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January 16, 2003 - 12,861 subscribers
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SEC Adopts Rules on Provisions of Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Including Insider Trading During Blackouts
Press release. Excerpt: "Regulation BTR will incorporate a number of concepts developed under Section 16 of the Exchange Act. This will enable issuers to use the well-established body of rules and interpretations concerning the trading activities of corporate insiders under Section 16 in interpreting how Section 306(a) operates ..." (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission)
US Airways Pilots Face Pension Cutbacks
Excerpt: "US Airways will probably have to terminate its pilots' pension fund after a government agency refused yesterday to give the bankrupt company more time to meet its funding obligations. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. is likely to take over the severely underfunded pension plan and cut benefits by as much as 75 percent." (Washington Post)
United Airlines Employees Likely to Lose Control of Company
Excerpt: "Bankrupt United Airlines could soon cease to be one of the world's largest employee-owned companies, as sales now underway by various employee stock plans trigger a loss of control for union owners, sources familiar with the matter said." (Reuters via Crain's Chicago Business)
Bankruptcy Judge to Wait Until February To Make Final Decision on ESOP Stock Sales
Excerpt: " A bankruptcy judge decided Wednesday to wait until next month before ruling on whether all employee-owned stock in United Airlines can be sold.... State Street wants to sell all the remaining shares before they become worthless in bankruptcy. But United obtained a temporary order last month barring such a sale." (AP via StarTribune.com)
Labor Department Proposes Exemption For Northwest Airlines to Contribute Corporate Stock
(U.S. Department of Labor, Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration)
Controversial Lump-Sum Payments to Milwaukee County Officials Average in the Six Figures
Excerpt: "Since 2001, more than 245 Milwaukee County retirees who opted for lump-sum 'backdrop' pension benefits have shared in $30 million, with checks averaging in six figures, according to a new pension report and county officials. Far more retiring workers than expected are choosing to take the lump-sum checks in exchange for reduced monthly pension payments, officials said." (The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
Revenue Procedure 2003-6: Annual Restatement of Rules for IRS Determination Letter Requests (PDF)
43 pages. (Internal Revenue Service)
Opinion: Spendthrift Nation
Excerpt: "It's a precarious situation: U.S. consumer spending is sustaining the economy-- but we need to save more to prepare for the surge in retirements. Here's how to boost personal saving without undermining the economic recovery.... [O]ur private pension system is perverse: it provides the strongest saving incentives to the affluent, who need them least, while covering fewer than half of all workers." (Michael Calabrese & Maya MacGuineas in The Atlantic)
GAO Analysis of Commission's Social Security Reform Proposal for Personal Retirement Accounts
109 pages. Excerpt: "Regardless of whether an account is chosen, many people could receive monthly benefits under Model 2 that are higher than the benefit reduction benchmark. However, a minority could fare worse.... Benefits for those choosing individual accounts will be sensitive to the actual rates of return earned by those accounts." (U.S. General Accounting Office)
Statement to Congress by GAO Comptroller General on Social Security Reform
26 pages. Excerpt: "Since there is a great deal of confusion about Social Security's current financing arrangements and the nature of its long-term financing problem, I would like to spend some time describing the nature, timing, and extent of the financing problem." (U.S. General Accounting Office)
Are We Stepping Away from Democratizing Capital?
NCEO executive director Corey Rosen discusses whether in the post-dot.com, post-Enron environment there is a shift away from one healthy trait of the late-1990s business environment, the sharing of stock ownership with employees through benefit plans such as stock options. (National Center for Employee Ownership)
Most Public Companies' Pensions Face Funding Shortfalls
Excerpt: "Companies are only required to tell the world how their pension plans are faring once a year. Crunch time is nigh, and it won't be pretty. It's by now well-known that tough markets and low interest rates have left a slew of pension funds with serious shortfalls for the first time in years." (AP via Las Vegas Sun)
The Long, Winding Road to Pension Reform in Latin America
Excerpt: "Like other nations, countries in Latin America are attempting to make their retirement systems more efficient and responsive to citizens' needs. This is difficult in the best of times. But it is more problematic when countries have to deal with economic crises involving high inflation, slow growth, defaults on debt payments and currency devaluations-- all of which have afflicted Latin America in recent years." (Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania)
Opinion: PBGC Takeover of US Airways Plan Seems Best Solution for Now
Excerpt: "[W]ith the general thought that one might as well be hanged for stealing a sheep as for stealing a goat, we have to say, reluctantly, that the only way we can see for US Airways to get past this hurdle in a timely fashion is for the pilots to agree to a cut in their pension benefits while the senators pursue a legislative solution." (The [Pittsburgh] Post-Gazette)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Revenue Procedure 2003-8: Annual Restatement of User Fees for IRS Ruling Requests (PDF)
14 pages. (Internal Revenue Service)
Revenue Procedure 2003-5: Annual Restatement of Rules for IRS Technical Advice Requests (PDF)
29 pages. (Internal Revenue Service)
Revenue Procedure 2003-4: Annual Restatement of Rules for IRS Letter Ruling Requests (PDF)
41 pages. (Internal Revenue Service)
J. Mark Iwry, Former Treasury Department Official, Joins Brookings Institution
Excerpt: "During his time in government, Iwry was widely recognized for his work with the business, financial, professional, and nonprofit communities to expand coverage while simplifying and rationalizing the laws and regulations governing pensions and benefits." (US Newswire)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Manager, Compliance
for Means & Associates, LLC
in CA
Account Manager - Health and Welfare
for Roller Consulting Co., Inc.
in PA
Manager of Operations Control - Retirement Plan Services
for Strong Investments, Inc.
in WI
Audit Senior
for Ernst & Young LLP
in CA
Plan Coordination Team Lead - Retirement Plan Services
for Strong Investments, Inc.
in WI
Education Specialist
for Strong Investments, Inc.
in WI
Health Management Ongoing Project Manager - MJ-021203-005
for Hewitt Associates
in GA
Newly Posted Conferences
(Post Yours!)
Trustees and Administrators Institutes
in FL
March 2, 2003
International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans
Collection Procedures Institute
in FL
March 10, 2003
International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans
Employee Benefits Update
February 3, 2003
American Bar Association Satellite Seminar
Defined Benefit Basics
in GA
January 24, 2003
ASPA Benefits Council of Atlanta
Newly Posted Press Releases
(Post Yours!)
Labor Department Proposes Exemption For Northwest Airlines to Contribute Corporate Stock
(U.S. Department of Labor, Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration)
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