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June 16, 2003 - 13,189 subscribers
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“Employment Practices Liability Insurance”
90-Minute Interactive Audio Conference 6/18/03 * 2:00 p.m. ET Do you know the differences and types of Employment Practices Liability Insurance (EPLI)? This audio conference will explain EPLI pros and cons and explain when EPLI can be an affordable and useful tool in alleviating employer concerns regarding employment practices liability. Join benefits attorneys Ray Mak and Tim Rowan on June 18 when they address these issues and more during this important audio conference.
(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
PBGC Immediate Interest Rate for Valuing Lump Sum Payments Drops to 3%
Excerpt: "The immediate interest rate for valuing lump sum payments for the month of July 2003 is 3.00%.... (The immediate interest rate for June 2003 was 3.50% for lump sum payments...)" (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation)
SEC Focuses on Unrealistic Assumptions for Pension Fund Earnings
Excerpt: "Almost half of the nation's 100 largest corporate pension funds continue to make aggressive asset performance assumptions, even as investment markets batter their portfolios, according to recent analysis from benefit consultant Milliman USA." (BenefitNews.com)
IBM Cash Balance Pension Case Awaits Ruling
Excerpt: "In the next several weeks, a federal judge will rule on whether two pension plan changes IBM made in the 1990s discriminated against Kathi Cooper and 140,000 other U.S. employees.... The class-action lawsuit is the largest of several cases in federal courts challenging companies' contentions that these new pension plans, which are referred to as cash balance plans, are benign efforts to update retirement plans for a more mobile work force." (The Detroit News)
Surviving Spouse's 'Annuity Starting Date' Argument Fails in Contest of QJSA Waiver
Shields v. Readers Digest Association, Inc. Retirement Plan, No. 01-2118 (6th Cir. 6/9/2003). Excerpt: "Mr. Shields submitted his retirement forms--all dated January 21, 1998--to Mercer. Among the forms returned were an option election form specifying his selection of the life annuity benefit ... Mr. Shields died on May 17, 1998. Following his death, Plaintiff sought surviving spouse benefits from the Plan." (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, via FindLaw.com)
Financing Employee Ownership Programs: An Overview
Link to prepared testimony of witnesses at June 10, 2003 hearing. Witnesses include J. Michael Keeling, The ESOP Association; Steve Clem, Ohio Employee Ownership Center Director; Jim Megson, ICA Group, Boston; Frank Adams, Southern Appalachian Center for Employee Ownership; Richard Dines, National Cooperative Business Association; George Ray, LeFiell Manufacturing Company; more. (U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services, Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit)
Baltimore Might See Police Exodus Due to Pension Payment Terms
Excerpt: "A generous Baltimore police pension plan is likely to create an unprecedented exodus of experienced officers over the next eight months and has city leaders scrambling to fill the ranks. Nearly a fifth of the Baltimore Police Department is eligible to retire under the provisions of a retirement plan with cash pay-outs so large it is becoming increasingly irresistible ..." (The Baltimore Sun)
For Mutual Funds, Calls for Reform
Excerpt: "The head of the House subcommittee with responsibility for mutual funds introduced legislation last week that could give investors more information about the fees they are paying, and perhaps in the process spur more price competition among funds." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
DOL Developing Educational Resource for Plan Fiduciaries
Excerpt: "The Labor Department is developing an education program to help fiduciaries of employer-sponsored retirement plans better understand and fulfill their obligations. Congress spurred the effort last year through a legislative proposal that led to hearings by the ERISA Advisory Council's Working Group on Fiduciary Education and Training." (BenefitNews.com)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
American Airlines' Parent Board Declines to Give Departed CEO Added Severance
Excerpt: "Don Carty, the AMR Corp. chief executive who resigned in April, will not receive a severance package from the company, airline officials said Friday.... Carty will, however, receive more than $8 million after-tax from a controversial bankruptcy-proof executive retirement plan -- a program that helped spark the employee revolt that led to his resignation." (Fort Worth Star-Telegram via NewsAlert.com)
Text of Schwegmann Grocery Decision on Appeal; Grocer Violated ERISA Using Unvested Voucher Benefit (PDF)
27 pages. Musmeci v. Schwegmann Giant Supermarkets, Inc., No. 02-30246 (5th Cir. 6/11/2003). Excerpt: "[SCSM, the grocery store chain partnership,] did not set up a trust to fund the Voucher Plan. Rather, the Voucher Plan was funded out of the partnership's general revenue.... [I]n 1997, it sold the business. A week before the sale, Mr. Schwegmann sent a letter to all voucher recipients informing them that they would no longer receive vouchers because of the sale of the business." (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, via FindLaw.com)
The Accounting Treatment of Employee Stock Options
Link to prepared testimony of witnesses at June 3, 2003 hearing. Witnesses include David Dreier, U.S. House of Representatives; Anna G. Eshoo, Member, U.S. House of Representatives; Deborah Nightingale, Sun Microsystems; Robert H. Herz, Financial Accounting Standards Board; Paul A. Volcker, International Accounting Standards Committee Foundation Trustees; Craig R. Barrett, Intel Corporation; Roderick M. Hills, Hills & Stern; James K. Glassman, American Enterprise Institute. (U.S House of Representatives Committee on Financial Security, Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance and Government Sponsored Enterprises)
Overview: IRS Proposes Regs for Statutory Stock Options (PDF)
4 pages. Excerpt: "The new proposed regulations clarify that ownership interests other than capital stock are treated as stock for purposes of these rules, and that options can be issued on stock of C corporations, S corporations, foreign corporations, and limited liability corporations that have elected to be treated as corporations for federal income tax purposes." (Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Fun & Challenging DC Compliance Position
for Louis Kravitz & Associates, Inc.
in CA
Senior/Principal Administrative Analyst
for UC Office of the President
in CA
Lead - Benefit Administrator
for Del Monte Foods
in CA
Retirement Plan Administrator
for Jones & Roth P.C.
in OR
401(k) Administrator
for Penret Services, Inc.
in MA
Retirement Plan Analyst - Compliance
for Invesmart
in ME
Newly Posted Conferences
(Post Yours!)
Troubleshooting the 2002 Form 5500
in ALL STATES
July 9, 2003
Thompson Publishing Group
CEBS Course 1-Employee Benefits: Concepts and Health Care Benefits
in ALL STATES
August 25, 2003
IFEBP/CEBS Program
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