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March 11, 2009 |
| Here are the Web's best new links about compliance and cost aspects of plan operation, design and policy. |
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ASPPA (Adv.)
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The ERISA Outline Book – 2009 edition Make sure you have the most up-to-date version available to provide you with the information you need on a daily basis. The 2009 edition is a six-volume asset that includes all the PPA guidance issued in 2008, revised EPCRS procedures, the latest ERISA litigation cases and all notices , rulings and other guidance from DOL, IRS and PBGC issued in 2008. The ERISA Outline Book also serves as recommended reading for the ERPA Exam! Order your 2009 edition NOW! |
[Guidance Overview]
Worker, Retiree, and Employer Recovery Act Provision of Relief for Defined Contribution Plans (PDF)
4 pages. Excerpt: "This new law applies to sponsors of and participants in qualified defined benefit and defined contribution plans, including multiemployer plans, governmental plans, and church plans that do not elect to be covered by ERISA ('non-electing church plans'). It also applies to ERISA and Non-ERISA 403(b) plans and governmental section 457(b) plans." (Prudential Retirement)
[Guidance Overview]
Divorce Decrees vs. Plan Documents: Supreme Court Says Plan Document Wins (PDF)
Excerpt: "Plan administrators not only can but must rely on their own plan documents. They are not obligated to review divorce decrees, pre-nuptial agreements, wills or other extraneous documents to determine the proper recipient of plan benefits. In fact, plan administrators are not permitted to allow such documents to prevail over the terms of the plan document. . . . However, no plan administrator wants to be in the position of having to pay benefits to someone that he or she believes is not the person the participant would have wanted to receive payments, or having to explain to a participant's former spouse or child why the rights duly granted by a court cannot be enforced against the plan." (Harter Secrest & Emery LLP)
Report Advocates Further New York Public Pension Fund Reform
Excerpt: "A task force formed after New York's previous comptroller resigned amid a corruption scandal said Tuesday the state's multibillion-dollar public employees' pension fund should disclose more of its investment activities. State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli established the task force following allegations of corruption under former Comptroller Alan Hevesi . . . . 'I understood that with what I inherited we needed an independent review of the management and the policies and operations of our office,' DiNapoli said. He had called for a management review, new regulations and the task force report." (AP via BusinessWeek)
Pension Issues Belong in Ways and Means Committee, According to Congressman
Excerpt: "The House Ways and Means Committee, not the House Education and Labor Committee, should have jurisdiction over 401(k)s and other pension plans, said Rep. Richard Neal, D-Massachusetts. House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller, D-California, has already launched a series of hearings on 401(k) and other potential pension reforms this year. In remarks Thursday, March 5, at the Investment Company Institute's 2009 Retirement Savings Summit in Washington, Neal said the Ways and Means Committee -- which he is a member of -- should be in the driver's seat on pension issues. 'He [Mr. Miller] has a small slice of it,' Neal said after his remarks. 'It's our responsibility.'" (Workforce Management; free registration required)
Failure to Update Inadequate 204(h) Notice Results in Liability for Pension Benefits
Excerpt: "A pension plan administrator's duty to give advance notice of reductions in future benefits includes an obligation to correct a notice that later proves deficient, according to a federal appeals court (Brady v. Dow Chemical, unpublished). The notice at issue did not disclose a significant reduction in early retirement benefits for involuntarily terminated employees." (Mercer LLC)
Pension Underfunding Is Not a Fiduciary Breach, New York Federal District Court Rules
Excerpt: "ERISA's minimum funding standards are the exclusive way to determine whether defined benefit plans are underfunded, and no 'freestanding' duty to fund a pension plan arises from fiduciaries' general obligation to act in participants' best interests, a federal court in New York has ruled (Cress v. Wilson)." (Mercer LLC)
Undistributed Vested Pension Benefits Cannot Be Used to Pay Participants' Attorney's Fees
Excerpt: "A pension plan cannot be forced to pay attorney's fees from participants' vested benefits, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has ruled. On a benefit claim appeal, a plan administrator determined that a participant became vested in his pension due to a partial plan termination. The participant's lawyer sued the plan to secure direct payment of attorney's fees from the undistributed benefit." (Mercer LLC)
Group Pushes for Required Contributory Plan: 'Retirement USA'
Excerpt: "All employers would be required to contribute to a retirement plan for their workers under a series of reform principles offered today by a group of worker advocacy and policy associations. At a conference in Washington, the group, which includes the Pension Rights Center and the Service Employees International Union, rolled out its new 'Retirement USA' initiative, which is intended to pave the way for the creation of a new retirement system that would provide workers without an employer-sponsored retirement plan enough income on top of their Social Security payments to 'maintain a reasonable standard of living in retirement,' according to a statement the group released." (Pensions & Investments)
PBGC Pays Retirees After Madoff Loss
Excerpt: "The U.S. agency that insures corporate pensions took responsibility for about $2 million in pensions owed to former employees of East River Management Corp, a building service provider that lost all its assets in the Bernard Madoff scandal, the agency said on Tuesday. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) said it stepped in after New York-based East River Management's retirement plan was unable to pay benefits owed to retired workers. The PBGC started paying benefits to East River Management retirees on an emergency basis after learning of the retirement plan's problems in December." (Reuters)
Financial Hardship Before and After Social Security's Early Eligibility Age
Excerpt: "The results show that the likelihood of experiencing financial hardship increases significantly as people approach Social Security's early eligibility age. The increase in hardship rates is concentrated among workers with limited education and health problems. . . . Hardship rates decline after age 62, when most people qualify for Social Security retirement benefits. These findings highlight the fragility of the income support system for Americans in their fifties and early sixties." (Center for Retirement Research at Boston College)
[Opinion]
NASRA Response to Bloomberg Article (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "Re: Hidden Pension Fiasco May Foment Another $1 Trillion Bailout, Bloomberg, March 3, 2009. The Bloomberg article on public pensions falls into some of the same traps as many other pension-related critiques: ignoring important countervailing evidence; failing to place the size and scope of public pension issues into their proper context; and mistakenly applying a few bad examples to the entire public pension community." (National Association of State Retirement Administrators)
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ASPPA (Adv.)
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The ASPPA 401(k) SUMMIT – Make your appointment Now! Make an appointment for yourself March 22-24 to attend The ASPPA 401(k) SUMMIT. Join the experts in San Diego and attend sessions that will highlight:
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Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
[Guidance Overview]Top 10 Things You Need to Know for Option Exchanges Involving International Employees (PDF)
5 pages. Excerpt: "Underwater options are a common occurrence in today's stock market. As a result, many companies are considering offering an option exchange program, however, most companies focus on the U.S. considerations and neglect to consider how this may affect their non-U.S. employees. This article discusses the top 10 issues that should be carefully considered before making a global exchange offer." (Baker & McKenzie)
Washington State Senate OKs Domestic Partner Rights Expansion
Excerpt: "Same-sex domestic partners would have all of the rights and benefits that Washington offers married couples under a measure passed by the state Senate. Supporters of the bill said it offers same-sex couples fairness that has been denied them under the state's 1998 Defense of Marriage Act, which restricts marriage to unions between a man and woman." (AP via The New York Times; free registration required)
The 2009 MetLife Study of the American Dream (PDF)
38 pages. Excerpt: "The 2009 MetLife Study of the American Dream finds the dream very much alive. Over the past twelve months, the American dream has been shifted and altered...but it hasn't been deleted. Roughly one-third of Americans believe they have already achieved the dream, down only slightly from one year ago. For those still in pursuit, however, the quest to reach their destination has become more difficult. And for those Americans who believe they have reached the dream, many are worried about backsliding. No longer the permanent destination it once was, being able to sustain the dream is becoming as important as achieving it in the first place." (MetLife, Inc.)
Americans' Low Insurance IQ Hurts Finances, According to Survey
Excerpt: "Americans are lacking in basic knowledge about insurance that might help their finances during the recession, according to a new survey. In fact, we know a lot less about insurance than we think we know, according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, which sponsored the poll. That disconnect can end up costing them money or gaps in their long-term insurance protection, says the NAIC, an organization of state insurance regulators representing consumer and industry needs." (AP via The New York Times; free registration required)
[Opinion]
ERIC Files Comment on Proposed 409A Income Inclusion Regulations and Related Notice
Excerpt: "The ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC) earlier today filed a comment letter with the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in response to proposed regulations published December 8, 2008, on the calculation of amounts includible in income and additional taxes due upon a failure to comply with the timing rules of Section 409A(a). The comment also discusses IRS Notice 2008-115 providing interim guidance on reporting, withholding, and income tax inclusion pending the issuance of final regulations." (The ERISA Industry Committee)
Newly Posted Events
(Post Yours!)"Earned Income: Computing Compensation for the Self-employed" Archived seminar
Nationwide on March 10, 2009
presented by SunGard
John "Jack" Bogle to Speak With FI360’s Blaine Aikin on the Urgency to Enforce a Fiduciary Standard to Bolster Investor Confidence in the Markets - Media Briefing
in District of Columbia on March 13, 2009
presented by Fiduciary360 (fi360)
Learn What You Need to Know About EGTRRA Restatements
Nationwide on April 13, 2009
presented by ftwilliam.com
Newly Posted Press Releases
(Post Yours!)PBGC Assumes East River Management Corp. Pension Plan
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC)
U.S. Department of Labor Sues Bridgeport, Pa., Benefit Firms and Lawyers to Protect Welfare Benefit Plan Participants Nationwide
U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)
Ninth Circuit Ruling on San Francisco Health Ordinance Threatens Employer-Based Health System
ERIC (ERISA Industry Committee)
Groups Launch Retirement USA Initiative, Establish Principles for a Visionary Retirement Income System
Pension Rights Center
Fidelity Launches Comprehensive Financial Guidance Program
Fidelity Investments
New Research Shows Companies Will Be Reducing Equity Compensation Values to Executives and All Employees
Buck Consultants, an ACS Company
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
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Assistant Administrative Manager - Union Welfare Plan
for UFCW Unions & Employers Health & Welfare Plan of Central Ohio
in OH
Sales, Internal - TPA, Retirement Plans
for DailyAccess Corporation
in MI
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EmployeeBenefitsJobs.com (Adv.)
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Where the best employers find the best candidates! |
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