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March 11, 2005
Today's sponsor: APSCREEN, Employee Locator
(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)
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(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
Text: Final Rule on PBGC Electronic Filing--Annual Financial and Actuarial Information
Excerpt: "The PBGC is amending its regulation on Annual Financial and Actuarial Information Reporting to require: Electronic filing in a standardized format of certain identifying, financial, and actuarial information and the filing of additional items of supporting information that are readily available to the filer, including a demonstration by a filer for the previous year that a filing is not required for the current year." (Federal Register via Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation)
Summary: Mellon's Survey of 401(k) Plans: Report on Plan Design - 2004 Plan Year (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "Mellon's Human Resource & Investor Solutions has issued its latest biennial survey of 401(k) plans focusing on plan design for the 2004 plan year. The survey also examines practices and policies related to 401(k) plans." (Mellon Financial Corporation)
Highlights of the Proposed DOL Orphan Plan Guidance
Excerpt: "The regulatory initiative consists of three proposed regulations. One proposal, entitled 'Rules and Regulations for Abandoned Plans,' establishes procedures and standards for the termination of, and distribution of benefits from, an abandoned pension plan. The second proposal, entitled 'Safe Harbor for Rollovers From Terminated Individual Account Plans,' provides relief from ERISA's fiduciary responsibility rules in connection with a rollover distribution on behalf of a missing ...." (Attorney B. Janell Grenier via BenefitsBlog.com)
Overview: Proposed Regulations and Class Exemption on Abandoned 401(k ) Plans
Excerpt: "The Labor Department currently deals with abandoned plans on a case-by-case basis, often with the involvement of the courts. These proposed rules provide standards for determining when a plan is abandoned and establishes a process for winding up the affairs of the plan and distributing benefits to workers." (401khelpcenter.com)
Krispy Kreme Hit with Company Stock Suit
Excerpt: "Krispy Kreme top executives kept mum about the doughnut company's fiscal mismanagement – a fact that caused the company's workers to lose million of dollars from their retirement accounts, a new lawsuit alleges." (PLANSPONSOR.com; one-time registration required)
Text: PBGC Testimony on the Defined Benefit Pension System and the Pension Insurance Program (PDF)
17 pages. Testimony of Bradley D. Belt, Executive Director, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, before the Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures, Committee on Ways and Means, United States House of Representatives, March 8, 2005 (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation)
Overview: IRS Clarifies Time to Amend Plans for New Automatic Rollover Requirements (PDF)
1 page. Excerpt: "IRS Notice 2005-5, issued last month, provides that a plan must be in operational compliance with the new requirement by March 28, 2005, but that the plan document does not need to be amended for the new requirement until the last day of the first plan year ending on or after March 28, 2005. (There is a delayed effective date for governmental and church plans.)" (Briggs and Morgan)
Current Considerations and New Challenges for ERISA §404(c) Compliance (PDF)
14 pages. Excerpt: "This article provides a broad overview of the ERISA §404(c) requirements and analyzes considerations and challenges many plan sponsors face as they strive to comply with those requirements. The article outlines the disclosure obligations imposed by ERISA, highlighting recent regulatory guidance applicable to mutual fund prospectuses, and discusses new developments regarding mutual fund fees. The article analyzes some of the implications of offering certain ..." (The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. via Gardner Carton & Douglas LLP)
Time to Abandon the 70%-One-Size-Fits-All Approach to Estimating Future Retirement Spending Needs
Excerpt: "[C]onsider newer advice offered by many financial planners: Start by analyzing your preretirement expenses and then making adjustments on a line-by-line basis. That's the most effective method, says Patrick Doland, a financial planner in Northbrook, Ill. With this method, you're more likely to get a result that makes sense for you." (BusinessWeek)
Opinion: Concern that 2005 Social Security Trustees' Report Will Be Slanted to Favor Privatization
Excerpt: "Even if the numbers aren't fabricated, however, it's a good bet that they will be presented in a way intended to make Social Security's financial outlook seem much bleaker than it really is." (The New York Times; one-time registration required)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Sponsors Sarbanes and Oxley Urge Congress to Wait before Changing Law's Provisions
Excerpt: "A pair of lawmakers who led the fight to approve a major corporate-responsibility initiative said yesterday that the law should be given more time to work before Congress decides whether to tinker with its sometimes controversial and costly provisions." (The Washington Post; one-time registration required)
A Primer on Nonqualified Deferred Compensation
Excerpt: "What is 'nonqualified deferred compensation,' or NQDC? .... Compensation may take many forms - cash, pensions, medical benefits, severance, stock, etc. And if you don't receive the compensation within 2 1/2 months after the year that you earned it, or acquired a legally binding right to it, it is considered deferred. Unless that deferred compensation falls under one of the exceptions, such as for qualified pension plan benefits or bona fide vacation leave, it is considered NQDC." (Chicago Consulting Actuaries)
Overview: First IRS Guidance on New Deferred Compensation Rules (PDF)
6 pages. Excerpt: "Notice 2005-1 is only the first installment of guidance from the IRS and many issues (e.g., treatment of foreign plans and trusts, the definition of key employees) are not addressed. Nonetheless, the guidance provides some welcome transition relief and gives employers the basic framework for proceeding with respect to many of their NQDC arrangements." (Mellon Financial Corporation)
Overview: New Employer Obligations Relating to Military Leave (PDF)
4 pages. Excerpt: "On December 10, 2004, the President signed into law the Veterans Benefits Improvement Act (the 'Act'). This Act, which amends the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA), has two important implications for employers." (Kilpatrick Stockton LLP)
Overview: Department of Labor Publishes USERRA Notice Just Before the Deadline
Excerpt: "One of the [USERRA] changes was a new requirement that employers provide a notice to employees of their rights and duties under USERRA beginning ..., March 10th. All employers, regardless of size, have to comply with this requirement. [T]he Department of Labor released an 'interim final rule' that contains sample text for the notice. A copy of that notice is available ... on the DOL/VETS web page [http://www.dol.gov/vets/programs/userra/poster.pdf]. " (Faegre & Benson LLP)
Newly Posted Press Releases
PSCA Joins Effort To Urge Congress To Make EGTRRA Retirement Plan Improvements Permanent March 11, 2005
(Profit Sharing/401(k) Council of America (PSCA))
PBGC Will Assume Ground Employee Pension Plan At UAL
(Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC))
U. S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao Appoints 2005 ERISA Advisory Council and Leadership Posts
(U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA))
Council Urges Congress To Make Permanent Pension Reforms Enacted in 2001
(American Benefits Council)
Pension Consultants, Inc. Develops Proxy Voting Service in Response to Fiduciary Concerns over Corporate Governance
(Pension Consultants, Inc.)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Institutional Wholesaler/Investment Sales Consultant
for Meeder Financial
in OH
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