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December 20, 2005
Today's sponsor: BeneCom Associates, LLC

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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)

America's Other Pension Problem -- Post-Retirement Health Plans
Excerpt: "Unlike with pensions, which are regulated, companies have no legal requirement to create a trust entity to fund the current or future OPEB costs. Additionally, specific tax treatments and credits set up to encourage pension funding do not exist for OPEB funds. For these reasons many companies have not created trust accounts to fund their OPEB obligations, and those that have done so fund them to significantly lower levels than required under current pension funding rules." (TheKansasCityChannel.com via The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc.)

S&P 500 Companies Struggling with Nearly $300B OPEB Deficits
Excerpt: "Companies in the S&P 500 have a $292-billion underfunded liability for other post employment benefits (OPEB) -- a whopping 95% higher than the companies' pension underfunding of $150 billion." (PLANSPONSOR.com; one-time registration required)

Insurance Alternatives Fail to Entice Many Small Employers in California
Excerpt: "Despite an onslaught of cost-saving health plans, California's small businesses remain a tough sell for insurers. As a result, 500,000 of the state's 1.2 million small businesses have no health coverage to offer their employees. " (East Bay Business Times via bizjournals.com; one-time registration required)

Companies Enlist Employees' Help to Maintain Benefits
Excerpt: "Rather than a flat-screen TV or a new car, the most coveted gift for many Americans this holiday season could be health-insurance and retirement benefits. In recent months, a growing number of companies have cut or eliminated this protection for their employees and retirees." (The Wall Street Journal via Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)


Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

Employee Benefits Year-End Actions To Be Taken by Plan Sponsors (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "This Management Alert is a brief reminder of those actions that companies and benefit plans may be required to take before year-end. Welfare Plans: Flex Account Use It or Lose It Extension; HIPAA Portability & Creditable Coverage; Other HIPAA Portability Issues. Non-Qualified Deferred Compensation Arrangements: Internal Revenue Code Section 409A. Qualified Retirement Plans: Cash Outs/Automatic Rollovers; Retroactive Annuity Starting Date (RASD); 401(k) Plans." (Seyfarth Shaw LLP)

Announcing the Customizable 'What's New on BenefitsLink' Page
We're very pleased to announce a new, customizable 'What's New on BenefitsLink' page! By checking one or more boxes, you can limit your daily information to items about one or more 'subjects' (e.g., 403(b) plans). Or you can view only items of one or more 'types,' such as educational events (conferences, webcasts), job listings or press releases-- in addition to, or in lieu of, the types of items we post daily on the Benefits in the News page. Bookmark the resulting page and then check it often! (BenefitsLink)

The Nonqualified Advisor, November/December 2005 Edition (PDF)
2 pages. This edition includes articles titled: Accruing Split Dollar Benefits Gains Momentum; IRS Issues New Deadlines for Section 409A; FASB Reconsiders Accounting for Post-Retirement Benefits; and 2006 Qualified Plan Limitations. (Executive Benefit Solutions)

SERPs Prone to Miscalculation (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "Supplemental executive retirement plans (SERPs) are generally based upon the final salary of the participant. When service extends beyond the 'normal retirement date' specified in the plan agreement, the final salary increases the SERP benefit beyond its accrued liability." (Executive Benefit Solutions)

The Nonqualified Advisor, August/September 2005 Edition (PDF)
2 pages. The edition includes items titled: SEC Expresses Concern within the Benefits Industry; IRS Changes its Position on Contract Buy-outs; Pennsylvania Adopts Tax Fix for Nonqualified Benefits; and Nonqualified Plans Receive New ID. (Executive Benefit Solutions)

Text of Final USERRA Reg on Notice to Employees (PDF)
5 pages. (U.S. Department of Labor)

Text of Final USERRA Regs (PDF)
69 pages. (U.S. Department of Labor)


Newly Posted Press Releases

ECFC's Politically Correct Holiday Wish List For 2006; Perhaps More Elusive Than An Xbox 360, But More Rewarding
(Employers Council on Flexible Compensation (ECFC))

Stanton Group 2006 Compensation Planning Survey Charts Increases In Salaries, Hiring
(Stanton Group)

IRS to Raise Some User Fees in 2006
(Internal Revenue Service (IRS))

Leading West Coast Stock Plan Administrators Join Two Step's Ownership Advisory Group; User Group Focuses on Stock Option and Cap Table Enhancements
(Two-Step Software, Inc.)

The Principal Financial Group Makes Dealing With Disability Claims Faster and Easier; New Online Claim Form Available for Group Disability Customers
(Principal Financial Group)

Compensation Committees Must Examine Company Relations With Compensation Consultants Due To Developing 'Best Practices'
(Conference Board, The)

Lighthouse1 Software Release Provides Better Client Protection; Simplifies Process and Ensures Federal Compliance for Third Party Administrators
(LA Chapter - Western Pension & Benefits Conference)

Advice for Seniors Navigating the Medicare Prescription Drug Decision; Free Medicare Prescription Drug Planner Now Available From Weiss Ratings
(Weiss Ratings, Inc.)


Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Post a Help Wanted Ad

Employee Benefits Tax Senior or Manager
for Deloitte
in CA

Pension Consultant
for Standard Insurance Company
in FL




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Copyright 2005 BenefitsLink.com, Inc.; except that you may reprint this newsletter in full (including this sentence) without obtaining our permission.

Published by:

BenefitsLink.com, Inc.
https://benefitslink.com/about.html
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Winter Park FL 32789
(407) 644-4146
Fax: (407) 644-2151

Editor and Publisher: David Rhett Baker, J.D.

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