Employee divorced spouse last fall, failed to notify Plan administrator to delete spouse within 30 days. Now has remarried and wants to add new spouse, can we allow him to delete old spouse or must he wait until open enrollment? Also, he wants to purchase COBRA coverage on x-spouse, do we charge him retro to divorce date, even though he has been paying for her coverage through his regular premium payment? Technically, the x-spouse is no longer eligible as of divorce date, even though the employee failed to properly and timely notify the Plan administator.

California courts routinely seek to join plans when QDROs are presented. There is a string of cases where the DOL has argued that ERISA preempts this type of joinder. The courts usually find there is no preemption (with some exceptions). Can anyone point me to a DOL document that sets forth its opinion on this matter? Thanks.

Is there ANY way at all that a group of governmental entities could qualify as a MEWA for the express purposes of providing health benefits to its employees and dependents?

Thanks!!

Plan documents should be written so that your benefit is "capped" at 415 levels and a participant can never "accrue" a benefit in excess of 415. Therefore, abiding by 415 should never raise a 411(d)(6) issue.

Pardon my ignorance. Is this a new proposed law or something that has been around a while? Is it federal or state?

Our company adopted a 401(k) plan on 1/1/2000 with a safe harbor matching contribution formula on elective deferrals. (the standard safe harbor match - 100% of the first 3% and 50% on the 4th% and 5th%) Participants are eligible on the January 1st or July 1st after having completed a year of service in which they had 1000 hours of work service. We passed out the safe harbor notice yesterday to the July 1st eligible participants and I'm getting ready for the meeting. Question: If someone who becomes eligible July 1 makes $40,000.00 annually and elects to make a 6% contibution, how much is their maching contribution? Is it $800.00 based on $20,000 X 4% max% for their period of eligibility? Or, is their a true up involved since their deferrals will equal $1,200 which is 3% of their comp from 1/1/2000 thru 12/31/2000?

In the '85 edition of Pension Math for Actuaries by Anderson the 3rd chapter addresses the contributory plan & introduces the need to add PVFRefunds to PVB & in chapter 4 under the discussion of the valuation of vested benefits upon termination of employment with contributory Unit Credit it's mentioned that the accrued benefit should be the greater of the full accrued or ( refund + reduced accrued ); under a contributory plan using Aggregate (not IA), if the full accrued is used at

termination and the full projected at retirement, then I'm assuming the PVFR

term would be omitted ? All participants are 100% vested also.

[This message has been edited by Don N (edited 05-31-2000).]

A spouse who is the beneficiary of her spouse's IRA elects to treat the IRA as her own upon the spouse's death. If the spouse names the children of the decedent's prior marriage as irrevocable beneficiaries of the IRA, is this a taxable transfer? If it were a qualified plan, I believe the anti-alienation provisions would prevent a completed gift but I am not sure what the rule is in the IRA context.

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In regards to dental coverage, when an employee has primary coverage at work and dependent coverage at the spouse's plan, and the secondary insurer is applying non-duplication of benefits, we are being told that the secondary coverage can be completely offset by the primary is their benefits are the same or higher than the secondary. For example, the primary covers basics at 85% and leaves 15% unpaid. The secondary is not picking up the 15% and is stating that their 80% benefit is competely offset. This is the first time I have encountered this. Is this a new way of adminstrating COB? Should employees have been told about this before they enrolled when the employer switched to this policy?

Where can an employer purchase an updated procedures manual that would stand up to a DOL audit?

When using prior year ADP and ACP, is there any leeway with the multiple use test in the event of an amendment to the Plan increasing the matching contribution? It appears that my HCES will exceed the multiple use rules due to the doubling of the matching contribution in this plan year.

Small employer is looking for a way to control health insurance plan costs. The employer is considering establishing a medical expense reimbursement plan for all employees, HC and Non-HC would have equal benefits under the plan.

The employer would move to a higher deductible plan on a fully insured basis, say from $500 to $1,000. The medical expense reimbursement plan would reimburse eligible expenses that were applied to deductible and exceeded the first $500. (The idea being the employee would still have a $500 deductible between the fully insured medical plan and the medical expense reimbursement plan.)

To make administration of plan simple, for the expense to be reimbursable, the employer would require EOB from fully insured carrier showing expenses were eligible but applied to deductible. EOB would also show when the $500 threshold had been met.

This would mean only employees participating in the employer sponsored health plan would be eligible to participate in the medical expense reimbursement plan. (Currently the employer pays nearly all of premium so participation is 100%)

Does anyone see any problems with this idea? Any comments would be appreciated.

At a recent conference on the changes to the 5500 form for 1999, it was mentioned that the DOL will now require plans to file the complete SAR along with the 5500 series. Does anyone know if this is true?

Is anyone familiar with using "shifting" to pass the ADP/ACP tests? Has the IRS or DOL issued anything explaining exactly how the technique should work?

Am looking for a source or a resource to determine various employer costs and health plan retention costs for:

1. Enrollment Management

2. Eligibility Management

3. Production Costs of Communication Materials (benefit plan brochures, provider directories, mailing, copying, etc.)

4. Billing Costs

Thank You.

Jack Hill

Hello,

I'm a bit confused about the tax liability on rolling over a IRA to a Roth. In 1999 I rolled my Annuity/IRA into a ROTH IRA account and from my research and reading of ROTH rules, tax rules, etc I don't pay taxes on the rollover amount. I'm not clear on this and am a bit confused and would like to clear my thinking up. The rollover amount was about $10k more then invested (gain). I understand I can't touch the rollover amount for 5 years but I don't plan on withdrawing from this until way down the road.

Thank you,

Erick B.

I currently am able to contribute $2000 a year to my ROTH but may come close/over the limit this year. Thinking about the future. Can I keep my ROTH and just not contribute in years I am above the limit or do I need to convert it to a IRA?

Thank you,

Erick B.

I work for a small nonprofit (5 fulltime employees)in Texas that is now instituting formal personnel policies. I am pregnant. There is no maternity leave or short term disability provided. The question has arisen if I can use some of my sick leave after giving birth, or if I have to immediately begin leave without pay, even when I am in the hospital. Are there any guidelines for medical leave for giving birth and recuperation?

As part of a DB plan the participant is required to contribute 5% of pay to an invidual annuity account. The DB pension is funded solely from the employer's contributions and has nothing to do with the funding of the annuity account. At retirement the annuity account balance is subject to lifetime annuitization. Can this compulsory annuitization be successfully challenged in Court?

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yes

I am a US based employee of the US subsidiary of a German company. Prior to the start of an earlier plant manager, employees in my situation received an extra 12.5% salary for enduring working in Mexico. Employees, who arrived subsequent to that manager do not get the extra pay. The earlier arrivals still do. Is this legal?