BenefitsLink |
 |
 |
| February 13, 2009 |
| Here are the Web's best new links about compliance and cost aspects of plan operation, design and policy. |
Today's sponsor is SunGard
(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)
| EGTRRA Restatement Outsourcing Service |
| Do you have 300 or more defined contribution plans to restate for EGTRRA? Outsource them to us. SunGard’s expert Document Management Services (DMS) staff can work as your "invisible" back office resource to help you through the restatement process. Let us focus on your plan documents, so you can focus on growing your business. Contact Ellen Nasrallah at 800-326-7235, ext. 5968. |
[Guidance Overview]
Appellate Court Backs Revenue-Sharing Case Dismissal
Excerpt: "A lower court was correct in dismissing the lawsuit over unreasonable fees related to investments filed against Deere & Co. and two Fidelity units, an appellate court found. A federal appeals court Thursday upheld a district court's dismissal of a lawsuit filed against Deere & Co., Fidelity Management Trust Company, and Fidelity Management and Research Company alleging breach of fiduciary duties in regards to retirement plan fee disclosures at two 401(k) plans sponsored by the company . . . ." (planadvisor)
[Guidance Overview]
Defined Contribution Plans and 2009 Minimum Required Distributions
Excerpt: "The Worker, Retiree, and Employer Recovery Act of 2008 provides defined contribution plans with the opportunity to eliminate minimum required distributions for 2009. Plan sponsors will need to evaluate whether to implement this provision, particularly in light of the current economic crisis." (McGuireWoods LLP)
[Guidance Overview]
Supreme Court Clarification for Plan Administrators Paying Benefits in Divorce
Excerpt: "The Court's reasoning is rooted in the fundamentals of ERISA. ERISA provides that a plan must be established and maintained pursuant to a written document that specifies the basis on which payments are made to and from the plan. Furthermore, the plan administrator has a fiduciary duty to administer the plan in accordance with the documents and instruments governing the plan. The Court cited this 'plan document rule' as straightforward and uncomplicated, and noted that ERISA encourages clear procedures by which participants may make their intentions known." (K&L Gates LLP)
And the Lilly Ledbetter Litigation Begins: Cash Balance Conversion Case
Excerpt: "Among the ERISA-related community, [the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009] was heralded as an asteroid the size of Texas headed directly at the plan universe. This is because: (1) one of the major components of defined contribution and defined benefits plans is compensation; (2) one of the major components of defined benefit and cash balance plan litigation is the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA) . . . ." (Pension Protection Act Blog)
Women Say New Law Helps Their AT&T Pension Case Concerning Counting of Maternity Leave
Excerpt: "Four women who lost retirement credit because of decades-old maternity leaves told the Supreme Court Thursday a new anti-pay discrimination law signed by President Barack Obama means they deserve larger pension checks. The Supreme Court is preparing a decision in the case of four AT&T Corp. employees who sued the corporation because their decade-old maternity leaves wasn't counted toward their pension checks." (Forbes.com)
Text of The Defined Contribution Fee Disclosure Act, S. 401 (PDF)
Excerpt: "To amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to provide special reporting and disclosure rules for individual account plans, and for other purposes." (U.S. Senate via American Benefits Council)
Investing in Your Company's Stock Not a Good Idea
Excerpt: "Lots of workers who, like me, invested in their employer's stock have watched that stock price fall in the deteriorating economy. But at some companies, particularly in the financial services industry, charges are being made that management knew about underlying dangers to the stock price and breached a duty to employees by allowing workers to continue to hold company shares without disclosing the risk." (AARP)
The Center for Due Diligence (CFDD) (Sponsor)
(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)
| ADAPT, SURVIVE & PROSPER |
| The CFDD’s Advisor Conference is an all business event designed to help advisors learn, network, stay relevant, identify trends, generate NEW business, IMPROVE investment returns, distinguish their value, AVOID litigation and ADAPT to unprecedented challenges. With more accomplished retirement plan advisors in attendance than any other event, the content rich conference sells out early. To benefit from unbiased guidance, direction and EXCLUSIVE new tools & resources that will be unveiled at the conference, register at a discount NOW! |
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
[Guidance Overview]
IRS Guidance Regarding the Limitations of Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 on Offshore Deferrals (PDF)
4 pages. Excerpt: "Section 457A will have a substantial impact on many offshore hedge funds organized in certain tax havens (e.g., Bermuda, Hong Kong, and the Cayman Islands). Management and incentive fees paid by such funds will need to be either (i) subject to a 'substantial risk of forfeiture' under Section 457A, or (ii) converted to a general partner carried interest in a 'master feeder' type of arrangement. In addition, management companies organized in tax havens may no longer be able to offer efficient deferred compensation to their employees who are U.S. taxpayers." (Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP)
[Guidance Overview]
U.S. Treasury Department's New Restrictions on Executive Compensation for Financial Institutions (PDF)
6 pages. Excerpt: "This letter discusses the February 4 news release and certain additional guidance that the Treasury Department issued on January 16, 2009. While a portion of that additional guidance is currently on hold as part of a general freeze by the Obama administration on finalizing unpublished regulations of the Bush administration, the tenor of the February 4 news release suggests that rules at least as stringent as those in the frozen regulations are likely to be enacted." (Frederic W. Cook & Co., Inc.)
[Guidance Overview]
Regulations & Implications for Executive Compensation under the Troubled Assets Relief Program (PDF)
6 pages. Excerpt: "Other than the elimination of cash bonus compensation and stricter vesting requirements, the restrictions proposed by Treasury are not significantly different than many of the programs already in place at many financial institutions. Many firms' executives not only were awarded high levels of restricted stock and options before the financial crisis, but also had specific ownership provisions that prohibited them from liquidating most of their equity holdings until retirement." (McLagan)
Nonproduction Bonuses in DOL's National Compensation Survey
Excerpt: "The National Compensation Survey is publishing corrected estimates of worker access to nonproduction bonuses for each of its 2003 through 2008 publications on employee benefits in the United States. The previously published estimates were calculated such that workers with more than one of a given type of nonproduction bonus were counted multiple times. For example, if a worker had two attendance bonuses, then the worker was included in the numerator twice while only included in the denominator once. The result was the overestimation of the percent of workers with access to specific types of nonproduction bonuses. Standard errors, available for 2008, were also affected. The method of calculation has now been corrected, no longer allowing for multiple counts of the same type of nonproduction bonus for one worker. Estimates of total nonproduction bonuses were not subject to the error of multiple counts, and therefore, no revision of these estimates was necessary." (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)
International Update, February 2009
Excerpt: "This monthly publication covers recent developments in foreign private and public pensions, social security, and retirement." (U.S. Social Security Administration)
Fed Calls Gain in Family Wealth a Mirage
Excerpt: "The leap in wealth that Americans thought they were enjoying over the last several years has already turned out to be a mirage, according to new estimates by the Federal Reserve. In its triennial survey of consumer finances, released Thursday, the Fed found that the median net worth of American households increased by a seemingly healthy 17 percent between the end of 2004 and the end of 2007. But the gains were wiped out by the collapse in housing and stock prices last year." (The New York Times; free registration required)
How Long Is Too Long in an ERISA Case?
Excerpt: "Merits of a case aside, it must be timely. What is timely under ERISA? The question can be quite troublesome." (Health Plan Law)
Newly Posted Events
Annual Benefits Fair and Trade Show
in Massachusetts on May 14, 2009
presented by New England Employee Benefits Council
Cafeteria Plan Election Changes: What's Permitted and What Isn't?
Nationwide on February 12, 2009
presented by EBIA / Thomson Reuters
Generational Benefits
in Massachusetts on March 13, 2009
presented by New England Employee Benefits Council
How to Administer MA Health Care Reform
in Massachusetts on March 19, 2009
presented by New England Employee Benefits Council
Managing Your Health Care Renewals: What's an Employer to Do?
in Massachusetts on February 26, 2009
presented by New England Employee Benefits Council
New HIPAA Special Enrollment Rules: Update and Review
Nationwide on March 12, 2009
presented by EBIA / Thomson Reuters
Newly Posted Press Releases
Pension Plan Funding Status Tumbled In 2008
Watson Wyatt
ERIC Applauds Conferees Dropping COBRA Expansion, but Disappointed Over Failure to Include Pension Funding Relief
ERIC (ERISA Industry Committee)
Workscape and Milliman Work Together to Expand Outsourced Benefits Administration Offering
Workscape
Prudential Retirement Selected by New York MTA 401k
Prudential Retirement
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
(Post a Job | View All Jobs |
RSS Feed )
Employee Benefits Administrator
for The National Bank & Trust Company
in IL
Defined Contribution Pension Plan Administrator
for The Angell Pension Group, Inc.
in ANY STATE
Retirement Plan Administrator
for TPA firm in Maryland
in MD
Handy Links:
- View Today's Active Message Threads
- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research (hypertext article)
- Employee Benefits Library
Subscribe to the BenefitsLink Health & Welfare Plans Newsletter, Too!
Sign-up form is at https://benefitslink.com/newsletter (free).
This newsletter is sent to you each workday except federal holidays.
This email has been published by:
BenefitsLink.com, Inc.
1298 Minnesota Avenue, Suite H
Winter Park FL 32789
(407) 644-4146
Fax: (407) 644-2151
David Rhett Baker, J.D., Editor
Copyright 2009 BenefitsLink.com, Inc.; except that you can forward this email in full (including this boilerplate part) or otherwise reprint this email in full (including this boilerplate part) without obtaining our permission.
Anyone can receive these emails; just have them sign up at this web page: https://benefitslink.com/newsletter/
Other useful links: