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June 20, 2011 Get Health & Welfare News  |  Advertise  |  Unsubscribe  |  Past Issues  |  Search

[Guidance Overview]
Divided Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Adviser in Prospectus Disclosure Case (PDF)
"The ruling is widely viewed as providing additional insulation for the investment advisory industry from suits by the plaintiffs' securities litigation bar and virtually eliminates liability in private suits for the investment adviser and other service providers who draft and often insist on the language contained in a fund's prospectus." (Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP)


Western Benefits Conference 2011   [Advert.]

Sponsored by ASPPA and WP&BC

Featuring groundbreaking sessions for plan sponsors, attorneys, consultants, health & welfare professionals, actuaries, investment advisors and TPAs, the WP&BC and ASPPA present the Western Benefits Conference July 24-27 at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.


[Guidance Overview]
Loan Refinance Rules
"A loan refinancing occurs when a participant replaces his or her existing plan loan with another. Plan loan refinancing is an optional plan provision and is generally adopted and communicated to participants through the plan's administrative loan policy." (McKay Hochman Co., Inc.)

[Guidance Overview]
Some Relief Granted for Prior Year FBAR Filings (PDF)
"The final regulations declined to grant a blanket exemption to the FBAR filing requirements for employee benefit plans and plan personnel and, therefore, benefit plan sponsors and related plan personnel may be subject to the FBAR filing requirements." (Alston & Bird LLP)

[Guidance Overview]
Final FBAR Rules
"Retirement plans that do not hold foreign financial accounts need not be concerned with the FBAR final regulations." (McKay Hochman Co., Inc.)

[Guidance Overview]
New Circular 230 Highlights
"The Final Regulations on Practicing Before the IRS That Update Circular 230 printed in the Federal Register on June 3, 2011 and effective August 2, 2011 were discussed by Karen L. Hawkins, Director of the IRS Office of Professional Responsibility at the Second Annual ERPA Conference on June 2, 2011 in Los Angeles." (McKay Hochman Co., Inc.)

[Guidance Overview]
403(b) Plans, the 8955-SSA Form and the 'Flushing Effect' of 408(b)(2)
"For ERISA 403(b) plans for which no SSA has ever been filed, how far back does a 403(b) plan sponsor need to go in reporting past participants?" (Business of Benefits published by Robert J. Toth, Jr.)

Financial Advisers Worry That Younger Clients Playing It Too Safe with Their Money
"Such risk aversion is understandable, given the two nasty bear markets already this century and the current depressed job market. Many Generation X and Y investors have watched plunging financial markets destroy their parents' retirement plans." (The Wall Street Journal)

The 401(k) Auditor's Wish List
"As an employee benefit plan auditor with more than 18 years of experience working with hundreds of defined contribution plans, I have gone over my past interactions with plan sponsors and created a 'wish list' for the things all auditors would like from their plan sponsor clients. These wishes fall into three main categories: Be Prepared. Be Available. Be Proactive." (Employee Benefit News: free registration required)

Why Retirement Plan Sponsors Shouldn't Only Focus on Low Fees
"While paying unreasonable plan expenses is a breach of fiduciary duty, picking providers solely or mainly because they are low in fees can also breach the fiduciary duty. Retirement plan sponsors also have a duty of prudence as a one of their fiduciary duties." (The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C. via JD Supra, LLC)

Some Fiduciary Services Are More Equal Than Others
"[The item gives] a brief description of the services available in the order of lowest to highest fiduciary protection . . . ." (National Benefit Services, Inc.)

With Plan Participants Increasingly Litigious, Plan Sponsors Must Take Care That Investment and Administration Expenses Are 'Reasonable'
"Not only is there potential fiduciary liability for failure to examine this issue, but also the ERISA Section 404(c) safe harbor (which insulates a plan sponsor from ERISA fiduciary liability) may be negated by a failure to identify and disclose all plan fees and expenses to participants." (CFO.com)

The 2011 Higher Education Retirement Confidence Survey (PDF)
"Individuals in the higher education workforce are more likely than U.S. workers in general to be saving for retirement and to have calculated how much they need to accumulate. Not surprisingly then, higher education workers have greater confidence in their prospects for a financially secure retirement." (TIAA-CREF Institute)

Lawsuit by Rhode Island Public-Sector Unions Could Play Role in Pension Reforms
"Eight unions representing Rhode Island state workers and public-school teachers filed suit in Providence Superior Court last summer to challenge reductions in pension benefits enacted by the General Assembly in 2009 and 2010." (The Providence Journal Co.)

Implications of Full and Partial Retirement for Replacement Rates in a Defined Benefit System
"We find that in the full retirement scenarios the replacement rates depend substantially on the underlying parameters of the pension system and on worker characteristics. In the partial retirement scenarios these changes are much less substantial. We also find that partial retirement results in a much smoother income path and encourages employees to defer their pension claims beyond age 65." (Social Science Research Network)

Hagens Berman LLP Targets Cash Balance Conversions
"If you're a large employer, and you've done a cash balance plan conversion, you may already be in the crosshairs of a new litigation trend." (PLANSPONSOR.COM)

Lifecycle Impacts of the Financial and Economic Crisis on Household Optimal Consumption, Portfolio Choice, and Labor Supply
"We show that households near retirement will reduce both short- and long-term consumption, boost work effort, and defer retirement." (The Pension Research Council; Paid subscription or individual purchase required to view fulltext)

Mapping the Mindset of the Retirement Consumer
"New materials explore some of the many emotions and psychological barriers individuals have that can prevent them from productive retirement savings and investing actions.' (ING North America)

Lawmakers Seek to Deny Pension Benefits to Members of Congress Convicted of More Types of Felonies
"Under current regulations, bribery, witness tampering, wire fraud and racketeering are among the offenses that would force lawmakers to give up their retirement benefits.' (Government Executive)

Determination of Pension Benefits
This edition of the firm's newsletter includes several items on pension cases; see item numbers 4, 5, 6, 7 and 10. (Cypen & Cypen)

IRS and DOL Increase Scrutiny of Section 403(b) Plans
"[T]here is at least anecdotal evidence that tax-exempt employers may also now be subject to increased plan audit activity from the DOL's employee plans division, the Employee Benefits Security Administration." (E Is for ERISA)

Bank of America Merrill Lynch: Workplace Benefits Report
"The Report, which examines the ways in which employers are helping to address the financial needs of a diverse workforce, includes responses from 650 senior executives and human resources and benefit plan leaders." (Bank of America Merrill Lynch)

Straddling the Pension Conundrum of Who Will Bear the Pain
"Too much policy making at the state level seems to occur without much thought about future consequences. Our lawmakers can't seem to think beyond the next run for office, and tend to create policy that won't endanger their plans to get re-elected, or to move up the political food chain." (Santa Maria Times)

Catching Up with Retirement Planning and Bills After Starting a New Job
"Save for retirement Enroll as soon as possible in your new employer's retirement plan. It might be difficult at first to save the maximum limit while, say, rebuilding an emergency fund, but contribute at least enough to get the employer match." (The Baltimore Sun)

Almost All Florida Local Governments Will Use Pension-Saving Windfall Next Year to Fill Budget Holes
"The agencies will get the money thanks to changes in the state's pension plan contribution formula. The changes start July 1 when employees have to begin contributing 3 percent into the Florida Retirement System and the governments begin contributing less." (www.news-press.com)

[Opinion]
Get Radical: Raise Social Security
"A bigger pension — a raise in Social Security benefits — is the stimulus this demoralized country needs." (The New York Times; free registration required)

[Opinion]
Does Pending Appeal Decision Doom 401k Plan Sponsors?
"It will take Tribble and other cases of large size to knock the Pension Barons in the head before they start to act like reasonable human beings. Hoorah, for the federal district court in California who helped put these crooked jerks in their proper light." (Fiduciary News)

Benefits in General; Executive Compensation

With Executive Pay, Income Disparity in America Growing
"The evolution of executive grandeur — from very comfortable to jet-setting — reflects one of the primary reasons that the gap between those with the highest incomes and everyone else is widening." (The Washington Post; free registration required)

2011 Proxy Season Recap — Lessons Learned
A rough list of some of the 'lessons learned' presented during a webcast. (Michael Melbinger via Winston & Strawn LLP)

Press Releases

Texas Union Official Sentenced for Stealing from Training and Apprenticeship Fund Following US Labor Department Investigation
(U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA))

US Department of Labor Sues Stafford, Texas-based Paradigm Machine Works and Owner to Recover Workers’ 401(k) Contributions and Payments
(U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA))

US Labor Department’s Employee Benefits Security Administration to Host Free Spanish-language Retirement Savings Webcast June 22
(U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA))

ERIC to Regulators: Ensure that Shared Responsibility Provisions Do Not Unfairly Penalize Employers that Provide Affordable, Comprehensive Health Care
(ERIC (ERISA Industry Committee))

BNA Index Predicts Pickup in Workers' Annual Wage Gains
(BNA, Inc.)

IAS 19 May Encourage Pension Plans to Reallocate Assets
(Mercer)

McGraw Wentworth Survey Shows Top-performing Organizations Put Health Care Decision-making in the Hands of Employees
(McGraw Wentworth)

TSA Consulting Group, Inc. Announces Acquisition of Great American Plan Administrators, Inc.
(TSA Consulting Group, Inc.)

Employee Benefits Jobs

Onsite Participant Counselor - Hawaii
for Diversified in HI

Retirement Compliance Advisor
for National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) in VA

Retirement Plan Administrator
for Noble-Davis Consulting, Inc. in OH

Pension Administration Support (Part-Time)
for ExpertPlan, Inc. in NJ

Marketing Planner, Institutional Products
for Prudential in NJ

Post Your Job on EmployeeBenefitsJobs.com

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Webcasts and Conferences

HIPAA and Other Health Benefits Laws: Compliance Assistance Seminar
in Indiana on July 20, 2011 presented by U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)

Spanish-language Retirement Savings Free Webcast
Nationwide on June 22, 2011 presented by U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)

Understanding the Impact of Health Care Reform on Employers
in Illinois on July 8, 2011 presented by Lorman Education Services

Understanding the Impact of Health Care Reform on Employers
in California on July 13, 2011 presented by Lorman Education Services

Understanding the Impact of Health Care Reform on Employers
in Wisconsin on July 13, 2011 presented by Lorman Education Services

Understanding the Impact of Health Care Reform on Employers
in Massachusetts on July 14, 2011 presented by Lorman Education Services

Understanding the Impact of Health Care Reform on Employers
in Ohio on July 21, 2011 presented by Lorman Education Services

Understanding the Impact of Health Care Reform on Employers
in Louisiana on July 21, 2011 presented by Lorman Education Services

What's New for ESOP and KSOP Plans for 2011 and Beyond
Nationwide on June 30, 2011 presented by Erisafile Qualified Pension Consulting, Inc.


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Jeanette Hull, News Editor
David Rhett Baker, J.D., Editor and Publisher
Holly Horton, Business Manager
Copyright 2011 BenefitsLink.com, Inc., but feel free to forward this newsletter in its entirety.

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