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[Guidance Overview]
ERISA Section 209 Recordkeeping Duties Do Not Give Rise to Fiduciary Claim
"Henderson v. UPMC involves one of those interesting intersections between wages and compensation on the one hand and employee benefits on the other. The case illustrates the potential ripple effect of wage disputes into the employee benefit arena."
(Roy Harmon III / Health Plan Law)
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Maryland's State Workers Decry Proposed Pension Changes
"Maryland's General Assembly is poised to make the deepest cuts to the state's retirement system in nearly three decades, asking most of the roughly 170,000 teachers and government employees to pay more into a pension plan that is about to become less generous."
(The Baltimore Sun)
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Home Equity Withdrawal in Retirement
"The authors study empirically and theoretically the patterns of home equity withdrawal among retirees, using a model in which retirees are able to own or rent a home, save, and borrow against home equity, in the face of idiosyncratic risks concerning mortality, health, medical expenditures, and household size and observed house price changes."
(Social Science Research Network)
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DOL Transcript Shows True Fiduciary Friend in Phyllis Borzi
"In reading her cross examination of the witnesses at the DOL hearing, it's clear she understands some of the semantic tricks of those opposed to broadening the definition of fiduciary. She promises the DOL will 'issue final regulations by the end of the year in accordance with the timetable that we have announced publicly.'"
(Fiduciary News)
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[Opinion]
The Truth About Mutual Fund Fees
"When it comes to mutual fund expenses, believe it or not, there are good fees, bad fees and even a fee paradox. If you're a fiduciary or an investor trying to identify those mutual funds most suitable for your retirement plan, you better know the ins and outs of fees."
(Summit Business Media)
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[Opinion]
DOL Initiatives Potentially Affecting ERISA Litigation
"A number of regulatory initiatives undertaken by [DOL] which are or may go into effect later this year have potential significance for future ERISA litigation. These developments, summarized [in the target document], are described in greater detail through the links provided . . . ."
(Goodwin Procter LLP)
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Benefits in General; Executive Compensation
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[Official Guidance]
EBSA Request for Information Regarding Electronic Disclosure by Employee Benefit Plans (PDF)
"This request for information (RFI) solicits views, suggestions, and comments from plan participants and beneficiaries, employers and other plan sponsors, plan administrators, plan service providers, health insurance issuers, and members of the financial community, as well as the general public . . . ."
(U.S. Employee Benefits Security Administration)
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[Guidance Overview]
SEC's Proposed Rules for Compensation Committee and Adviser Independence (PDF)
"Despite the length of the proposed rules and their accompanying commentary, there are very few differences from the statutory language. In part, this stems from the SEC's decision to leave the primary responsibility for detailed rule making to the individual securities exchanges; accordingly, rules by the NYSE may be the key document in determining how the new Committee independence rules apply to companies listed on the NYSE."
(Frederic W. Cook & Co., Inc.)
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Update on Shareholder Say on Pay and Frequency Voting
"[A]s reported in Mark Borges' Blog, as of Friday evening, April 1st, the breakdown of company recommendations for the 'Say on Pay' frequency vote in definitive and preliminary proxy statements that had been filed for the 2011 proxy season was . . . ."
(Michael S. Melbinger via Winston & Strawn LLP)
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As U.S. Boomers Age, a Soul-Searching Budget Battle
"Keeping those boomers healthy and out of poverty poses the biggest threat to long-term U.S. finances, and figuring out how to pay for it will be an epic political fight. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke calls the fiscal problems a 'near and present danger' to the U.S. economy."
(Reuters via The New York Times; free registration required)
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GAO Report: State and Local Governments' Fiscal Outlook: April 2011 Update (PDF)
"As we have reported in previous model updates, and as shown in figure 1, the sector faces long-term fiscal challenges that grow over time. The model's simulations show that the fiscal position of the sector will steadily decline through 2060 absent any policy changes. [The report includes health care and pension fund expenditures.]
(U.S. Government Accountability Office)
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Press Releases
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