Retirement Plans Newsletter

December 5, 2016

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Employee Benefits Jobs

401(k) Retirement Plan Administrator
Nicholas Pension Consultants
in CA

Retirement Plan Consultant
Benefit Consultants Group
in NJ

Retirement Plan Field Associate
Cultural Institutions Retirement System
in NY

Retirement Plan Consultant
The Pension Studio
Telecommute

Relationship Manager
Newport Group
in KS

Retirement Plan Education Specialist
Newport Group
in CA, TX

Experienced Paralegal
Evercore Trust Company, N.A.
in NY

Senior ESOP Administrator - Review
Blue Ridge ESOP Associates
in VA, Telecommute

Qualified Retirement Plan Administrator
Compensation Planning Inc.
in RI

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[Official Guidance]

Present Value of PBGC Maximum Guarantee for 2017
"These values apply to benefits with annuity starting dates in 2017. The 2017 table was developed using the 417(e) segment rates for August 2016 (1.39%, 3.27% and 4.18% respectively) for plan years beginning in 2017 and the 417(e) applicable mortality table for 2017."
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation [PBGC]

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[Official Guidance]

Text of PBGC Disaster Announcement 16-17, In Response to Severe Storms and Flooding in Minnesota
"This Disaster Relief Announcement provides relief ... [to] any person responsible for meeting a PBGC deadline (e.g., a plan administrator or contributing sponsor) that is located in the disaster area for which the [IRS] has provided relief in MN-2016-03, Nov. 30, 2016 ... The disaster area consists of Blue Earth, Freeborn, Hennepin, Le Sueur, Rice, Steele, and Waseca counties."
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation [PBGC]

Supreme Court Will Review Consolidated 'Church Plan' Cases
On Friday, Dec. 3, the U.S. Supreme Court granted petitions for writs of certiorari in Dignity Health v. Rollins, Advocate Health Care Network v. Stapleton, and Saint Peter's Healthcare System v. Kaplan. The cases are consolidated and a total of one hour is allotted for oral argument.
SCOTUSblog

Supreme Court to Hear Hospitals' Religious Exemption from ERISA
"The employees in effect accuse the hospital systems of being big businesses posing as church organizations in order to avoid minimum funding and reporting requirements on employee pension plans mandated by [ERISA].... The three hospital systems maintain that their religious affiliation makes them exempt from ERISA. St. Peters is affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church, Dignity is formerly Catholic-affiliated but still operates many Catholic hospitals, and Advocate is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and United Church of Christ."
Insurance Journal

2017 Regulatory Limits Poster and Compliance Calendar
"The Regulatory limits for 2017 poster describes regulatory limits for elective deferrals and catch-up contributions, as well as deadlines for returning excess contributions. The related 2017 compliance calendar includes recurring compliance and notice requirements for qualified defined contribution plans."
Vanguard

[Advert.]

401(k) Answer Book - 2017 Edition

Sponsored by Wolters Kluwer

The hunt for specific answers to important questions begins - and ends - with this clear, comprehensive resource. Covers all aspects of plan design and administration, as well as the relationships of 401(k) plans with other types of retirement plans.


10 Years After the Pension Protection Act: Effects on DB and DC Plans (PDF)
20 pages. "[E]mployers are less and less willing to sponsor [DB] plans and more employers have frozen existing plans.... DC plans with automatic enrollment have seen some increased participation, but the overall changes are not enough to ensure adequate retirement security for most workers. Contribution rates are far too low, and perhaps even lower than they would be without auto-enrollment.... One solution would be to permanently ease the funding requirements ... to ensure DB plan sponsors more predictability and less volatility in their funding requirements."
National Institute on Retirement Security [NIRS]

What Employers Need To Know About Mandatory Payroll Deduction Savings Programs
"Employers that sponsor retirement benefits may wonder if their non-eligible employees will be required to participate in these state-sponsored programs. Although the exact language of any laws should be reviewed, the DOL has indicated that these programs should focus on employers who do not offer employer retirement benefits rather than targeting specific employees who are ineligible for employer-sponsored benefits."
Fisher Phillips

The DOL Rule: Tension at the Heart of the Fiduciary Standard
"This is the tension that lies at the heart of the fiduciary standard, the difficult balancing act between principles and rules. With principles alone, fiduciaries cannot be sure they have done what is required of them; but move too far toward rules, and clients' interests may become secondary."
Russell Investments

[Opinion]

American Retirement Association Comments to IRS on Documentation for Hardship Withdrawals and Plan Loans (PDF)
"The ARA recommends the Service issue guidance to clarify the rules applicable to the substantiation and documentation requirements related to hardship distributions and participant loans.... The ARA recommends the Service issue guidance permitting a plan administrator ... to reasonably rely on the representation from the employee as to [certain] items, unless the plan administrator has actual knowledge or should have known from the surrounding facts and circumstances that the representation is untrue[.]"
American Retirement Association [ARA]

[Opinion]

The Fiduciary Standard is Dead? Long Live the Fiduciary Standard!
"[M]any of the statements from the investment industry factions expressing a belief in the death of both the DOL's new fiduciary rule and the SEC's adoption of a similar rule are shortsighted and indicate nothing more than a false sense of security. In fact, all of the public discussion about the DOL's fiduciary standard and the need for greater transparency may have increased public awareness of such issues, resulting in increased litigation based on alleged breaches of one's fiduciary duties."
The Prudent Investment Adviser Rules

[Opinion]

CalPERS Gets Real on Future Returns?
"When it comes to pensions, it's not just about taking more risk, it's about taking smarter risks, it's about delivering high risk-adjusted returns over the long run to minimize the volatility in contribution risk. Sure, CalPERS can allocate 60% of its portfolio to MSCI global stocks and hope for the best but can it then live through the volatility or worse still, a prolonged recession and bear market? ... [P]ension plans are path dependent which means the starting point matters and if the plan is underfunded or severely underfunded, taking more risk can put it in a deeper hole, one that it might never get out of."
Pension Pulse

Executive Compensation and Nonqualified Plans

Does a Separation Agreement and Release End the Relationship Between an Executive and an Employer?
"[A] federal district court in California ruled in favor of the former executive seeking to recover vested SERP benefits that the company claimed he had released.... The court ... essentially held that a company cannot trick a former employee into signing away rights to compensation and benefits to which he is indisputably entitled." [Buster v. Mechanics Bank (N.D. Cal. Nov. 17, 2016)]
Winston & Strawn LLP

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David Rhett Baker, J.D., Editor and Publisher
Holly Horton, Business Manager

BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter, ISSN no. 1536-9587. Copyright 2016 BenefitsLink.com, Inc. All materials contained in this newsletter are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of BenefitsLink.com, Inc., or in the case of third party materials, the owner of that content. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.

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