I am writing with regard to a two-fold problem that I am experiencing with my former employer, The New Haven Register. It was there that I worked as an advertising sales executive.

The first problem is one regarding paid vacation. The company policy is to give two weeks of paid vacation upon completion of one year of service, which must be taken by the end of the calendar year in which the anniversary date falls. They also have a policy that does not allow advertising dept. employees to take vacation time during the months of November and December.

I began work for the Register during the month of November 1997, and completed one year of service in November 1998. Because my anniversary with the company fell during the "blackout", I had to request that a special exception be made for my vacation time to be taken. I was granted special permission by management that allowed me to take one week of vacation a few weeks early, in October. I was also given special permission to carry one week of vacation into the first week of 1999. I have documents signed by management to verify this.

I took the first week in October as scheduled, but decided to leave the company effective December 31, 1998. I was never paid for the second week of vacation, which I would have taken the first week of January 1999. I feel that I am entitled to this weeks pay of $450, as it was not my fault I could not take vacation time by the end of the year. Their policy is not to pay vacation time upon separation, but they had already made one exception to their policy, due to the circumstances, why not another?

I filed a complaint with the CT Board of Labor, Wage and Workplace Standards Division, but they said they could not help me, as it was a matter of fringe benefits, not wage. I have been told that there have been similar complaints filed with the Massachusetts Attorney General, and the Journal Register Company (parent company of the New Haven Register) had to pay the vacation.

The very same handbook that contains the "nonpayment of vacation upon separation" says absolutely nothing about the "blackout" period of Nov/Dec.

That brings up the second problem. I was married in May 1998, and had gone to the Human Resources office of the New Haven Register to make arrangements to have my wife added to my medical insurance, and adjust my wage deductions accordingly.

On my last day of employment, I was paged into the Human Resources office, and told that the Payroll Department made an error and had never made the adjustment to my wage deductions to account for my wife being added to my insurance. They had calculated that I owe the company $888.30. I was then told that I must sign a waiver that would allow them to deduct that amount from my final commission check. I refused because I did nothing to mislead or defraud the company in any way. And even if I did sign the waiver, why should I be forced to pay them back in one lump sum. They did not "pay" this money to me in one lump sum. I asked if a payment arrangement could be made, and they said no, as I was leaving the company. I had already given my two weeks notice.

Needless to say, I left on bad terms. In the following weeks, I have received several letters from their attorney stating that they intend to take legal action unless I pay them in full.

Is it the law that I need to pay them the money they are seeking? And if it is, do I have to pay it back in one lump sum?

If they bring this to the point of litigation, can I bring a counter suit for the disputed week of vacation?

Please feel free to email me at

markf@megahits.com

Thanks!

------------------

I am an HR Director at an educational institution looking for some insite on transportation benefits for faculty and staff. In particular I am interested in hearing what other's provide in the form of parking benefits. We provide a small subsidy for full time and an even smaller subsidy for part time. Costs are increasing and it is getting tougher to consider this a benefit. Any ideas out there?

I have 2 401(k) plans from previous employers. I am trying to decide whether I should roll them into my new 401(k) from my current employer or can I put them into an IRA. If I put it in an IRA I want to know if the Roth is the best way to go.

Since I missed the deadline for spreading the taxes out over 4 years would I be taxed at the end of next year for my income taxes or could I have the taxed money come directly out of the money that is being transferred? (ie: if I have $30,000 can I take that and only transfer over the $21,600 which is left over from the 28% taxing?)

Can anyone help with this. If I need to clarify please let me know.

With regard to non-exempt employees, is the employee's signature required on each time record? Where can I obtain legal cites to this requirement, if any?

------------------

M.Elena Hogan

I have two questions. Is there a maximum number of different employee categories we can established for a tiered P/S plan. (I have a company that would like to have 10.) Can we categorize employees by years of services; such as Tier #1 - employees with less than 5 years of services, Tier #2 - employees with 5 years to 10 years of services and Tier #3 - employees with more than 10 years services and so on?

------------------

I own an annuity, and I have some questions.

1. Is my annuity safe from Creditors? 2. If I get sued can they take it from me?

3. I can transfer it to my wifes name, if I do that I will have to pay taxes on the earnings.Any other ways to get around this?

4. Any suggestions or help will be greatly appreciated.

If a plan sponsor fails to remit 401(k) contributions to the trust within the limits imposed by the DOL Regulations (the earlier of the date they can be reasonably segregated or 15 days after the end of the month in which they were withheld), has the plan sponsor incurred a prohibited transaction?

Assuming that the 401(k) contributions were later deposited to the trust, how is the 15% prohibited transaction tax calculated?

I currently have a client who wishes to amend a regular Profit Sharing Plan to a Safe Harbor 401(k) plan. Since we missed the March deadline for the notice, could we still amend the plan because it never had a 401(k) provision? What about an existing 401(k)? Can you still amend them later in the year provided the plan year is at least 3 months. Would I have to amend the plan year and create chort plan years to accomplish my task? I would appreciate any feedback.

I would like to introduce this benefit to the employees of my company (approx. 175) and am currently researching the best way to implement the policy. Because we are small, I will be handling the administration in-house. Any advice from those who also administer would be greatly appreciated. How much time per month does it take? Problems/concerns I should be aware of as I launch? Thanks very much for your help!

The owner of a business sponsoring a 401(k) plan for which he is the trustee segregates his account balance and direcst investments. Now he wants to purchase his mother's farm as a directed investment. Sounds like a violation of 4975 to me. Any other opinions? Thanks.

Taxpayer names Spouse 1 as beneficiary of IRA. Taxpayer divorces Spouse 1 but does not change IRA beneficiary designation. Taxpayer dies. Apart from any divorce decree or property settlement agreement which may have addressed Spouse 1's rights to the IRA, is there anything in §408 or Regs thereunder such that beneficiary designation is void by operation of law? Does answer change if taxpayer remarried prior to death? Pretty sure that Spouse 1 gets it, but just wanted to see if anyone else had run across anything different.

------------------

We are in desperate need of finding training for an existing employee for in-house Cafeteria Plan Administration. We have an existing plan but are lacking an Administrator. Where do I find classes/seminars for Cafeteria Plan Administration?

------------------

We are in desperate need of training for an existing employee to become a Cafeteria Plan Administrator for our existing Cafeteria Plan. Where can I find a list of available classes/seminars to put us on the right track?

------------------

In a few months we will be upgrading to the 5.0 version using Oracle.

Once question we asked that came up today (Have not asked our rep yet) is this:

We have customized a lot of reports, benefit statements, summary, etc.

Does anyone know if these reports will still be usable, and if not, will there be some type of converstion available so we don't have to re-do all of them.

Any input is appreciated.

Is there any restriction on permitting the use of options (call options, put options, or LEAPS) in a qualified retirement plan? The owner of a business thinks that options are the greatest thing and wants to open the plan to segregated accounts. Of course, as the administration firm, we think he is crazy and we may elect not to provide services.

Anyway, the best outcome is for me to find some statutory or regulatory reason why this might not be a good idea. Any thoughts on this??????????????

Thanks.

After reading the text of many of the messages on this board, I can see that you are all professionals. Can anyone help a layman with a question?

As a result of leaving my employment under a separation agreement in 1997, I received severance pay. The amount was divided into two payments, the first of which was classified as severance pay. It was paid to me in 1997 and included as wages in my W-2 for that year. Normal withholdings were made and I reported the total W-2 amount as taxable income for 1997. I also made a direct roll-over from my 401K account at the company into an IRA in 1997.

In 1998, my previous employer made the second (and final) payment to me which was specified as compensatory damages under the terms of the separation agreement. No social security or income taxes were withheld from this payment. This 1998 payment was reported on a Form 1099-R, with the only entries being the dollar amount in Box #1 and the Distribution Code "7" in Box #7. The Distribution Code "7" indicates that this was a "Normal Distribution". No other boxes on the form 1099-R contain entries.

How do I report this 1998 distribution? Is the amount eligible to be rolled into some sort of tax deferred account?

Other possibly relevant information: I am 37 years old, have been a full-time mom since leaving my job, rolled my traditional IRA to a Roth IRA this year, and received the 1998 payment in question in January 1998.

Any advice would be most appreciated!

Thanks!

Is it possible for a new corporation to set up an IRA with an initial eligibility of no service/no comp limits and then change it to the basic 2 years/$5,000 and reasonably expected to earn $5,000 in the current year? I have a client who started business in Jan. 1999 and will start taking salary in April 1999. He has not hired any employees yet, but will later in 1999. He wants to become eligible as soon as he starts to take salary but wants any new hires to wait the two years. (I know, it doesn't sound very non-discriminatory, does it?) I was unable to find anything in my research on amending a SIMPLE IRA for more restrictive eligibility requirements. Thank you.

Everytime we use a Roth IRA Calculator on the internet, it shows that we would not benefit from a Roth, we should go with a Traditional. We don't have a 401K, is that why we should go w/ a Traditional, since it's tax deductible? Any suggestions?

Is there somewhere I can use stock only for a ROTH. I do not want Mutual Funds, and want only stocks that I like, that have a DRIP.

Please suggest somewhere, or is what I want not possible.

Thanks,

Norm

Every thing I read states that if you are married filing separately, you are not eligible to convert to a ROTH and use the 4 year tax pay period.

If you are married, but did not live with your spouse at any time during 1998, can you do the conversion if you file separately. I was legally separated during 1998 which still leaves my status as married.

Thanks for any response