Retirement Plans Newsletter

October 8, 2015

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Employee Benefits Jobs


Webcasts and Conferences

Are New Directions Needed in State Retirement Policy?
RECORDED
(Brookings Institution)

Behavioral Economics—Reduce Health Care Costs and Increase Participation
October 22, 2015 WEBCAST
(International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans [IFEBP])

Mindfulness: The Link Between Wellness and Mental Health
October 29, 2015 WEBCAST
(International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans [IFEBP])

Ascend 2016 Conference
September 12, 2016 in FL
(Ascensus)

View All Webcasts and Conferences


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[Guidance Overview]

IRS Issues Transition Guidance for Cooperative and Small Employer Charity Plans
"The CSEC Act, which was enacted on April 7, 2014, specifies minimum funding requirements and related rules that apply with respect to certain defined benefit plans maintained by groups of cooperatives and related entities and groups of charities. The IRS discusses plans that qualify as CSEC plans, elections to cease to be an eligible charity plan beginning in 2014, extended amortization elections, and reporting requirements." (Wolters Kluwer Law & Business)  


[Advert.]

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Sponsored by Pensions & Investments

October 18 – 20, San Francisco: Learn how to effectively maximize your DC plan's resources to achieve better retirement outcomes for your participants directly from your peers at the industry's leading educational and networking event.



Buyer Beware: Seventh Circuit Lowers Hurdle to Make Claim for Withdrawal Liability Under the Successorship Doctrine
"Prior court decisions going back over 40 years have established that the successorship doctrine is applicable to employment-related liabilities. However, as [this case] demonstrates, in the context of multiemployer plan liabilities, courts may be more willing to find successor liability in order to further the MPPAA's policies of protecting remaining contributors to a multiemployer plan." [Tsareff v. ManWeb Services, Inc., No. 14-1618 (7th Cir. July 27, 2015)] (Dechert LLP via Lexology)  

Central States Pension Fund Submits Plan for Reducing Benefits
"Within 30 days of receiving an application to suspend benefits, Treasury will publish the Rescue Plan and request comments from contributing employers, unions, participants and other parties.... Treasury must approve or deny Central States' application within 225 days of the submission.... Within 30 days of an application's approval, the IRS must administer a vote for participants and beneficiaries to approve or reject the proposed benefit suspensions.... If a majority of participants and beneficiaries vote to reject the suspension, the plan sponsor may again apply for benefit suspensions.... [B]ased on the filing date for the Rescue Plan, if it is approved, it would be implemented on or around July 1, 2016." (McGuireWoods LLP)  

Website Now Online: Central States Pension Fund Rescue Plan
"This site is an easy-to-navigate clearinghouse of comprehensive, important and up-to-date information regarding the status of Central States Pension Fund's proposed pension rescue plan, submitted under the Multiemployer Reform Act of 2014 (MPRA).... A detailed description of each of [the] proposed pension rescue plan components is available ... [1] Timing; [2] Re-employment phase-out; [3] Future accruals for active participants; [4] Early retirement; [5] Terminated status participants; [6] Orphans; [7] UPS transfer group; [8] All other participants; [9] Age protections; [10] Disability protections; [11] Spousal/survivor benefits." (Central States Pension Fund)  

Pension Fund May Cut Benefits for 273,000 Workers and Retirees
"The proposal, which still needs approval from the Treasury Department, will spare retirees age 80 or older from any cuts as well as anyone receiving disability protections. And reductions would be less severe for those older than 75 or widows and widowers receiving spousal benefits. While they vary, cuts will average about 23% and could happen as soon as July." (CNNMoney.com)  


[Advert.]

Are you a law student?

The ACEBC Law Student Outreach provides connections to law students to help foster interest in employee benefits as a practice area. Find out what day-to-day practice is like from an experienced employee benefits attorney. It's a challenging and enjoyable practice area -- we'll share what we've learned and answer your questions.



Loan Is Not a Four-Letter Word
"When a plan offers loans, it seems to have the beneficial effect of raising contribution rates above what they would otherwise be.... When a plan sponsor permits multiple loans, the propensity to borrow nearly doubles ... [P]articipants may view the opportunity to take multiple loans as an implicit endorsement of borrowing by their employer." (Vanguard)  

Finances and Benefits Continue to Bewilder American Workers
"Four in 10 Americans admit knowing little or nothing about their employee benefits ... Millennials, Gen Xers, parents and low-income Americans find it difficult to manage finances, and many say issues with personal finance distract them while they're at work....[E]mployees indicate they are struggling to know whether they are on track to retire comfortably or how much money they should be spending on their employer-provided benefits." [Survey findings available online as 22 presentation slides from MassMutual.] (PLANSPONSOR)  

Do Financial Advisers Influence Savings Behavior?
"In this report, the authors review evidence from the research literature about whether working with an adviser improves savings behavior, in general, as well as saving for long-term goals, particularly retirement. While much of the literature provides evidence that individuals who receive professional financial advice are more financially healthy than those who do not, few papers attempt to address the endogeneity concerns of reverse causation, limiting insights into whether advisers are causing improvements in their clients' savings behavior." (RAND Corporation)  

S&P 500 Pension Plans See $102 Billion Increase in Funded Deficit in the Third Quarter
"[T]he funded status deficit of U.S. pension plans increased by $102 billion in the third quarter of 2015, a shift from the previous quarter that saw the deficit decline by $81 billion. Year-to-date, the funded status deficit has increased by $40 billion.... [T]he aggregate funded ratio decreased from 83.5 percent to 78.7 percent. The change was largely driven by asset reductions of $79 billion along with liability increases of $23 billion year-to-date." (Aon Hewitt)  

Government Workers Are Retiring in Waves
"A [recent study] found that four of 10 responding organizations indicated that they could lose 20 percent or more of their employees to retirement within the next five years. Other studies have confirmed that retirements, if unanticipated, threaten all public sector employers to a greater degree than the private sector. The local government workforce is especially vulnerable, with the percentage of workers at least 50 years of age (37 percent) significantly greater than the private sector (28 percent) ... Despite the apparent need for preparation, only 27 percent of survey respondents ... had succession plans in place[.]" (American City & County)  

Benefits in General; Executive Compensation

Testing Pay for Performance
"There is no silver bullet analysis that will definitively determine whether pay and performance are aligned at every company. However, there are a number of ways companies can test the pay and performance alignment relative to peers or historical results.... By understanding the key drivers of incentive plan outcomes, the compensation committee can discuss an action plan for improvement." (Meridian Compensation Partners, LLC)  

Press Releases

CalPERS Names Mary Anne Ashley Chief of Legislative Affairs
CalPERS [California Public Employees' Retirement System]

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