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Featured Q&As from Recent COVID-19 Town Halls

"Here are some of the more novel and pressing questions asked during ERISAfire's weekly Tuesday COVID-19 town hall meetings. [This page] is updated weekly."

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IRS and Treasury to Hold Town Hall/ Consultation Listening Meetings On Possible Approaches to Governmental Plan Guidance

The issue is important to Federal, State, Local and Indian Tribal Governments, as well as their employees, because the statutory rules that apply to governmental plans are different from those that apply to nongovernmental plans. In addition, the Pension Protection Act of 2006 contained statutory changes related to plans maintained by Indian Tribal Governments. The IRS and Treasury are soliciting comments on proposed drafts issued in November 2011 of possible approaches to guidance in this area. Comments must be received by June 18, 2012. Input from the general public is also sought from discussions at town hall and consultation listening meetings.

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Town Hall Meetings Beginning on Fixing Healthcare System

Excerpt: Seizing on the momentum of the presidential election and the promise of change on a historic scale, a grassroots 'conversation' about health care reform under the Obama administration began Thursday with town hall meetings around the nation, including several in the Bay Area.  MORE >>

Report from Anthem 'Town Hall Meeting' About Data Breach (PDF)

"Anthem said health plan sponsors using Anthem or an Anthem-member program as an insurer or third-party administrator will receive a list of affected members.... Anthem said it has determined that the phishing email it cautioned its members about was actually sent by a firm that sends innocuous phishing emails to individuals, to demonstrate to employers and others how vulnerable they may be to phishing expeditions. Unfortunately for that firm, the phishing email soon went viral. Anthem said individuals who clicked the link in the phishing email were simply directed to a site warning about the danger of phishing emails.... Anthem said that the breach compromised no insurance broker information or healthcare provider data."  MORE >>

Your Next Retirement Plan Could Be Run by City Hall

"A new rule would clear regulatory barriers that might otherwise stop large municipalities such as New York from setting up plans for all workers -- not just those who work for local government.... Out of almost 90,000 local governments in the U.S., the [DOL] estimates that only about 88 would be eligible. First, jurisdictions would need authority under state law to set up the program. They also couldn't overlap with an existing statewide retirement plan, ... Finally, they'd need to have a population greater than the least-populous state. (That's Wyoming, population 586,000.)"

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Outcome: Board of Trustees of the Town of Lake Park Firefighters' Pension Plan v. Town of Lake Park, Florida

Excerpt: In a unanimous decision dated October 3, 2007, the Florida Fourth District Court of Appeal reversed a summary judgment in favor of the Town of Lake Park against the Board of Trustees of the Town of Lake Park Firefighters' Pension Plan. In short, the trial court ruled that the Town had no obligation to make any further payment to Town of Lake Park Firefighters' Pension Plan. The decision is of such significance that we feel compelled to deal with it at length here.  MORE >>

The Economic Benefit of Public Pension Payments in Small Towns and Rural America (PDF)

250 pages. "This report considers pension benefit dollars as a percentage of both GDP and total personal income at the county level, as well as categorizing counties as metropolitan, small town, or rural.... Public pension benefit dollars represent between one and three percent of GDP on average in the 2,922 counties studied. Rural counties have the highest percentages of their populations receiving public pension benefits."  MORE >>

CalPERS Cuts Tiny Town's Pensions by 60 Percent

"Doing what it has never done before, the CalPERS board voted yesterday to slash the pensions of all five former employees of a small Sierra County town, Loyalton, by an estimated 60 percent.... A divided Loyalton city council attempted to get back into CalPERS, talked about getting a loan with installment payments, and pleaded ignorance about the need to pay off the big debt to preserve the pensions of four retirees and one person not yet retired."

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Panel Rules That Los Angeles City Hall Must Toss Out Pension Reforms

"[A] labor panel voted to toss out new retirement rules touted by budget officials as a way to save the city $4 billion over the next three decades. The five-member Employee Relations Board sided with a report concluding that the city of L.A. violated labor rules when City Hall officials enacted new pension rules, including raising the retirement age to age 65, without negotiating with the unions."  MORE >>

How a Financial Wellness Expo Became the Hottest Ticket in Town

"For Oregon PERS, engaging employees means re-imagining the traditional employee benefits fair concept, from the venue (renting a popular convention center rather than using its own facilities), to branding (this year's theme is 'Your Path to Financial Wellness'), to use of technology (including an Expo App), to creating compelling content (with new features added each year, such as 2019's prize wheel), to event staffing that fully capitalizes on the face-to-fact interaction with members. Each element of the Expo is designed to thoroughly engage as many people as possible."  MORE >>

Illinois Schools: Pensions Could Hurt Us Same Way They're Hurting Towns

"Suburban [Illinois] mayors have seen their budgets drained over the past several years by rising pension costs for police officers and firefighters but are unable to cut retirement benefits because state lawmakers control the rules. Now, suburban school officials say they eventually could end up in a similar spot -- if not in a worse budget position -- if the state passes teachers' pension costs on to local school districts."  MORE >>

Rhode Island Cities and Towns May Gain Power to Revamp Pensions

Mayors around the state warn that without the ability to cut pensions, their cities will have to raise taxes or slash services to keep up with the ever-escalating cost of providing the retirement plans for municipal employees.

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Ballot Measure May Replace Pensions with 401(k)s at Los Angeles City Hall

"Former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan plans to submit language Friday for a May 2013 ballot measure that would eliminate government pensions for newly hired workers at City Hall, replacing them with 401(k)-style retirement benefits. Riordan's proposal also would freeze the size of pensions for existing employees even when their salaries go up -- unless they are promoted to a higher-paying job. The plan is designed to save hundreds of millions of dollars annually by 2017 and would apply to every city worker, including police officers, firefighters and employees of the Department of Water and Power[.]"  MORE >>

Federal Appeals Court Upholds Town's Decision Not to Reappoint Employee on FMLA Leave

"Felix's case is unique because the employment at issue was for a predetermined term subject to reappointment, but it can serve as a reminder that employee protections under the state and federal laws aren't boundless." [Felix v. Town of Kingston, No. 19-1774 (1st Cir. Dec. 23, 2021; unpub.)]

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Illinois Towns Spending 33% of Property Taxes on Pensions

"[T]he amount of money 42 suburbs contributed to pension obligations in 2018 was equal to more than a third of what those towns received in property taxes. ... Many suburbs in the analysis pay into three pension programs ... Collectively, the 74 suburbs in the analysis received more than $910 million in property taxes in 2018, according to state financial records. Those suburbs spent almost $309 million on pensions."  MORE >>

Rhode Island to Study Moving City, Town Retirees to Obamacare

"Cranston Mayor Allan Fung said it's too soon to tell whether Rhode Island's Obamacare marketplace, known as HealthSource RI, could be an option for cities and towns trying to get control of their retiree health costs. He suggested it could be an uphill battle because the benefits were often spelled out in workers' union contracts.... Underfunded pension plans have garnered most of the headlines in Rhode Island in recent years, but the cost of providing ever-pricier health care to retirees could place a larger financial burden on cities in the long run."  MORE >>

EEOC Sues another NY Town for Pension Age Discrimination

Volunteer fire companies in the Town of Clarence, New York, violated federal law by preventing older firefighters from accruing service credits because of their age[.]

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Former Top City Hall Official Pleads Guilty in Detroit Pension Fund Bribery Case

"George Stanton, the former chief of staff to ex-Detroit City Councilwoman Alberta Tinsley-Talabi, admitted in U.S. District Court that he accepted the bribes as a reward for supporting a proposed investment by businessman Roy Dixon, who is also facing charges. Stanton said he helped push Dixon's investment proposal before the Police and Fire Retirement System. Stanton faces up to 10 years in prison."

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E-Mail Points to Jacksonville, FL City Hall Denying Pension Mistake

Excerpt: More than 30 corrections officers sued the city last month for being denied access to the pension plan because they didn't pass a physical -- mostly for having high blood pressure.... If employees didn't pass a physical, they were put in the Social Security system, rather than the city pension plan -- arguably the most lucrative benefit available to Jacksonville government employees. The city has since dropped the physical exam requirement. Keeping employees in Social Security makes a significant financial difference to the city -- both while employees are working and after they retire.

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Daniels-Hall v. National Education Association: Text of Amicus Brief of DOL in Support of Defendants (PDF)

28 pages. Excerpt: The Secretary of Labor has primary authority to interpret and enforce the fiduciary, reporting and disclosure provisions of Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ('ERISA'), 29 U.S.C. ? 1001 et seq. She submits this brief pursuant to this Court's July 14, 2009 order inviting the Department of Labor ('Department') to file an amicus brief on a question that may be answered primarily by reference to the Secretary's regulations and interpretations of Title I of ERISA, namely: Whether, in the subject case, the National Education Association was legally capable of establishing a plan subject to Title I of ERISA offering 26 U.S.C. [Internal Revenue Code] ? 403(b) annuities.  MORE >>