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September 22, 2003 - 8,548 subscribers
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Audio Conference: “IRS To Target 401(k) Plans in Auditing Campaign” Thursday, September 25, 2003 * 2:00-3:30 p.m. ET Gain insight on the upcoming IRS audit campaign targeting 401(k) plans – and discover how your business could be impacted. Join us on September 25, for this interactive audio conference addressing the current regulations and recent changes, the upcoming audit campaigns, the 401(k) compliance initiative, and more. You'll even get the chance to ask IRS Directors your own questions.
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California Domestic Partner Law Signed
Excerpt: "The legislation, signed Friday night, grants same-sex couples in California nearly all the same rights and responsibilities as married spouses and solidifies Davis' reputation as a champion of gay rights.... The law won't take effect until January 1, 2005, giving couples who don't want such commitments time to opt out by withdrawing their registration as domestic partners." (AP via the Minneapolis Star-Tribune)
California Mandatory Healthcare Bill Would Pose Legal Thicket
Excerpt: "Should Gov. Gray Davis sign legislation requiring California companies to buy medical coverage for their employees, the anticipated legal fight over the state's right to regulate health insurance is expected to reach the U.S. Supreme Court." (Sacramento Bee via International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans)
Opinion: California Healthcare Bill Must Traverse Tough Road To Set Precedent
Excerpt: "California's recent passage of landmark health-care legislation is a benchmark of the growing political will to mandate expanded health coverage, but legal challenges and a lack of consensus on how to achieve the imagined goals might sink the effort before it starts, observers said." (BestWire via the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights)
Text of N.D. Ill. Case Rejecting ADEA Claim by 40-to-49-Year-Olds (PDF)
9 pages; Feigl v. Ecolab, Inc., No. 03 C 2290 (N.D. Ill. 9/11/2003). Excerpt: "Plaintiffs move for the court to stay all proceedings pending the decision of the United States Supreme Court in the matter of Cline v. General Dynamics ... although the United States Supreme Court has never directly decided the issue, [the Sixth Circuit's decision in] Cline is inconsistent with the Court's interpretation of the purpose behind the ADEA." (U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois)
Offset of Disability Benefits By Workers' Compensation Award Did Not Violate ERISA: Court
An employer did not violate ERISA when it offset a beneficiary's disability benefits under two employee benefit plans by the amount of the beneficiary's workers' compensation award. This was the ruling of the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Leonard v. Southwestern Bell Corporation Disability Income Plan, et al. (No. 02-3559). (Spencer Benefits Reports)
Who Must Receive SPDs for ERISA Welfare Plans?
Excerpt: "The general rule is that ERISA welfare plans (generally, those providing non-pension benefits like medical coverage, dental or vision coverage, life insurance, AD&D and many others) must furnish SPDs to each participant covered under the plan.... With certain exceptions mentioned below, a welfare plan is not required to furnish SPDs to beneficiaries." (EBIA Weekly (Question of the Week))
More Employers Offer Orthodontic Benefit
Excerpt: "[D]emand for dental insurance coverage for such procedures is increasing, say some orthodontists and insurers.... Yet, given the expense involved and cost pressures employers already face, employer-sponsored plans are unlikely to cover adults in a non-voluntary plan." (The Business Journal of Milwaukee via bizjournals.com; one-time registration required)
Total Benefits: a Prescription for Relief?
Excerpt: "For workers like the Bethlehem Steel veterans facing the end of employer-funded retiree health plans, a VEBA has several pluses. They get medical insurance at group rates, they can contribute as much as they like, earnings on the account are not taxable--although contributions are--and withdrawals are tax-free as long as they spend the money on retiree medical needs." (PLANSPONSOR.com; one-time registration required)
G.M. Accord Finishes Talks for U.A.W.
Excerpt: "For the companies' workers, the annual increases in wages and pension benefits will be scaled back. But their health care benefits will remain largely intact, save for modest increases in co-payments for brand-name prescription drugs for active workers and for future, but not current, retirees." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
Soaring Health Care Costs at Department of Defense Portend Future Crisis
Excerpt: "[W]hile the pool of beneficiaries has been expanding, the armed forces have been shrinking, making it more and more difficult for the military medical system to accommodate its growing patient load. As a result, patients increasingly have been forced to use more costly civilian provider networks." (GovExec.com)
Study Gives Consumer-Driven Health Plans Mixed Review
Excerpt: "While consumer-driven health plans are the hottest trend in health insurance, a University of Minnesota study indicates that they don't provide employers with significant savings. However, it found other reasons why some are embracing the plans." (The (Minneapolis - St. Paul) Business Journal via bizjournals.com; one-time registration required)
Working Out At Work Is Healthy For Employees, Companies
Excerpt: "Numerous studies show that promoting wellness and disease prevention in work settings is effective in many ways, including increasing employee wellness and providing companies a return on their investment.... '[H]ere is the problem: the results from these studies are out of the realm of believability for some business leaders. If we said we're providing a 10% return on their investment it would be more believable, but we're trying to tell them it's a 300% return.'" (NewsRx.com via International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans)
Opinion: the Safety of Imported Drugs
Excerpt: "[T]he city of Springfield, Mass., has already started importing drugs from Canada for its workers and retirees, in open defiance of the F.D.A. It is a sign of how untenable the drug industry's outrageously lopsided pricing strategies have become." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
Opinion: the Price of Labor Peace
Excerpt: "To end the 22-day strike that was embarrassing Yale and grating on its students, the university gave its two main unions wage and pension increases that are generous by most any definition. Yale granted its largest union, representing 2,900 clerical workers, raises of 44 percent over eight years and agreed to a richer pension formula that will increase pensions for most future retirees by 80 percent or more." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Quick: What's the Boss Making?
Excerpt: "Directors of big companies, already under pressure to demonstrate independence from management, are now worried that they will be blamed for failing to explain not only how much but how they pay chief executives." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
Counting the Ways to Count Corporate Earnings
Excerpt: "The newest S.& P. yardstick is called core earnings, which are forecast to rise 78 percent this year. This measure is designed to account for the cost of stock options, which became a popular form of compensation during the technology boom. Companies have excluded stock options from the group of expenses that would reduce earnings; the core earnings measure restores them." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
Opinion: Why Stock Options Still Rule for Tech Firms
Excerpt: "Nothing lures top talent like the chance to get really rich. Watch out, Microsoft." (Wired magazine)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Retirement Plan Specialist / Advisor
for Saunders Advisory Group
in FL
Actuarial Analyst
for Invesmart
in KY
Benefits Analyst - Rosemont, IL
for Cole Taylor Bank
in IL
Administrator Opportunity
for Benefit Consultants, LLC
in AL
Newly Posted Webcasts
(Post Yours!)
How to Implement a Total Financial Education Program
on September 25, 2003
presented by The EDSA Group, Inc.
Newly Posted Press Releases
(Post Yours!)
Alliance Benefit Group Recognized As A Top 401(k) Plan Provider
(Alliance Benefit Group)
Gilsbar Helps Insurance Companies Transition out of Group Claims Business
(Gilsbar, Inc.)
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