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July 1, 2004
Today's sponsor: Actuarial Systems Corporation

(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)

ASC - QUALITY SOFTWARE FOR THE PENSION INDUSTRY FOR OVER 20 YEARS
ASC provides complete automation for the pension office, including:
DC/401(k) and DB administration and valuation systems, sophisticated
Compliance Testing, DV Direct Daily Valuation, Advanced Information
Manager Database (AIM), and Single-Step Processing. All ASC Technical
Support Members were experienced Pension Administrators or Actuaries
before joining ASC -- and most have been with ASC for over 10 years.

(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
IRS Delays Implementation of Disclosure Rules for Certain Plans Offering Lump Sum Payment Option
Excerpt: "[T]here will be a delay in the effective date for recently issued regulations that set forth information required to be explained to pension plan participants regarding the optional forms of benefit offered by the plan.... [but] the delay does not apply to the extent a plan offers a lump sum payment that is less valuable than the qualified joint and survivor annuity offered by the plan." (Internal Revenue Service)

Factors Affecting Retirement Mortality
Excerpt: "Mortality rates affect many facets of an actuary's work. The ability to collect more detailed data and the possibilities presented by more advanced analytical tools influenced the Society of Actuaries to embark on this multi-phased project examining the factors affecting retirement mortality.... [E]xperience studies are reviewed to see which factors could be added to the studies. This phase also considers methods for reflecting the additional factors in the mortality tables." (Society of Actuaries)

Getting Emotional Over Pension Funding
Excerpt: "A Hawaiian Airlines pilot asked [a] bankruptcy trustee . . to get off a plane preparing for takeoff Thursday, saying he was angry about [the trustee's] policies and could not safely fly the Boeing 767-300 with the trustee aboard." (Attorney B. Janell Grenier on BenefitsBlog)

Houston Police Pension System Sues City; Mayor Calls Action Frivolous
Excerpt: "In a move described as blackmail by Mayor Bill White, Houston's police pension system sued the city Wednesday, saying the pension is underfunded by $40 million this year.... White's administration has been negotiating with the city's police and municipal pension systems to try to reduce generous pension benefits that the city had granted in recent years." (Houston Chronicle)

Need for Individual Inquiry Precluded Class Certification of Breach of Fiduciary Duty Claim
Excerpt: "A cash balance plan participant was not entitled to class certification for his ERISA breach of fiduciary duty claim because the elements needed for a showing of breach of fiduciary duty required individualized fact-finding and because the plan did not violate ERISA's age discrimination provisions, according to the U.S. District Court in Maryland." (CCH News & Information Library)

Impact of New Minimum Distribution Regulation on Governmental Defined Benefit Plans (PDF)
6 pages. Excerpt: "This memo reviews the rules in the final regulation insofar as they affect governmental defined benefit plans only." (National Council on Teacher Retirement)

IRS Warns Taxpayers Not to File Downloaded Information-Only Forms
Excerpt: "The IRS on June 29 announced that, beginning in 2004, a penalty of $50 per information return may be imposed if taxpayers file information-only versions of Forms 1098, 1099, 5498, and W-2 that have been downloaded from the IRS website." (CCH News & Information Library)

ESOPs and Employee Wealth (PDF)
1 page. Excerpt: "One key rationale for the creation of ESOP law in 1974 was to share wealth with the workers who helped create wealth. Today, many companies use the wealth sharing aspect of their ESOPs as an effective retention and recruitment tool. But just how effective a means of distributing wealth are ESOPs?" (Ownership Associates)

The Performance of ESOP Companies (PDF)
1 page. Excerpt: "After reviewing the research literature, Dr. Douglas Kruse concluded: '25 years of research shows that employee ownership often leads to higher-performing workplaces and better compensation and work lives for employees.'" (Ownership Associates)

Revenue Ruling 2004-11: the IRS Starts Climbing the M&A Mountain (PDF)
5 pages. Excerpt: "It is encouraging to see the IRS and the Treasury attempting to tackle some of the complex issues raised by company acquisitions and dispositions. Practitioners have had to deal with these questions for years in an uncertain environment. Probably the most positive development is that the government is seeking practitioner input on these issues. Nonetheless, we recognize that the Section 410(b) transition period rules are just the tip of the M&A iceberg." (Attorney Ilene H. Ferenczy of Powell Goldstein Frazer & Murphy LLP)

Artists' Pension Fund Bets on Future Worth of Works
Excerpt: "An innovative program in New York will have diverse artists contribute samples of their work to a trust. Over time, some of the works should increase in value. The money raised will allow the trust to pay out pensions when the artists retire. NPR's Rick Karr reports." (National Public Radio)

Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

NYC Mandates Domestic Partner Coverage from Contractors
Excerpt: "The Equal Benefits Bill mandates that any company with city contracts of $100,000 or more must extend the same benefits--including health care insurance, bereavement leave and family or medical leave--to the domestic partners of workers as are offered to the spouses of employees. The bill applies to both same-sex and opposite-sex domestic partners." (Business Insurance)

Stock Options: National Compensation Survey Update
Excerpt: "As previously mentioned, the 2003 survey showed that more highly paid workers had greater access to stock options than less highly paid workers: 18 percent of those earning at least $15 per hour had access to stock options, compared with only 6 percent of those earning less than $15 per hour." (Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor)

Same-Sex Domestic Partner Benefits – Current Legal and Plan Drafting Issues
Excerpt: "Recent events around the country have brought same-sex domestic partnerships to the forefront of many states' and localities' legislative agendas. Wrapped up with this focus on same-sex domestic partnership issues are the federal, state, and local laws that govern many of the employee benefits provided by employers to their employees." (Groom Law Group)

Welcome to new BenefitsLink advertiser DATAIR Employee Benefit Systems, Inc.
Excerpt: "DATAIR Employee Benefit Systems, Inc. has been a leading provider of software for employee benefit professionals since 1967. Choose one or more free offer."

Newly Posted Events

Fundamentals of 401(k) Plans
Nationwide on September 14, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel

Fundamentals of Qualified Plans
Nationwide on September 23, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel

The New Reality of Retirement Income Adequacy
Nationwide on June 30, 2004
presented by Hewitt Associates LLC
Newly Posted Press Releases

Newkirk Announces All-New Design For SuperStatements
(Newkirk)

U.S. Labor Department Continues National Education Campaign to "Build Wealth at Work" "Workers Should Commit to Financial Independence for Secure Retirement"
(U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA))

Treasury Delays Effective Date Of Disclosure Rules For Certain Pension Plans
(Internal Revenue Service (IRS))

Expensing of Employee Stock Options Will Hurt Economy; Valuation Methods, Lack of Field Testing Problematic
(International Employee Stock Options Coalition)

DWC Consultants Announces Hueler Stable Value Data and addresses impending issues related to Stable Value mutual funds
(DWC Consultants)

MMC Businesses Combining to Create New Global Human Resources Outsourcing Leader
(Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (MMC))
Movers and Shakers: Newly Posted Announcements of Promotions and New Personnel
(Post Yours!)

Cheri Nickolay (Wells Fargo Retirement Plan Services - Denver Service Center)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Post a Help Wanted Ad

Regional Service Coordinator, Seattle, WA
for Standard Insurance Company
in WA

Account Executive for Pension/Retirement Plans
for CBIZ Actuarial & Benefit Consultants
in TX

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