| BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter |   |
October 24, 2005
Today's sponsor: DATAIR Employee Benefit Systems, Inc.
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| Software for DC/401(k) Plan Administration |
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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) |
Pensions Bill Moving Slowly in Congress
Excerpt: "The Senate, on the verge of passing a bill several weeks ago, has since stalled, unable to come to terms with several lawmakers, backed by business and labor groups, who oppose requiring companies with poor credit ratings to pay more into their pension funds." (AP via The New York Times; one-time registration required)
Roth 401(k) Analysis Tool Available from the 401khelpcenter
Excerpt: "The Roth 401(k) Analysis Tool generates detailed analyses of take-home pay impact, contribution percentages, and multiple and future tax situations." (401khelpcenter.com, LLC)
401(k) Provider Survey: Fidelity Tops Charts
Excerpt: "Fidelity Investments, Nationwide Financial and Principal Financial Group are the top product providers in defined contributions, according to a survey of advisers who administer 401(k) and other qualified plans for U.S. companies. .... A summary of the survey's results in Excel format may be downloaded from www.onwallstreet.com/retirement.xls or www.financial-planning.com/retirement.xls." (On Wall Street Magazine)
Some Fear Decline of 403(b) Plans under New Law
Excerpt: "Brokers and financial planners who sell to retirement plans for non-profit institutions such as public schools could see their livelihoods wiped out by coming changes in the tax code that would make it more difficult to service 403(b) plans." (Investment News; registration or subscription required)
Where Pensions Are Golden
Excerpt: "[State and local government public employees] collect guaranteed pensions provided through state and local taxes and their own contributions and investment returns. Overall, 90% of public employees enjoy a defined-benefit pension, compared with only 20% (and falling) of the private work force. Even though the commitment is there, the money isn't. A study by analysts at Barclays Global Investors in San Francisco estimates that public-employee pension funds in the U.S. are short ...." (Time Online Edition)
CalPERS Criticized over Pension Fund Benefits
Excerpt: "Changes in a national accounting guideline a decade ago helped set the stage for California's ballooning pension liabilities by obscuring the long-term costs of providing the richest benefits in the nation, .... Under changes by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, pension funds can amortize the cost of retroactive benefit increases over 30 years and public employee unions can negotiate to defer salary increases in favor of better pension benefits." (Long Beach Press Telegram)
Nearly Nine in Ten Retirement Plans Have an Investment Policy Statement, According to Survey
Excerpt: "The Brookfield, Wisconsin-based International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans recently published the latest version of its series, Investment Policy Statements. The statements were created to provide survey data and samples that allow benefits professionals to benchmark their plans against others, to determine trends and costs, and to better manage their plans, .... The latest publication reported that nearly nine in 10 (89%) plans have an investment policy statement." (PLANSPONSOR.com: one-time registration required)
Senate Amendment Would Let Some Displaced FAA Workers Retain Retirement Benefits
Excerpt: "Last week, the Senate approved an amendment that would help employees who were close to federal retirement and at risk of losing all or most of their pension credits because of the FAA's decision to transfer their work to Bethesda-based defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corp." (The Washington Post; one-time registration required)
Social Security Reform: Other Countries' Experiences Provide Lessons for the United States (PDF)
69 pages. Excerpt: "[In this report,] GAO focused on (1) adjustments to existing PAYG national pension programs, (2) the creation or reform of national pension reserve funds to partially prefund PAYG pension programs, and (3) reforms involving the creation of individual accounts." (U.S. Government Accountability Office)
Small Business Benefit Plans Seek Relief from Electronic Report Filing
Excerpt: "[SBA's] advocacy office has asked EBSA to exempt small businesses from mandatory participation in electronic filing for a year until the kinks are worked out. It also recommends that the agency give small businesses a one-time exemption from penalties for unintentional filing violations." (bizjournals.com; one-time registration required)
Pension Plan Limits for the Tax Years 2000 -- 2006
Excerpt: "Many of the pension plan limitations will change for 2006. For most of the limitations, the increase in the cost-of-living index met the statutory thresholds that trigger their adjustment. Furthermore, several limitations, set by the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (EGTRRA), are scheduled to increase at the beginning of 2006." (401khelpcenter.com, LLC)
Pension Champion, Not 'Enemy' -- Barbara A. Mikulski Responds to Washington Post Editorial
Excerpt: "Accusing me of being one of the 'enemies of reform' is as flawed as the editorial on pensions that applied the label ['Government's Disgrace,' Oct. 17]." (The Washington Post; one-time registration required)
Disaster Relief Relating to PBGC Deadlines in Response to Hurricane Katrina Updated October 21, 2005
Excerpt: "This announcement has been updated to extend disaster relief until February 28, 2006. Information on employee plan payment deadline extensions is available on the IRS's Web site at www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=147233,00.html." (U.S. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
FASB Approves Drafting of Guidance Designed to Help Companies with Stock Option Grant Histories
Excerpt: "Offering the option of using a simplified calculation of what is called the opening additional paid-in capital (APIC) pool, the document would help companies shift toward use of the new standard on employee share-based payment. The finalized guidance should be available within the next week, FASB said." (PLANSPONSOR.com: one-time registration required)
How Chapter 11 Is Demolishing Employee Expectations
Excerpt: "Once shunned by respectable companies and ignored by Wall Street, federal bankrup.tcy court has become the venue of choice for sophisticated financiers and corporate managers seeking to pull apart labor contracts and roll back health and welfare programs at troubled companies." (The Washington Post; one-time registration required)
Bankrup.tcy and Legacy Costs-- Reinventing Industries
Excerpt: "'Steel is a cyclical industry, so you need a cost structure with which you can survive in periods of low demand,' ....... Today, other industrial behemoths like General Motors and Delphi, the giant auto parts supplier that just filed for bankrup.tcy, are similarly flailing as they take aim at the 'legacy costs' of retiree health care and pensions. The gyrations of the steel industry provide a road map of how they might reconfigure their industrial relations." (The New York Times; one-time registration required)
Federal Judge Sends ERISA Lawsuit to State Court
Excerpt: "A Maine federal judge has ruled that a lawsuit claiming that the American Lung Association of Maine violated The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) by firing the plaintiffs because of their age should move to state court. Chief US District Judge George Singal of the US District Court for the District of Maine agreed with plaintiffs Marie Borgese and Sharon Gleason that the case should be prosecuted in a Maine state court under the Maine Human Rights Act." (PLANSPONSOR.com: one-time registration required)
Coping with Hurricane Katrina: A Compilation of Legislative Relief and Regulatory Guidance
Excerpt: "The devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina has raised a wide range of tax and employee benefit plan issues for the organizations and their employees directly affected by the storm's damage. [Towers Perrin has] compiled information about the legislative relief and regulatory guidance that federal agencies have provided on the many plan compliance issues ...." (Towers Perrin)
Opinion: Anti-G.ay Amendment Would Sully Florida's Constitution with Intolerance
Excerpt: "Such a ban would be suspiciously superfluous, as same-sex marriage is already illegal in the Sunshine State under the Defense of Marriage Act, as it is in 42 states nationwide. The true scope of the amendment, however, is much broader and more sinister. Because of the vague language it contains, if passed, it is almost certain to not only keep g.ay couples from marrying but also deny legal status for any sort of civil union or domestic partnership between homose.xuals." (floridatoday.com)
Overview: 2006 IRS Employee Benefits-Related Limitations (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "The IRS has released its 2006 dollar limitation figures relating to employee benefits. [This] is a list of the most common limitations for 2006, including historical limitations through 2003. The Social Security taxable wage base also is included." (Gardner Carton & Douglas)
December 1, 2005, Deadline for External Funding of Retirement Allowance/Severance Plans in Korea
Excerpt: "Korea's Labour Standards Act ('LSA') mandates that all employers with more than four employees must provide a severance ('Retirement Allowance') benefit equal to one-month's final average salary for each year of service." (Watson Wyatt Worldwide)
Microsoft 'Permatemp' Legal Settlement Checks Involving Company Stock Purchase Plan Finally Arrive
Excerpt: "The case itself stretches all the way back to 1992, when long-term temporary workers, or 'permatemps,' as they later became known, alleged that they were unfairly being locked out of benefits such as discounted stock purchases enjoyed by the company's regular employees." (CNET News.com via The New York Times; one-time registration required)
Newly Posted Press Releases
New Survey Finds 89% of Employers Have a Written Investment Policy Statement
(International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans)
Workplace Options Announces Acquisition of emindhealth, Inc.
(Workplace Options)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Regional Vice President - Northern California
for BISYS Retirement Services
in CA
Senior Paralegal Associate
for NRECA
in VA
Investment Performance Analyst
for Alan D. Biller & Associates
in CA
Manager, Conversion Retirement Services
for Administaff
in TX
Senior Attorney -- ERISA/Employee Benefits
for Citigroup Inc.
in NY
Technical Business Analyst - PeopleSoft (Palm Beach Gardens, FL)
for Philips
in FL
Client Service Manager
for Merrill Lynch
in CO
Pension Administrator
for Benefit Systems, Inc. - Austin or Houston
in TX
Contract Enroller
for Professional Benefit Services, Inc.
in ANY STATE
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