April 4, 2003 - 8,085 subscribers Today's sponsor: VeriSource Services, Inc. (Click on company name or banner to learn more.) Benefit Data Management Solutions Providing solutions for all of your benefit data management needs, VSI hosts a customized enrollment solution for each client along with providing additional outsourcing capabilities. The focus is to provide solutions that improve operational efficiency and allow clients to benefit from the latest in computer, Internet and telephone technology Automated Enrollment COBRA/HIPAA Administration Retiree and FMLA Premiums Consolidated Premium Recordkeeping Customer Service Resource Center (Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor) House Committee Backs Bill To Let Private Sector Workers Join Feds In Getting Comp Time Excerpt: "A House Education and the Workforce subcommittee Thursday approved a bill letting employers permit employees who work overtime to defer receiving immediate overtime payments. Instead, they could receive paid time off from their regular work later." (GovExec.com) House Committee Approves Bill to Expand Healthcare Choices for Trade-Displaced Workers Excerpt: "The House Ways and Means Committee on April 3 passed a tax bill (HR 1528) that includes language that would expand the type of health plans eligible for a tax credit established last year to help some U.S. workers displaced by international trade to purchase health insurance, CongressDaily/AM reports." (KaiserNetwork.org) Tennessee Might Revisit Idea of 'Any Willing Provider' Law Excerpt: "Yesterday's U.S. Supreme Court decision to uphold a Kentucky law barring exclusive contracts between health plans and health-care providers isn't expected to have any immediate repercussions here in Tennessee. Even so, the high court's unanimous decision may compel the General Assembly to take another look at passing its own 'any willing provider' law similar to those passed by Kentucky and two dozen other states." (The [Nashville] Tennessean) Connecticut Doctors Shrug at Supreme Court Ruling Excerpt: "Despite the Supreme Court's green light this week, Connecticut doctors may not seek legislation forcing health plans to enlist all qualified physicians who want to join. Doctors here fought hard though unsuccessfully in the mid-1990s to pass such an 'any willing provider' law, but now their medical societies are battling over more pressing issues such as malpractice liability." (CTNow.com) Minnesota Legislature Approves New Contract for State Workers, Minus Domestic Partner Benefits Excerpt: "A compromise plan to ratify state labor contracts with raises for nearly 50,000 workers-- with controversial health benefits for gay and lesbian domestic partners removed-- passed in the House and Senate on Thursday, but not without emotion and vitriol." (StarTribune.com) Montana County OKs Domestic Partner Health Coverage for County Employees Excerpt: "Unmarried domestic partners can now join Missoula County's employee insurance plan, the county commissioners decided Thursday. The move makes it possible for people in same-sex relationships, as well as heterosexual couples who are not formally married, to receive the same insurance coverage as heterosexual married couples." (The Missoulian) VEBA Organized for Bethlehem Steel Retirees Needing Health Insurance Coverage Excerpt: "With the economy gone cold and health care costs pressuring retiree medical benefits, the bankrupt Bethlehem Steel Corp.'s retired workers have become the latest large group to establish a voluntary employee beneficiary association (VEBA)." (BenefitNews.com) Poll Shows Some Americans Support More Government Regulation of Healthcare Industry Excerpt: "Some U.S. residents support more government regulation of the managed care, health insurance and pharmaceutical industries, and few consider the industries 'honest and trustworthy,' according to a Harris Poll released April 2." (KaiserNetwork.org) Business Associate Concerns Loom In HIPAA Privacy Compliance Business associate concerns are among the most common concerns regarding the looming April 14 deadline for compliance with the privacy rules under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). For example, a common question among third party administrators is whether, instead of entering into a contract with an employer plan, business associates can self-certify or be certified by a third party as compliant with the HIPAA privacy rules. (SpencerNet) Welcome to new BenefitsLink advertiser eflexgroup.com Excerpt: "eflexgroup.com is a national web based third party administrator for cafeteria plans, COBRA administration, HRAs, High deductible administration, Transportation, Compliance. We are also PEO experts and can assist and advise you." Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General Full Text of Dow Chemical COLI Case (PDF) 140 pages (!). (U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan) Taxpayer Victory in Leveraged COLI Litigation Ends IRS Winning Streak Excerpt: "The IRS appears to have suffered a setback in its campaign against corporate owned life insurance (COLI) plans. A federal district court in Michigan recently rebuffed the government's claims to paint a taxpayer's multi-million dollar COLI plans as elaborate ruses created solely to generate huge and illegitimate deductions." (HR.CCH.com) IRS Notice Cracks Down on Offshore 'Leasing' Deferred Compensation Arrangements Excerpt: "This notice alerts taxpayers and their representatives that the tax benefits purportedly generated by these arrangements are not allowable ... [Typically, the] Taxpayer ... purports to enter into an employment relationship with a foreign corporation ... that is incorporated and managed in a country with which the United States has an income tax convention. Foreign Leasing Corporation purports to lease the right to Taxpayer's services in the United States to a domestic corporation ..." (Internal Revenue Service) US Airways President: Many Airline Execs Are Overpaid, Especially Delta's Excerpt: "Executive compensation in the airline industry deserves scrutiny, but a congressional proposal to freeze pay would merely reward those who are already overpaid, US Airways president David Siegel said Thursday. In his remarks, Siegel singled out Leo F. Mullin-- chief executive of US Airways rival Delta Air Lines-- as an executive whose pay package is excessive." (AP via StarTribune.com) Delta CEO Cuts Salary, Compensation Package After Criticism Excerpt: "Delta Air Lines chairman and CEO Leo F. Mullin will reduce his salary by 15 percent and not accept incentive payments after the company endured harsh criticism of a compensation package that paid him nearly $13 million last year." (AP via Las Vegas Sun) Delta Airlines Chooses Secular Trust to Protect Supplemental Pensions for Execs Excerpt: "Delta Air Lines chose a rarely used vehicle to protect the retirement benefits of 33 top executives. But so-called secular trusts, guaranteeing the largest chunk of the retirement incomes of Delta's executives, come at a high price, since payments must be made upfront and taxes paid." (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution via NewsAlert.com) As Workers Face Pension Cuts, Executive Supplemental Pensions Get Beefed Up Excerpt: "At a time when pension plans at many companies are increasingly in peril, employers have been taking steps to protect the jumbo pensions promised to top executives." (Ellen E. Schultz in the Wall Street Journal via The San Francisco Chronicle) Bonuses for Executives Anger Delta Airlines Rank-and-File Excerpt: "Many employees are steamed over disclosures that the Atlanta company paid out almost $43 million for executive bonuses and pension protections in 2002, a year in which it lost $1.3 billion and shed thousands of jobs. Flight attendant Darlene Lahasky dismisses the company's contention that the perks will help keep good executives amid industry turmoil." (Cox News Service via the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans) Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings Part-time Employee Benefits Attorney for D'Ancona & Pflaum in IL 401K Plan Benefits Analyst for AECOM Technology Corporation in CA Assistant Vice President, Operations for ICMA Retirement Corporation (www.icmarc.org) in DC Qualified Plan Supervisor for Lane Gorman Trubitt, L.L.P. in TX Retirement Plan Sales Professional for RSM McGladrey, Inc. in AZ, CT, FL, IA, MA, NC, NV, NY Special Services Administrator (legal) for Northern Trust Retirement Consulting in GA Provider Service Specialist for HEREIU Welfare/Pension Funds in IL New Business Accounts Manager for HEREIU Welfare/Pension Funds in IL Newly Posted Webcasts (Post Yours!) 2002 Form 5500 and Related Compliance Issues on April 29, 2003 presented by ASPA Newly Posted Conferences (Post Yours!) Creating and Implementing Deferred Retirement Option Programs in LA June 19, 2003 World Research Group The HIPAA Crisis in GA April 24, 2003 WEB Atlanta Chapter Northeast Area Employee Benefits Conference in MA June 12, 2003 ASPA & IRS Northeast Area Employee Benefits Conference in NY June 13, 2003 ASPA & IRS Mountain States Benefits Conference in CO September 11, 2003 ASPA & IRS Administering Retirement Plans in Uncertain Times: Strategies for Minimizing the Risks and Maximizing the Rewards in CA May 15, 2003 Western Pension & Benefits Conference - Orange County Chapter Newly Posted Press Releases (Post Yours!) Fifth Third Bank Investment Advisors Expand 401(k) Plan Services for Businesses and Their Employees (Fifth Third Bancorp) eePulse Study Shows Workers Stressed About War But Want To Help (eePulse, Inc.) Handy Links:
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