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March 23, 2009 |
| Here are the Web's best new links about compliance and cost aspects of plan operation, design and policy. |
Employee Benefits Institute of America (EBIA) (Advert.)
EBIA's In Person Seminar Series Look to EBIA for education and training on Cafeteria Plans, ERISA, COBRA, HIPAA, and Consumer-Driven Health Care. EBIA's spring seminars will include all the latest employee benefits developments, including the new COBRA premium assistance and changes to the HIPAA special enrollment, privacy, and security requirements. For information about CE credit, course materials, speakers, locations, and agenda details, and to register, please visit EBIA's In Person Seminars. |
[Guidance Overview]
DOL Delays Investment Advice Rules Implementation
Excerpt: "[DOL] has delayed the effective date of its final rules on providing retirement plan participant investment advice. In the final rule published in the Federal Register on March 20, the DoL said it is postponing the effective and applicability dates of its final rules from March 23, 2009, until May 22, 2009, 'to allow additional time for the Department to evaluate questions of law and policy concerning the rules.'" (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)
[Guidance Overview]
ERISA Breach Suit Filed a Month Late, Says Court
Excerpt: "A federal appellate court has ruled that a fiduciary breach suit by a trustee of a Virginia tractor sales and services company's 401(k) Profit Sharing Plan over $525,000 in investment losses was filed a month too late." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)
[Guidance Overview]
Suspension of Required Minimum Distributions in 2009
Excerpt: "If a participant or beneficiary makes a withdrawal in 2009 (that is not a required minimum distribution for 2008), the participant or beneficiary may be able to roll over the withdrawn amount into an IRA or other eligible retirement plan(s). Of course, the participant or beneficiary still must include in gross income any previously untaxed portion of the withdrawal that is not rolled over." (Troutman Sanders LLP)
[Guidance Overview]
PBGC's Final Regs on Information Reporting for Underfunded Controlled Groups, Reflecting PPA
Excerpt: "The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) has issued final regulations governing annual financial and actuarial information reporting that implement provisions of the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA; P.L. 109-280). The PPA changed the standards for reporting for underfunded controlled groups under ERISA §4010 (Authority to Require Certain Information). The final regulations are generally effective on April 15, 2009 and apply to information years beginning after 2007." (Wolters Kluwer)
New Jersey Public Employee Pension Plans Funding
Excerpt: "Reducing contributions to New Jersey's $56 billion public pension system is central to Gov. Jon S. Corzine's budget-trimming strategy in these recessionary times, but some legislators and others say they fear for the system's ability to cover its growing retirement obligations to teachers and public employees. 'The day of reckoning is coming,' said State Senator Bill Baroni, Republican of Mercer County, whose district includes more public employees than other lawmakers'. 'They're doing all they can to hurt the pension system.'" (The New York Times; free registration required)
Massachusetts Governor Lays Out Pension Reforms
Excerpt: "Governor Deval Patrick laid out a series of proposed reforms to state and municipal pension systems yesterday, even though he and legislative leaders acknowledged that they are not likely to bring immediate relief to the state's budget crisis. They are needed, however, to restore public confidence in state government, he said." (The Boston Globe)
State of West Virginia Blamed for Charleston Pension Mess
Excerpt: "Unfunded liability problems for Charleston's police and fire pensions are not the result of mismanagement but rather a flawed system state lawmakers directed municipalities to use years ago, municipal leaders say. 'The feeling that we got ourselves into this is misguided,' Charleston Mayor Danny Jones said. 'We didn't get ourselves into this. 'We are in the system the Legislature created for us,' Jones said." (Charleston Daily Mail)
Fed's Bond Purchase Bad News for DB Plan Funding
Excerpt: "Sponsors of defined benefit plans who are struggling to live up to the Pension Protection Act's heightened funding requirements may have been dealt another blow this week when the Federal Reserve announced that it will spend billions of dollars buying long-term Treasury securities. One unintended consequence of that move may be a sharp up-tick in the value of lump-sum distributions from such plans. The resulting drain of funds from plans that are already suffering from investment losses could push funded levels below the PPA tipping point." (Benefits Law Center via Spencer Fane Britt & Browne LLP)
Is Your Employer 401(k) Match Being Wasted?
Excerpt: "Most employers and workers don't realize it, but employer matching contributions are often wasted money. In the long term, investment expenses gobble up the employer contributions. Basically, those employer contributions don't go to the employee; they go to the financial services industry as fees for managing the money. You can understand this by comparing workers who have identical careers with different employers. We'll start with two workers who have no employer match but very different plan expenses." (The Austin American-Statesman)
In Massachusetts, 106 Retirees Collect $100k or More in State Worker Retirement Benefits
Excerpt: "The number of state retirees who take home pensions of $100,000 or more has more than tripled over the past five years, adding to the pension system's financial stress. One hundred six retirees, or their survivors, are paid six-figure pensions, up from 33 in 2003, according to state figures. The list is dominated by university and college officials and professors, doctors, and high-ranking State Police officers." (The Boston Globe)
[Opinion]
Comments on Current Public Pension Funding Woes
Excerpt: "My quotes in 'Pension Bills to Surge Nationwide: Many States and Cities Face Hard Choices Because of Market Declines' by Craig Karmin (Wall Street Journal, March 16, 2009) seemed to have resonated with a lot of www.pensionriskmatters.com readers. If you didn't read the article, I said that current funding woes will result in a 'huge showdown between taxpayers and public employees' and 'The anger is more acute today when people are feeling economic hardship.'" (Pension Risk Matters)
[Opinion]
It Is Time for Public Employees to Share the Pension Pain
Excerpt: "Public employees have suffered far less from the market meltdown than their private-sector counterparts because they belong to defined-benefit pension systems that guarantee them a fixed lifetime income. Unlike the taxpayers whose 401(k) accounts have become '201(k)' accounts, government retirees are largely unaffected by the bear market. They may have lost some value in their supplemental deferred-compensation (457) account, but that is usually pin-money compared with their pension." (Governing.com)
ASPPA (Advert.)
DOL Speaks: The 2009 Employee Benefits Conference April 30-May 1, 2009 Want to know what’s happening in today’s economic environment and its impact on retirement plans? Attend DOL Speaks: The 2009 Employee Benefits Conference and find out through direct access to DOL and IRS representatives what the impact will be on the plans you service. Featured sessions include; fiduciary best practices, fee disclosure, EBSA priorities and the current legislative agenda. Not to be missed, this event provides the perfect balance of an intimate setting with high impact information. Register now and lock in early savings discounts. Save even more by attending the Mid-Atlantic Benefits Conference too. For additional information go to www.asppa.org/dol. |
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
[Guidance Overview]Office of Labor-Management Standards' Intended Rulemaking to Revise Form LM-30 (Labor Organization Officer and Employee Report)
Excerpt: "The Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS) has announced that it will publish in the spring 2009 Semi-Annual Regulatory Agenda notice of an intended rulemaking to revise the Form LM-30 (Labor Organization Officer and Employee Report). The rulemaking is intended to review questions of policy and law surrounding these reporting requirements. The rulemaking will focus on the changes resulting from a 2007 regulatory revision of the Form and instructions." (International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans)
[Guidance Overview]
Section 409A: Severe Penalties If Rules for Deferred Compensation Plans Not Followed
Excerpt: "These penalties include an excise tax of 20% of the compensation that was required to be included in income. That section sets forth when payments can be made to comply with its provisions. Of course, one such payment event would be separation from service. However, in the case of a key employee of a publicly traded corporation, the payment cannot be made before the date which is six months after the date of separation from service." (Tax Management Inc.)
Before AIG Bonuses Debacle, a Shift Toward Lower Executive Pay
Excerpt: "As a result of the recession, some CEOs are already working for $1 a year, and entire floors of executives are taking 10 percent pay cuts. A few are selling their luxury items - sports cars for example - to plow the profits back into the business. Boards of directors, which used to rubber-stamp CEO rewards, are beginning to take a closer look as they try to avoid antagonizing the public." (The Christian Science Monitor)
Intel Seeks to Reprice Worthless Stock Options
Excerpt: "Intel Corp . . . is seeking permission from its shareholders to exchange worthless employee stock options, a controversial move that the world's biggest chip maker says is needed to retain critical staff. Under the plan, which is open to all employees excluding senior executives, Intel would exchange underwater stock options -- whose exercise prices are above the current stock price -- for ones carrying carry a lower exercise price." (Reuters via The New York Times; free registration required)
Administration Seeks Increase in Oversight of Executive Pay
Excerpt: "The Obama administration will call for increased oversight of executive pay at all banks, Wall Street firms and possibly other companies as part of a sweeping plan to overhaul financial regulation, government officials said. The outlines of the plan are expected to be unveiled this week in preparation for President Obama's first foreign summit meeting in early April. Officials said the proposal would seek a broad new role for the Federal Reserve to oversee large companies, including major hedge funds, whose problems could pose risks to the entire financial system." (The New York Times; free registration required)
Federal Workers Sue To Break Defense of Marriage Act's Bar on Domestic Partner Benefits
Excerpt: "G.ay and les.bian federal employees and their spouses are suing the government for full retirement and health care benefits currently denied them under the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). According to FederalTimes.com, the organization G.ay & Les.bian Advocates & Defenders filed the suit challenging section 3 of DOMA earlier this month in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts. DOMA was passed by Congress in 1996 and signed into law by then-President Bill Clinton. It defines marriage as between a man and a woman, and it blocks federal spousal benefits, such as health and pension benefits, from going to same-sex spouses of federal employees and retirees." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)
Principal Drops Many Worker Benefits, Cuts Pay
Excerpt: "The Principal Financial Group Principal Financial Group Inc. said Friday it was suspending several employee benefits including tuition reimbursement, anniversary gifts and employee recognition programs, as part of a cost-cutting program. Spokeswoman Susan Houser said the Des Moines, Iowa-based financial services company was also cutting pay for workers, management and its board of directors from 2% to 10% depending on pay level, according to the Associated Press. The actions are effective immediately and will result in savings throughout 2009, Houser said. Benefits will be restored when conditions improve." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)
Webcasts and Conferences
(Click to post your webcast or conference)Fee Disclosure Round 2: Updates and Special Considerations for Trust Organizations
Nationwide on April 8, 2009
presented by Goldleaf Partners
Health Care Laws: Compliance Assistance Seminar
in New Jersey on April 22, 2009
presented by U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)
Update on COBRA Premium Assistance: DOL Notices and IRS Guidance Webcast
Nationwide on March 26, 2009
presented by International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans
Press Releases
(Click to post your press release)Hewitt Survey Finds U.S. Employers Still Offering Generous Employee Severance Packages Despite Economic Conditions
Hewitt Associates LLC
Newkirk Produces Automatic Enrollment Book for QACA/EACA Plans
Newkirk
Employee Benefits Jobs
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Retirement Services Consultant
for CUNA Mutual Group
in WI
Benefits Manager
for CUNA Mutual Group
in WI
Plan Administrator
for The Newport Group
in FL
Pension Administration Manager
for Catholic Healthcare Partners
in OH
Corporate Director, Pension Administration
for Catholic Healthcare Partners
in OH
Business Installation & Retention Specialist
for New York Life Retirement Plan Services
in NJ
401k Account Manager
for Progressive Benefits Agency Central NJ
in NJ
Group Benefits Producer- Health &/or 401k
for Benefit Sources & Solutions
in NJ
Benefits Group Manager
for RubinBrown LLP
in MO
EmployeeBenefitsJobs.com (Sponsor)
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