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| September 15, 2008 |
| Here are the Web's best new links about compliance and cost aspects of plan operation, design and policy. |
Today's sponsor is International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans
(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)
| Be Smart by Association with the International Foundation |
| Smart is not a permanent state of being. What's your maintenance plan? Take advantage of the education and information available through the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans, a nonprofit educational association, and find out why over 35,000 industry professionals like Cindy Conway rely on the Foundation to stay informed and educated. Make sure you have the most comprehensive information on health, pension and compensation issues. Be smart by association. www.ifebp.org/memberkit |
[Guidance Overview] Medicare Secondary Payer Mandatory Reporting Requirements (PDF)
4 pages. Excerpt: "On August 1, 2008, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published a Supporting Statement outlining the Medicare mandatory reporting data elements under the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007 (Act). Effective January 1, 2009, these data elements must be reported to CMS on a quarterly basis. The penalty for failing to report the required data elements is $1,000 per day per person for which the data should have been submitted." (Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP)
[Guidance Overview] EEOC Staff Members Provide Informal Views on Benefit-Related Issues
Excerpt: "EBIA Comment: Although the EEOC staff members' responses reflect their unofficial, individual views, the JCEB report raises important issues for employers and administrators to think about. It also reminds us that federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination (such as the ADA) must be taken into account when employers and administrators are designing benefit programs." (Employee Benefits Institute of America)
[Guidance Overview] TPA Breached Fiduciary Duties by Paying Itself from Health Plan Assets and Forwarding Remainder to Bankrupt Plan Sponsor
Excerpt: "EBIA Comment: Most plan service providers take the position that they are not ERISA fiduciaries, arguing that their function is merely ministerial with no exercise of discretion. While authority or control over plan administration or management must be discretionary before it creates fiduciary status, discretion is not required where (as here) the service provider has authority or control over plan assets. This distinction is found in ERISA's definition of fiduciary, and several other courts have had occasion to find, as this court did, that third-party service providers with no discretionary authority over plan management or administration nevertheless were fiduciaries based on their exercise of authority or control over plan assets." (Employee Benefits Institute of America)
Pfizer Launches Site Weighing Drug Risks, Benefits
Excerpt: "Amid the deluge of drug advertising and news about safety issues, plenty of patients are bewildered over how to weigh the risks and benefits of a medication, or even how to find out what they are. The world's biggest drug company is taking a crack at making that easier with a new Web site on medication safety -- unusual in an industry often criticized as using marketing practices that oversell drug benefits and downplay risks." (AP via The New York Times; free registration required)
The Health Care Crisis in the United States: The Issues and Proposed Solutions by the 2008 Presidential Candidates
Excerpt: "The United States has state of the art technology and world renowned expertise in medical treatment, yet in terms of healthcare it shows a dramatically poor performance in relation to the other industrialized countries. This situation is surprising, since one would expect that a free market system run almost entirely by the private sector should show a much better performance. This issue has reached the point of being one of the most important national concerns and the subject of serious political and economic arguments - not only regarding how the system should be improved, but also whether it should remain being run by the private sector under a free market approach or whether it should be run by the government and made accessible to the entire population." (Social Science Research Network)
Benefits Change at Deere Spurs Retirees Lawsuit
Excerpt: "Deere & Co. retirees have filed a lawsuit against the farm-equipment maker to force it to restore their previous health insurance coverage. The lawsuit -- filed in U.S. District Court in Davenport, Iowa -- accuses Deere of reneging on a promise that some 5,000 salaried workers who retired after 1993 would be eligible for the same coverage in retirement that they had while they worked for the Moline, Illinois-based company." (Workforce Management; free registration required)
Employers Should Focus More Attention on the Health of Younger Workers
Excerpt: "A recent report adds a slightly different twist to conventional wisdom, finding that workers in their 30s are far more neglectful of their health than those in their 60s. The research by ComPsych Corp., entitled Generational Differences in Employee Wellness, shows more than half (52 percent) of the older group studied had healthy diets, compared to only 18 percent of the younger age group. Employees in their 50s and 60s also fared better in level of exercise, outlook on life, social support and stress levels." (Human Resource Executive Online)
Wellness Directors and Advisers Show How Walking the Walk Pays Off
Excerpt: "Top-down buy in is consistently listed as a key component of wellness program success by health and productivity experts. Advocating healthy decisions is a culture change and a challenge. So, anytime an adviser or employer can work shoulder-to-shoulder with employees engaged in wellness programs, they have a better opportunity to inspire, influence and steer behavior." (Employee Benefit Advisor; free registration required)
Reduction of LTD Benefits Based on Receipt of Social Security Benefits Is Reasonable
Excerpt: "The appellate court also agreed with a lower court ruling that Coca-Cola was right in trying to recoup overpayments of benefits. The court said the Coca-Cola's interpretation of both a provision in the Coca-Cola Long Term Disability Income Plan that permits an offset for the receipt of other disability benefits and one that allows the plan to recoup overpayments of benefits was correct." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)
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Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
[Official Guidance] Text of IRS 2008-2009 Priority Guidance Plan, Including Reg Projects for Retirement Benefits, Executive Comp, Healthcare and Other Benefits (PDF)
31 pages; dated September 10, 2008. (Internal Revenue Service)
[Guidance Overview] Heroes Act Requires Changes to Employee Benefit Plans (PDF)
3 pages. Excerpt: "The changes to employee benefit plans, some required and others optional, generally expand the availability of benefits under retirement and cafeteria plans to employees who have been called to military service. All employers should review the Heroes Act to determine the provisions that apply to their benefit plans, and the applicable effective dates. A summary of the employee benefit provisions of the Heroes Act, and a chart outlining the provisions and their respective effective dates, are provided [on the target page]." (Employee Benefit Plan Review via Winston & Strawn LLP)
Bankrupt Worldcom Wants Court to Let It Make Enhanced Payouts to 19 Top Officials Who Had Been Terminated
Excerpt: "WorldCom Inc. is seeking bankrup.tcy court approval to pay remaining severance benefits to employees it laid off or gave notice before it filed for bankrup.tcy. The company had sought authority to pay severance obligations only up to $4,650 per dismissed employee, according to a motion filed late Tuesday." (AP via The Baltimore Sun)
SEC Proposes U.S. Companies Shift to Global Financial Reporting Rules
Excerpt: "The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is moving forward with a proposal to phase in a requirement for U.S. registrants to move from U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) over the next six to eight years. The SEC approved a proposed road map to adopting IFRS, which is contingent on convergence of U.S. GAAP and IFRS in certain key areas, by a unanimous vote on August 27. If adopted as proposed, the changeover would have a far-reaching impact on companies' financial statements, including the way employers account for employee benefits and, to a lesser extent, stock-based compensation." (Towers Perrin)
Newly Posted Events
ERISA Advisory Council Working Groups Teleconference
Nationwide on September 29, 2008
presented by U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)
Section 409A: What Your Clients May Be Missing - Webcast
Nationwide on September 17, 2008
presented by Association for Advanced Life Underwriting (AALU)
Webinar - On-Site Employee Health Clinics: Delivering Health Improvement to the Worksite
Nationwide on October 7, 2008
presented by Global Media Dynamics
Wellness Rewards Congress
in Arizona on February 18, 2009
presented by Global Media Dynamics
Newly Posted Press Releases
Two Step Software Earns Top Ranking 2nd Year In A Row In Annual Technology Survey
Two-Step Software, Inc.
Department of the Treasury 2008-2009 Priority Guidance Plan Joint Statement
U.S. Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service
ING Advisors Network Reduces Ticket-Charge Fees for Producers; Advisory-related Fees Down 10-25 Percent
ING Group
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
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Employee Benefits / ERISA Attorney
for Hill Ward Henderson
in FL
Defined Benefits Due Diligence
for Vanguard
in PA
Retirement Plan Account Specialist
for Third Party Administration Firm
in KS
Paralegal - Employee Benefits Practice - Buffalo, NY
for Hodgson Russ LLP
in NY
Business Technical Analyst w/OmniPlus
for Enterprise Iron
in ANY STATE
Associate Pension Consultant
for Sentinel Financial Group
in MA
Business Technical Analyst
for Enterprise Iron
in ANY STATE
Technical Analyst
for Enterprise Iron
in ANY STATE
Conversion Department Manager
for Wilmington Trust Retirement & Institutional Services Company (formerly known as AST Capital Trust Company)
in AZ
Defined Benefit Business Analyst
for Enterprise Iron
in ANY STATE
Handy Links:
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- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research (hypertext article)
- Employee Benefits Library
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