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June 18, 2003 - 13,216 subscribers
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"DOL’s Proposed FLSA Exemption Regulations Changes”
audio conference 6/25/03 * 2:00 p.m. ET Are you ready for lengthy personnel audits? Ready to reevaluate wage and hour decisions? Ready to rethink current payroll systems? Have you started considering how your compensation practices, personnel policies and employee manuals should be changed if/when the proposed regulations become final? Two leading employment law/FLSA experts, Daniel B. Abrahams, Esq., and Shlomo D. Katz, Esq., will answer these important questions and more during this repeat performance due to popular demand!
(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
Can There Be Too Many Choices in a 401(k) Plan? (PDF)
12 pages. Excerpt: "Conventional wisdom suggests that the more investment options a savings plan offers, the better. Conventional wisdom may be wrong. New academic research on participant decision-making raises important questions about the limits of expanded investment choice within retirement plans." (The Vanguard Center for Retirement Research)
Study Finds 401(k) Investors Not Diversified Enough
Excerpt: "many U.S. investors in 401(k) retirement plans are not well diversified, even though employers have added more investment choices to plans, a study released on Tuesday showed. The study by outsourcing and consulting firm Hewitt Associates Inc. found that many 401(k) investors hold only a handful of funds in their portfolios and that many are heavily invested in employers' stocks ..." (Reuters)
Ruling Approaches in IBM Cash Balance Plan Age Discrimination Lawsuit
Excerpt: "Plaintiff lawyers in the suit submitted what they said were final documents last week to U.S. District Judge G. Patrick Murphy, who is presiding over the case. Murphy could rule in the case as early as July, according to one source close to the matter." (AP via New York Times; one-time registration required)
PBGC Provides Deadline Relief in Response to May Storms/Tornadoes in Illinois
Technical Update 03-5. (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation)
PBGC Provides Deadline Relief in Response to May Storms/Tornadoes in Mississippi
Technical Update 03-6. (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation)
PBGC Provides Deadline Relief in Response to May Floods in Kentucky
Technical Update 03-7. (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation)
Wary Welcome for British Version of PBGC
Excerpt: "The fund, paid for out of compulsory levies on final salary pension schemes, will be set up so that workers do not lose their pension benefits if their company goes bankrupt. The fund will charge a flat-rate levy, thought to be 1 per cent of contributions, plus a risk-adjusted levy to ensure well-run schemes do not cross-subsidise their less well-funded peers." (Scotland on Sunday, via International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Technology Reshaping HR Function
Excerpt: "Human resources receives far more lip service than respect, but it may be about to get its due. Web-based technologies, the sour economy, and other factors are making HR the subject of some truly substantive executive discussions -- and expenditures." (CFO.com)
Opinion: Repealing the Estate Tax Would Reduce Charitable Giving
Excerpt: "[W]ithout the estate tax, charitable giving in 2001 would have been reduced by about $10 billion-- an amount 'equivalent to the total grants currently made by the largest 110 foundations in the United States.'" (Center on Budget Policies and Priorities)
Opinion: Estate Tax Affects Very Few Family Businesses
Excerpt: "[C]ontrary to the popular impression, today's estate tax has little impact on the vast majority of family businesses and farms. (The American Farm Bureau Federation acknowledged to the New York Times in 2001 that it could not cite a single example of a farm having to be sold to pay estate taxes.)" (Center on Budget Policies and Priorities)
Opinion: Estate Tax Should be Reformed, Not Repealed
Excerpt: "[R]eforming the estate tax would be far less costly than full repeal and would ensure that only a tiny fraction of extremely wealthy estates would face estate taxes." (Center on Budget Policies and Priorities)
Opinion: Permanent Repeal of the Estate Tax Would Be Costly, Yet Would Benefit Only a Few
Excerpt: "The House of Representatives is scheduled to continue its tax-cutting spree this week when it considers legislation to make permanent the repeal of the estate tax." (Center on Budget Policies and Priorities)
CalPERS Approves Plan To Crack Down On Executive Compensation
Press release. Excerpt: "The plan calls for CalPERS to publicly scrutinize companies with the worst and best trends in executive compensation, and outlines a model executive compensation policy statement for companies to use as a blueprint to develop their own policy. It also unveils specific areas where CalPERS will vote its shares against compensation issues." (California Public Employees' Retirement System)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Retirement Plan Sales Director
for First Mercantile Trust/National Commerce Financial
in DC, IN, KY, MD, MI, NC, OH, PA, VA, WV
Qualified Retirement Plan Administrator
for RSM McGladrey, Inc.
in IL
Associate Plan Administrator
for RSM McGladrey, Inc.
in IL
Manager, Health and Insurance Benefit Plans - Santa Ana, CA
for recruitingmanager.com, Inc. for $4+ Billion, Fortune 500 Company
in CA
Retirement Plan Specialist
for Diversified Investment Advisors
in TN
Administrative Assistant
for Pension & Estate Planners, Inc.
in PA
Account Manager - Employee Benefits
for Reliance Trust Company
in GA
Newly Posted Press Releases
(Post Yours!)
The Newport Group Finalizes Integration of Teamvest Retirement Services
(The Newport Group)
Hewitt Associates Completes Northern Trust Retirement Consulting Acquisition
(Hewitt Associates)
The Principal Financial Group Debuts E-Signatures on Prototype Plans
(The Principal Financial Group)
Deputy Secretary of Labor Joins Bipartisan Congressional Delegation Urging Passage of Association Health Plans
(U.S. Department of Labor)
Handy Links:
- View Today's Active Message Threads
- Search BenefitsLink
- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research
- Employee Benefits Library
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