Account Manager Senior - Requisition #10704
Gallagher Benefit Services, Inc.
in FL

Retirement Plan Analyst
Retirement Plan Solutions, Inc.
in ANY STATE

Human Resources Specialist-Benefits
Saint Mary's College of California
in CA

Account Manager 401(k) Employee Benefits
Plexus Financial Services
in IL

Retirement Plan Administrator/Plan Document Specialist
The Weiss Group, Inc.
in FL, IL, OH

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Health Reform Roundtable
September 4, 2014 in MD
(Worldwide Employee Benefits Network [WEB] - Baltimore Chapter)

ERISA @ 40
September 9, 2014 in VA
(Bloomberg BNA)

2014 Product Tax Seminar and Boot Camp
September 10, 2014 in DC
(Society of Actuaries)

2014 Webinar: 72(t) Payments
September 16, 2014 WEBCAST
(Ascensus)

2014 Webinar: SIMPLE Plans
September 18, 2014 WEBCAST
(Ascensus)

24th Annual National Health Benefits Conference & Expo
January 25, 2015 in FL
(Health Benefits Conference & Expo)

View All Webcasts and Conferences

Text of Sixth Circuit Opinion: Employer Cannot Sue Multiemployer Plan Trustees for Negligent Mismanagement (PDF)
"[No] court has ever recognized the existence of a negligence claim in favor of contributing employers -- under any circumstances -- in the federal common law of pension plans ... Congress has established an extensive statutory framework and expressly announced its intention to occupy the field of private-sector pensions ... [We] hold that a contributing employer to a multiemployer pension plan has no cause of action against plan trustees for negligent management under the federal common law of ERISA pension plans." [DiGeronimo Aggregates v. Zemla, et al., No. 13-4389 (6th Cir. Aug 14, 2014)] (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit)  

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Tatum 'Reverse Stock-Drop' Case Has Important Lessons for Employers and Fiduciaries
"The Fourth Circuit acknowledged that the 'would have' standard is more difficult for defendant-fiduciaries to satisfy, but stated that this is the intended result. It noted that ERISA's enforcement provision would be diminished to an 'empty shell' if it were to use the 'could have' standard, as breaching fiduciaries could easily avoid liability by pointing to the mere possibility that a prudent fiduciary 'could have' made the same decision." [Tatum v. RJR Pension Investment Committee, No. 13-1360 (4th Cir. Aug. 4, 2014)] (McGuireWoods LLP)  

DOL Updates Guidance on Missing Participants
"[T]he guidance technically only applies in the context of terminating defined contribution plans, though the guidance can be instructive for fiduciaries trying to locate missing or unresponsive participants in other retirement plan contexts as well.... [T]his update doesn't provide much additional guidance for fiduciaries that wasn't likely being utilized in practice already. If nothing else, the DOL formalized its foray into modern technology by essentially telling plan fiduciaries to 'Google it.'" (Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP)  

DOL Eyes Brokerage Windows in 401(k) Plans
"Though the inquiry is a broad one, it potentially sets the stage for rule making by the DOL. 'My suspicion is that they have concerns in mind [on] whether participants are getting the information they need to make an informed decisions,' said Bradford P. Campbell, an attorney at Drinker Biddle & Reath and a former head of the Employee Benefits Security Administration at the DOL.... 'I think it's likely the beginning of a broader regulatory project where they look at not just the disclosure issues, but fiduciary issues and other considerations on how these are being used in plans and what it means for participants.'" (InvestmentNews)  

EBSA Requests Input on Need for More Regulation of Brokerage Windows
"[T]he RFI asks questions on brokerage windows, including: the scope of investment options typically available through a window; demographic and other information about participants who commonly use brokerage windows; the process of selecting a brokerage window and provider for a plan; the costs of brokerage windows; and what kind of information about brokerage windows and underlying investment options typically is available and disclosed to participants." (Solutions Law Press)  

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What Plan Sponsors Need to Know About the New Money Market Fund Rules
"[1] Most [participants] are under the impression that they can't lose any money in your money market fund. In other words, participants tend to believe these funds are like savings accounts. That may no longer be true. [2] Ask your investment advisor to investigate the underlying credit quality of the investments in the money market fund you use. If it is weak, you may wish to consider changing your money market fund.... [3] Plan participants have experienced redemption fees before on other mutual funds. However, these fees have never been applied to money market funds. Since this is another way that participants could experience loss of principal, you will need to communicate that to them." (Lawton Retirement Plan Consultants)  

Fixing ERISA to Protect Against High Investment Fees
"Many actively managed mutual funds have chosen to invest in such a way as to closely track the performance of appropriate market indexes, so as not to deviate too far from such indexes and avoid losing clients. The combination of these 'closet' index actively managed funds and their usual higher fees result in effectively higher costs for plan participants." (Paladin)  

Are You in the Wrong Target-Date Fund? Now Is a Good Time to Reevaluate
"The investment management industry has responded to [target-date fund (TDF)] asset growth with design changes, improved delivery capabilities and increasingly competitive pricing. At the same time, the benefits of custom TDF solutions have been gaining attention and have enhanced the TDF opportunity set.... [P]lan sponsors that selected their TDF options only a few years ago could benefit from reviewing today's TDF product landscape and implementation opportunities relative to their DC plan objectives to identify the most suitable TDF alternative." (Towers Watson)  

Using Leverage to Chase Returns
"It is not surprising then that the reaction to news accounts about what sounds like a material use of leverage by the San Diego County Employees Retirement Association (SDCERA) is drawing criticism.... Although not an ERISA plan, SDCERA trustees are tasked with a duty to 'act with skill, care and diligence' and 'follow the prudent person rule' and to 'act in good faith and in the best interest of members, beneficiaries and the fund as a whole.' It is therefore critical to know whether the intention to add more investment risk, in anticipation of greater returns, is something that SDCERA is allowed to do and whether a structural foundation has been created to support procedural prudence." (Good Risk Governance Pays)  

Supreme Court Weighs in on Stock Drop Cases (and on the Efficiency of Markets)
"Even though the Court found that it is prudent to rely on the market price, i.e. that markets are reasonably efficient, that's not quite as strong a statement as saying that the market price completely reflects all public information perfectly. As with most aspects of prudence, the requirement is a practical standard rather than necessarily perfection." (Russell Investments)  

Financial Services, Energy, Consumer Staples Have Best-Funded Defined Benefit Plans
"Financial services firms, which had an average funded status of approximately 94 percent, also as a group had the lowest requirement to fund their plans ... Different companies have varying abilities to take on risk ... based on three key factors: [1] The size of the pension plan compared to the size of the company, [2] Cash that must be contributed to pension plans compared to free cash flow, and [3] Pension expense compared to operating income. Based on these factors, ... utilities, materials and telecommunications companies have the least ability of the companies that were part of the analysis to take on risk within their pension plans." (BNY Mellon)  

Pennsylvania State Pension's Deficit Still Rising
"The Pennsylvania State Employees' Retirement System, close to 'fully funded' in the early 2000s, is falling farther behind balancing its current assets with its expected future liabilities... That total is just 61% of the $40.6 billion in actuarial accrued liability SERS faced at Dec. 31. The ratio is down from 66% a year earlier." (Philadelphia Inquirer)  

'Pay-To-Go-Away' from State and Local Pensions
"'Pay-to-go-away' ... makes more sense than ever for public pensions due to the proliferation of slow-ticking alternative investment timebombs.... [It] means to rationally conclude that the services provided by an individual are so destructive that it is preferable (assuming that for some reason they can't simply be fired) to pay them a substantial, albeit lesser amount, to walk and keep walking. Relocate to a tropical paradise perhaps." (Forbes)  

Annuity Investors Overwhelmingly Satisfied; Complaints Declining
"Nine in 10 annuity owners say they are satisfied with their annuity-based investment.... [D]espite media reports to contrary, complaints regarding variable annuities are on the decline, according to the latest data on arbitration cases from the [FINRA] dispute resolution center." (Insured Retirement Institute [IRI])  

California Governor Decries CalPERS Expansion of Benefit Formula
"Although CalPERS approved 99 types of extra pay that can be factored in to a worker's income when calculating their pension, Brown only objected to one of those: allowing temporary upgrade pay to be counted as permanent, pensionable income." (Reuters)  

[Opinion]

Comments on the Fiduciary Standard
"The solution is a more employer-friendly DOL or a different statute. Given how antagonistic the DOL has been over the past six years, expecting employers to trust the DOL to act in their best interest may not be reasonable.... ERISA needs a statutory fix making it clear that vendors can also be liable for contracts charging excessive compensation, or a DOL that employers can trust." (Phil Chiricotti, via Fiduciary News)  

Is a Court Remand to Claims Administrator 'Because the Record Is Insufficient for De Novo Review' Sufficient Success to Award Attorney Fees?
"Is a court's remand for further review of an ERISA-governed claim by the claims administrator a sufficient 'degree of success on the merits' to qualify for an award of attorney fees and costs? Is merely 'surviving to fight another day' the same as winning the war or winning a significant battle? Maybe so.... [T]his opinion, and the dissenting opinion, ... outlines arguments (and cites the cases nationally) on both sides of the issue[.]" [Gross v. Sun Life Assurance Co. of Canada, No. 12-1175 (1st Cir. Aug. 14, 2014)] (Lane Powell PC)  

ISS Invites U.S. Companies to Verify Equity Plan Data
"The data verification program is optional. It is open to U.S. companies who have filed definitive proxy materials after September 8th, 2014 with an equity plan proposal (new or amendment) on the ballot. The data verification program does not apply to other compensation plan proposals such as cash and bonus plan proposals. To participate in the program, the company's proxy materials must be filed at least 30 days in advance of the meeting date. Data verification is only available to company contacts who register in advance to participate in the data verification program with ISS." (Benefits Bryan Cave)  

Favorable Guidance on Application of Code Section 457A to Stock Options and SARs
"Since Section 457A became effective in 2009, some compensation professionals have been concerned that Section 457A and its potential 20% penalty tax would apply to any stock option or SAR granted to a service provider of a nonqualified entity.... The IRS previously tried to ally this concern in IRS Notice 2009-8, but now has used a more formal interpretation in Revenue Ruling 2014-18 to confirm that Section 457A does not apply to stock options and SARs that are stock-settled so long as they met the stock right exemption in Code Section 409A." (Winston & Strawn LLP)  

Lincoln Financial Group Retirement Plan Services Announces Enhancements to Its Lincoln Director Program
Lincoln Financial Group

More than $59,300 to be restored to Nickson’s Machine Shop 401(k) Savings Plan in Santa Maria, Calif. under consent judgment obtained by U.S. DOL
Employee Benefits Security Administration [EBSA], U.S. Department of Labor

Judgment orders fiduciaries to restore more than $59,000 to Connor Companies Health and Welfare Plan in Laona, Wisconsin
Employee Benefits Security Administration [EBSA], U.S. Department of Labor

NCPA Urges More Transparency from Pharmacy Benefit Managers
National Community Pharmacists Association [NCPA]

OneAmerica® Appoints Pete J. Schroedle as Retirement Sales VP
OneAmerica Financial Partners

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