| The BenefitsLink Newsletter - Retirement Plans Edition |   |
August 28 and 29, 2002 - 11,413 subscribers
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Fiduciaries Who Violated ERISA Standard of Care Permanently Removed From Fiduciary Positions
Chao v. Malkani (D. Md. 2002). Excerpt: "The pension plan discrepancies related to late and deficient plan contributions; failures to allocate contributions to participants' accounts as required by the plan's terms; and vesting of terminated participants, which resulted in forfeiture of some fully vested participants' accounts." (EBIA Weekly)
Court Approves Settlement of Fiduciary Class Action Claim in Ikon Securities Litigation
Excerpt: "In this decision, the court has approved the settlement of an ERISA claim brought on behalf of participants in the employer's 401(k) plan, alleging fiduciary breach based in part on participants' inability to allocate employer matching contributions to an investment other than employer stock." (EBIA Weekly)
Professionally Directed Investment Option Pleases Dallas Workers in 401(k) Plan
Excerpt: "The retirement plan offered by Dallas Pen is managed by Frontier Investment Management Co., a Dallas-based company, which pools participants money into one account and then allocates it across six mutual funds, bonds and cash. This means that everyone in the plan receives the same percentage return. In other words, the PDI plan is managed similar to a traditional pension plan." (The Dallas Morning News via International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans)
How Safe Is Your Pension? MSNBC Looks at the PBGC
Excerpt: "More than 40 million Americans are depending on a little-known federal agency to protect their pensions if recession-wracked companies go belly up and can't pay retirees what they've been promised. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation is the backstop in the event firms can't pay benefits to retirees." (MSNBC)
Opinion: Mutual Funds Managers Have Conflict of Interest
Excerpt: "The giant mutual funds are serving two masters. As owners of huge amounts of stock, it is their job to hold incompetent or self-interested management accountable. But there are massive fees coming their way when corporate executives award them 401K and pension fund assets to invest." (Salon.com)
Russian Pension System Begins Providing Notice of Upcoming Pension Payments
Excerpt: "The fund's information program is part of an ambitious overhaul of the pension system passed by the State Duma earlier this year. It marks the first time that people will have advance knowledge of the size of their pensions -- and the right to negotiate the figure if they disagree." (The Moscow Times)
Business Week Asks, What Is "Corporate Responsibility"?
Excerpt: "In a year when a raft of scandals has further lowered the public's estimation of the ethics of Corporate America, some companies are trying to show they care. How? In addition to annual or semiannual reports, they're putting out so-called corporate responsibility reports chronicling data that show they're sensitive to social or environmental concerns." (Business Week)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
(These items appear in both editions of the BenefitsLink Newsletter)
Congress May Change the Rules for Executive Deferred Compensation Arrangements
Excerpt: "Congress is currently considering legislation that could have a significant impact on the nonqualified deferred compensation plans maintained by many employers. One of the bills which appears to have bipartisan support is H.R. 5095, the 'American Competitiveness and Corporate Accountability Act of 2002.' [The bill] contains provisions that would adversely affect many executive deferred compensation arrangements." (Faegre & Benson LLP)
Opinion: Program for Underwater Options Excludes Executives, But Can't Hide Executive Largesse
Excerpt: "Foundry Networks [last week] announced a stock option exchange program for its employees in which all underwater options held by employees could be exchanged on a 2-for-1 basis. The new options will have an exercise price of the closing price on the date of the grant. And here's the kicker: executive officers of the company aren't eligible to participate in the exchange. Oh, the beneficence! ... It doesn't look so good when you run the numbers." (RedHerring.com)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings -
Client Relationship Manager
for Pension Third Party Administrator in MI
Retirement Plan Administrator
for InWest Pension Management, Inc. in TX
Implementation Team Manager - Health and Welfare
for Fidelity Investments - Merrimack, NH in NH
Legal Department
for Benefit Professionals, Inc. in AL
Manager, Group Medical and Long Term Care Plans
for Allied Pilots Association in TX
401(k)/Pension Administrator
for Contemporary Pensions, Inc. in CA
Retirement Plan Administrator
for National Benefits Consulting Firm in CA
401(k) Administrator
for Administrative Retirement Services, Inc. in IL
Defined Contribution Administrator
for Carley & McCaw, Inc. in TX
Pension Administrator
for Benefit Planning, Inc. in CA
Plan Administrator
for Shievitz Enterprises, Inc. in IL
Fun & Challenging DC Compliance Position
for Louis Kravitz & Associates, Inc. in CA
Newly Posted Conferences (Post Yours!)
ISCEBS 21st Annual Employee Benefits Symposium
in CA on October 21, 2002
presented by International Society of Certified Employee Benefit Specialists
Interviewing Skills for Effective Staff Selection
in on November 2, 2002
presented by Institute for International Research, Dubai
Economic Forecast
in GA on September 19, 2002
presented by WEB Atlanta Chapter
Industry & Legislative Update
in OH on October 9, 2002
presented by ASPA Benefits Council of Greater Cincinnati
Introduction to COBRA Coverage
in NJ, NY on September 23, 2002
presented by Matthew Justin Vance
Newly Posted Press Releases
BenefitsAlert.com Releases Free Report: "Cost Sharing Strategies For Medical Benefits"
(Alexander Hamilton Institute - AHI's Benefits Alert)
Subscribe to the Welfare Plans Edition, too (click)
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