[Guidance Overview] How Does 1,000-Hour Rule Apply to Non-Retirement Benefits? Excerpt: "The 1,000-hour rule is best known in retirement circles but also applies to group welfare plans, with respect to nondiscrimination testing. Unfortunately, it is not applied on a consistent basis and does not apply to all benefits." (Workforce Management; free registration required) [Guidance Overview] Court Rules Fair Treatment Overcomes Conflict of Interest Excerpt: "In one of the first cases involving conflict of interest since the Supreme Court's ruling last year, the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled that defendants did not abuse their discretion when they terminated disability benefits. Under the Supreme Court's recent decision in Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. v. Glenn, 128 S. Ct. 2343 (2008), courts must consider a conflict only as a factor in determining whether a plan's determination was reasonable." (Disability Management Employer Coalition) [Guidance Overview] In Health Plan Eligibility Dispute, Summery Plan Description in Effect on Application Deadline Governs Excerpt: "EBIA Comment: Not only did the plan deny the employee's requests for the governing SPD, it affirmatively misrepresented to the employee that the SPD did not exist, an aggravating factor that may well have influenced the court's decision to impose statutory penalties. This case reminds us that different versions of plan documents can create different benefit rights, and that old SPDs may need to be furnished in response to a claimant's written request if they are material to an evaluation of the claimant's rights." (Employee Benefits Institute of America) [Guidance Overview] COBRA Notice Stopped Accrual of Penalties, Even Though Employer Later Issued Revised Notice Excerpt: "EBIA Comment: An award of statutory penalties under COBRA is discretionary with the court. A reviewing court will sometimes weigh various factors -- including prejudice or injury to the qualified beneficiary and bad faith by the plan administrator -- when determining whether to assess a statutory penalty and what the amount of any penalty should be. Although this court awarded penalties, it also concluded that the penalty period should end with the employer's 'first good faith attempt' to comply with COBRA's election notice requirement." (Employee Benefits Institute of America) [Guidance Overview] Is It Becoming Easier to Find That Retiree Health Benefits Have Vested? Excerpt: "It is a well-established principal of ERISA that health benefits, as opposed to pension benefits, are not required to vest. In the absence of vesting, an employer is normally free, under ERISA, to adopt, modify or terminate health benefits, for any reason and at any time. Thus, an employer could, at any time, require employees or retirees to pay a larger share of the cost of health care coverage. However, health benefits will vest if the employer, or in the case of a union, the parties choose to do so." (ERISA Lawyer Blog) Employers Underestimate Costs of Poor Employee Health, According to Study Excerpt: "Poor health among workers is far costlier to U.S. employers than they realize, impacting their profitability and undercutting the nation's overall productivity, according to a major study published this week in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (JOEM). The multi-year study of 10 organizations employing more than 150,000 workers indicates that employers who focus only on medical and pharmacy costs in creating employee health strategies may misidentify the health conditions that most impact the productivity of their employees - while underestimating the impact of other factors." (Chiropractic Economics) Ohio Mini-COBRA Law Changes Excerpt: "Small employers providing health care benefits to employees residing in Ohio need to take note of changes in Ohio's continuation coverage law, sometimes referred to as 'mini-COBRA.' The trigger for this law change was the COBRA premium subsidy provision included in the recent federal economic stimulus bill, which we have discussed in a series of prior posts and a recent webinar. But the changes in the Ohio mini-COBRA law extend beyond the premium subsidy issue, and continuation coverage will now be now be available to more individuals . . . ." (Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP) 14th Annual National Business Group on Health/Watson Wyatt Employer Survey on Purchasing Value in Health Care Excerpt: "While some companies are making short-term moves to increase employee cost sharing, a group of best-performing employers are achieving success by keeping their health care cost trend almost flat over a two-year period. In addition, another group of companies is building an even longer track record of consistently low health care cost increases. Their keys to effective cost management lie primarily in five areas: appropriate financial incentives, effective information delivery, quality care, metrics and evidence, and maximizing health and productivity." (Watson Wyatt Worldwide) Kansas Incorporates COBRA Extension into State Law Excerpt: "Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius has signed legislation allowing certain workers that have lost their jobs to keep their employer-provided health insurance. A press release from Sebelius' office says HB 2052 accesses American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds aimed at helping out-of-work Kansans keep their health care through 2010. The legislation amends the state continuation of coverage law (Kansas COBRA) to incorporate provisions and requirements of the ARRA." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required) Chrysler Said to Be Near Deal on Retiree Health Care Excerpt: "Chrysler is close to a deal with the United Automobile Workers to finance retiree health care that is crucial to the company's bid for more government aid, according to people with knowledge of the negotiations. Talks between Chrysler and the U.A.W. have accelerated in recent days, as the troubled automaker races to meet an April 30 restructuring deadline set by President Obama. Chrysler has agreed to give more than 20 percent of its stock to a U.A.W.-administered trust to pay for half of its $10.6 billion obligation for retiree health care, according to these people." (The New York Times; free registration required)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General[Guidance Overview]Are Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Plans Still Viable? (PDF) 5 pages. (Milliman) ERISA Litigation Study, April 15, 2009 (PDF) 21 pages. (Pension Governance, Inc. and The Michel-Shaked Group via McGuireWoods LLP) Webcasts and Conferences(Click to post your webcast or conference)"What You Don't Know About HCEs and Key Employees" Web Seminar Nationwide on April 28, 2009 presented by SunGard Relius Form 5500 Updates: Achieving Full Compliance Webcast Nationwide on May 7, 2009 presented by AccountingWEB.com Press Releases(Click to post your press release)Health Care Plans: Impact of the Financial Crisis International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans SunTrust Offering New Online 401k for Small Businesses SunTrust Banks, Inc. Employee Benefits Jobs(Click to post your job opening | View all jobs | RSS feed of all jobs )Actuary "Small Plan" for National Retirement Services, Inc. in NC Relationship Manager Associate for Benefit Funding Services Group in CA Treasury Director/Chief Investment Officer for Marshfield Clinic in WI EmployeeBenefitsJobs.com (Sponsor) (Click on banner to learn more.)
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