Retirement Plans Newsletter |
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| May 19, 2009 \ Compliance \ Costs \ Administration \ Design \ Policy | ||
ASPPA (Advert.)
Western Benefits Conference, June 28 – July 1, 2009 Designed with all retirement and benefits professionals in mind, the Western Benefits Conference will cover it all in Denver, Colorado, June 28 – July 1. Over 50 workshops, seven specialty tracks, emerging compliance issues and several networking opportunities provide just a snapshot of the planned agenda. Register Now and Save! |
[Official Guidance]
Text of IRS Employee Plans News: May 2009 Special Edition: Overview of Prop. Regs. on Suspension or Reduction of Safe Harbor Nonelective Contributions (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "The proposed regulations allow an employer that suffers a substantial business hardship to amend its plan to reduce or suspend the plan's safe harbor nonelective contributions if all the following requirements are satisfied: [1] the plan is amended prior to the end of the plan year to reduce or suspend the safe harbor nonelective contributions; [2] the plan as amended, provides that the ADP test (and ACP test if applicable to the plan) will be satisfied for the entire plan year in which the safe harbor nonelective contributions are reduced or suspended; [3] all eligible employees must be given a 'supplemental notice' that explains the reduction or suspension of future safe harbor nonelective contributions and its consequences, the procedures for changing employee elections and the effective date of the amendment . . . . [three more conditions not shown here -- ed.]" (Internal Revenue Service)
[Official Guidance]
Text of 'IRS Retirement News for Employers' -- Spring 2009 Edition (PDF)
14 pages. Excerpt: "The EP Team Audit (Large Case Program) web pages have been updated to include: EPTA Trends and Tips (now organized according to plan type): Common Trends Across All Plan Types; Multiemployer Plan Trends; 401(k) Plan Trends; Defined Benefit Plan Trends; 403(b) Tax-Sheltered Annuity Plan, 457 Plan and Governmental Plan Trends; 'EPTA Trends and Tips' includes links to videos on the EPTA program and on finding, fixing and avoiding plan errors; Internal Controls Questionnaire - Examples of questions asked by EP examiners to understand the system procedures and internal controls; Taxpayer Documentation Guide - This guide, developed by EPTA agents and outside practitioners, provides a comprehensive list of documents that need to be made available for examination." (Internal Revenue Service)
[Guidance Overview]
Indiana Employer Wins Mixed Ruling in Benefits Case
Excerpt: "An Indiana manufacturer has received a mixed ruling from a federal judge in a lawsuit alleging its misdeeds in the handling of its benefits program constituted a fiduciary breach. While U.S. District Judge Philip P. Simon of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana threw out several of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) allegations against Sanlo Manufacturing Co., he ruled that plaintiff Keith Lewalski could move forward with other charges." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)
[Guidance Overview]
Obama Administration FY2010 Budget Proposals on Retirement Savings and Insurance Products (PDF)
4 pages. Excerpt: "On May 11, 2009, the Treasury Department released its General Explanations of the Administration's Fiscal Year 2010 Revenue Proposals (the so-called 'Green Book') and the Office of Management and Budget published its Analytical Perspectives on the FY2010 budget, which together provide additional elaboration of the Administration's tax proposals for the next federal fiscal year. Important proposals relating to retirement savings and insurance products are summarized [in the target document]." (Sutherland)
Annual Pension Funding Notice Causes Widespread Participant Confusion, Termination Fears
Excerpt: "A recent PBGC website posting reassures pension plan participants that receiving an annual funding notice (AFN) 'does not mean that your plan is terminating or that it has been trusteed by the PBGC.' The PBGC has been flooded with calls from participants misinterpreting their first AFNs -- distributed by April 30 for calendar-year plans -- as a sign their plans were terminating. The confusion may have resulted from sponsors' use of a DOL model notice prominently stating that the AFN summarizes federal plan termination rules but never mentioning that the plan is not actually terminating." (Mercer LLC)
Old Maternity Leave Won't Count Toward Pensions, Supreme Court Rules
Excerpt: "Working women who were denied paid pregnancy leave in the 1960s and 1970s have lost an appeal at the US Supreme Court aimed at forcing their employer to grant compensatory service credits to boost their pensions. In a 7-to-2 decision announced Monday, the high court ruled that the company, AT&T Corp., did not engage in gender discrimination when it calculated lower pension benefits for the women based on company pregnancy leave policies that were later deemed illegal gender discrimination. At the heart of the case is a heated debate among legal scholars over whether the present effects of past discrimination can amount to a current and ongoing violation of antidiscrimination laws." (The Christian Science Monitor)
Finding Out How Your Company's Retirement Plan Compares with Others
Excerpt: "[T]here are a few ways you may be able to evaluate your 401(k) in terms of the cost, breadth of offerings, the company match and other policies, and perhaps even get a sense of how it rates versus other plans. The first place you should try is the Web site of a new independent rating service called BrightScope. The company uses data culled mostly from public filings to assign numerical scores to company 401(k) plans on a scale of 0 (lowest) to 100 (highest) based on such factors as the generosity of the employer match, the quality of the investment options, the vesting schedule and the level of fees." (CNNMoney.com)
Los Angeles City Council Wants More Information on Pension Fund Investment Placement Agents
Excerpt: "The City of Los Angeles has filed a motion instructing its three public pension funds to report to the city council before June 1 on the actions each has taken on pension reform in general and on the issue of placement agents specifically. The three pension funds are Los Angeles City Employees' Retirement System, Los Angeles Fire and Police Pensions and Los Angeles Water and Power Employees' Retirement Plan. The Los Angeles City Council's move comes after some of the city's pension funds have found themselves touched by a spreading pay-to-play scandal that originates in New York." (The Wall Street Journal)
[Opinion]
PBGC 'Scandal' Is Failure to Fix What's Broken in a Timely Fashion
Excerpt: "Retribution has its allure but is no substitute for reform. The real scandal here surrounds the company executives, from those at LTV Corp. in the 1980s to those at Chrysler today, who fail to acknowledge the need for pension reform. Larger still is the scandal of lawmakers and presidents -- from Lyndon Johnson to George W. Bush -- who failed to promulgate that reform in a timely way." (Bloomberg L.P.)
DATAIR Employee Benefit Systems, Inc. (Advert.)
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Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Washington Governor Signs Domestic Partner Rights LawExcerpt: "Gov. Chris Gregoire has approved a measure that gives same-sex domestic partners all the rights and benefits that Washington state offers married couples. Gregoire signed the bill Monday in Seattle. It will take effect at the end of July, unless opponents collect enough signatures to put a referendum on the ballot." (KREM-TV)
Webcasts and Conferences
DGEM Training WebcastNationwide on May 20, 2009
presented by ASCi
EFAST 2 - What You Should Know
Nationwide on June 10, 2009
presented by ftwilliam.com
Form 5500 Refresher Course
Nationwide on May 27, 2009
presented by ftwilliam.com
(Click to post your webcast or conference)
Press Releases
PBGC Assumes Lenox Group Inc. Pension PlansPension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC)
U.S. Department of Labor Obtains Judgments Against Fiduciaries of Defunct North Carolina Testing Laboratory
U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)
Transcend Technologies Group Announces Real-Time Integration of benefitsCONNECT® with Unum© plane.biz
Transcend Technologies Group, Inc.
HealthSCOPE Benefits Implements Benefit Informatics Data Analysis and Reporting Technology
Benefit Informatics
Pew Report Examines How Cities Are Balancing Budgets
Pew Charitable Trusts
Parents Put Child’s College Plans Ahead of their Retirement
COUNTRY Financial
RelayHealth Online Connectivity Tools Offer Value during H1N1 Flu Outbreak
RelayHealth
McGraw Wentworth Mid-Market Group Benefits Survey Shows Health Care Costs Increasing at 6-Year Low of 5%
McGraw Wentworth
(Click to post your press release)
Employee Benefits Jobs
Team Leader, Retirement Plans Administrationfor The Standard
in OR
Retirement Counselor
for University of Southern California
in CA
Retirement Plan Administrator
for RSM McGladrey
in IL
Health & Welfare Consultants
for Cammack LaRhette Consulting
in MA, NY
(Click to post your job opening | View all jobs |
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EmployeeBenefitsJobs.com (Sponsor)
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