as much as $600 per person greater than under the Retiree Drug Subsidy. However, effective communication with participating retirees is essential for its success."

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Cash Balance Plans for Public Employees: Somewhere in the Middle (PDF)

"[N]umerous state and local governments have recently made significant changes to their retirement plans in order to manage their costs including, in two very recent cases, establishing cash balance plans. However, if these new designs are used, care should be taken that the implications are fully understood and that they are effective in attracting and retaining qualified employees and providing sufficient and sustainable retirement benefits."

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Wisconsin Gov. Walker Says State's Pension System Is the Only One in the Country That's Fully Funded

"Is Wisconsin's pension system the only one in the nation that's fully funded? ...For the official 2010 and 2011 Wisconsin figures, we turned to a report by the Wisconsin Retirement System's actuarial consultant, which annually calculates the funded ratio. The firm, Gabriel Roeder Smith & Company, reported 99.8 percent funding for year-end 2010. And for year-end 2011, the firm put the Wisconsin fund's funded ratio at 99.9 percent, according to its latest report. The report showed the Wisconsin system at 99 percent or greater since 2003.... It's slightly below 100%, but so close that a respected research organization rounds it up. And no other plan covering general state employees can make that claim."  MORE >>

GASB's New Pension Accounting and Financial Reporting Standards (PDF)

"This [article] offers a detailed explanation of the changes that apply to public pension plans and to the employers (and nonemployers) who contribute to the plans. In addition, it concisely summarizes the key changes in four tables[.]"

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GASB Approves New Pension Accounting and Reporting Standards (PDF)

"The GASB's new standards make significant changes to pension accounting and reporting by state and local governments. While the current standards provide a close link between pension accounting and funding measures, the new standards disconnect accounting and funding in several ways ... Overall, these changes will likely make the new pension accounting measures more volatile than the funding measures. It should be noted that the GASB's changes do not affect the actuarial methods and assumptions used to determine the contributions needed to fund the plan."

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Actuarial Techniques to Manage Pension Risk (PDF)

Slides used in a presentation by a prominent actuarial firm with a large public plan practice, from the 2010 National Conference on Public Employees Retirement Systems.

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Chart: OPEB Prefunding Analysis of California Retiree Health Benefits (PDF)

This is an analysis of the 2011 Valuation.

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State of California Retiree Health Benefits Program: GASB Nos. 43 and 45 Actuarial Valuation Report as of June 30, 2011 (PDF)

The valuation was based on census information as of June 30, 2011, and measures actuarial liabilities as of June 30, 2011. The report includes expense and financial reporting information applicable to fiscal year end June 30, 2012, and a projection of annual expense for fiscal year end June 30, 2013.

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Developing a Pension Funding Policy for State and Local Governments (PDF)

These funding principles can be thought of in a risk-management framework. In an effort to keep the employer's pension contribution relatively stable from year to year, a funding policy should: (1) identify keyrisk areas that add to contribution volatility and (2) identify ways to manage each of those risks. The primary risk areas in funding retirement systems are investment risks, demographic risks within the covered population, benefit or plan design risks, and governance risks.  MORE >>

The GASB's Exposure Drafts on Pension Accounting and Financial Reporting (PDF)

This article focuses on the GASB's proposed changes. However, to present the changes in context, the article begins by providing background on state and local government pensions and summarizing the GASB's current pension standards.

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Response to Remarks by Michael H. Moskow on Public Pension and Retiree Health Plans (PDF)

7 pages. Excerpt: [Regarding] remarks to the State and Local Government Pension Forum on February 28 [the authors] recognize [Mr. Moskow's] concerns about public pension funding and the potentially large liabilities related to retiree health care benefits.

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New USERRA Notice Requirement for Employers - Effective Immediately (PDF)

2 pages. Excerpt: Paul Zorn of Gabriel, Roeder, Smith & Company, which is an NCTR member, summarizes here the new required notice of rights and duties under USERRA.

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