SunGard Relius

Compliance Specialist
for Ascensus in PA

Associate
for Baker & McKenzie LLP in CA

Compliance Analyst
for Alliance Benefit Group of Houston, Inc. in TX

Post Your Job on EmployeeBenefitsJobs.com

View All Jobs

RSS Feed: All Jobs

401(k) Fees: What You Need to Know in 2011 Live Webcast
Nationwide on August 9, 2011 presented by Knowledge Group

401(k) Rekon Advisor Symposium: Raleigh-Durham
in North Carolina on August 16, 2011 presented by 401(k) Rekon

Challenges and Solutions for Mature ESOP Companies
in Texas on October 12, 2011 presented by National Center for Employee Ownership

Communicating Valuation
Nationwide on August 2, 2011 presented by National Center for Employee Ownership

ESOP Overview
Nationwide on August 4, 2011 presented by National Center for Employee Ownership

Handling the ESOP Repurchase Obligation
in Texas on October 11, 2011 presented by National Center for Employee Ownership

Meet the Innovations Awards Winners
Nationwide on July 28, 2011 presented by National Center for Employee Ownership

Revitalizing Your Ownership Culture
Nationwide on August 9, 2011 presented by National Center for Employee Ownership

Strategic Planning for Your ESOP
in Texas on October 13, 2011 presented by National Center for Employee Ownership

The Rollout: Introducing a New ESOP to Employees
in California on July 21, 2011 presented by National Center for Employee Ownership

Valuation Challenges for Ongoing ESOPs
Nationwide on July 19, 2011 presented by National Center for Employee Ownership

Text of Final EBSA Rule on Requirements for Fee Disclosure to Plan Fiduciaries and Participants; Applicability Dates (PDF)
(This is the Federal Register version of regs to which we linked on July 13.) "The . . . effective date for the interim final fiduciary-level fee disclosure rule published on July 16, 2010 (75 FR 41600) is delayed from July 16, 2011 to April 1, 2012." (U.S. Employee Benefits Security Administration)

Industry Education Begins with RPF   [Advert.]

Earn Your RPF Certificate and start your journey to a credential. RPF webcourses, texts and exams cover terminology, issues, and requirements for anyone starting the credential process or building a career. Start your journey today.

Final Delay for Participant Disclosure of Plan Fees for Participant Directed, Defined Contribution Plans
"The initial quarterly notices must be distributed to participants within 45 days after the end of the quarter in which the initial annual notices were required. For a calendar year plan, this means that the first quarterly notices are due by August 14, 2012." (Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP)

DOL Extends and Aligns Initial Compliance Dates for Fee Disclosures to Fiduciaries and Participants
"This extension is three months longer than the one the DOL had proposed in its June notice. While some commenters requested an even longer extension, the DOL believes that further delay would not be 'in the best interest of responsible plan fiduciaries, plan administrators, and plan participants and beneficiaries' and that the three-month extension strikes a balance between competing interests." (Thomson Reuters/EBIA)

IASB Changes to Accounting Disclosures for Employers in Multiemployer Pension Plans (PDF)
"On June 16, 2011, the IASB released an amendment to IAS 19 that significantly alters how employers account for their post-employment benefit plans. The amended standard includes changes to the disclosure rules for multiemployer pension plans. The amendments are generally effective for 2013 and later fiscal years, with earlier adoption permitted." (Buck Consultants, LLC)

Court Rebuffs Summary Judgment Request in Revenue-Sharing Suit
"[The judge] concluded that a jury could find that 'a reasonably prudent business person with the interests of all the beneficiaries at heart' would have banned actively managed funds from their 401(k) plan as they had done in the Kraft defined benefit plan because they had concluded that active funds did not consistently outperform index managers." (PLANSPONSOR.COM)

States Putting Limits on Their Pension Plans and Other Retiree Benefits, Usually Calling for Employees to Pay More
"While a lot of legislators considered the laws they passed pension reform, 'reform' is probably too strong a word for the vast majority of legislation. Mostly it was tweaking—although arguably important tweaking—that included a broad push to increase incrementally the amount of money employees are obligated to contribute to their retirement accounts, as well as changes in vesting and length of service rules." (Governing)

IRS Seeks Comments on Instructions for Requesting Rulings and Determination Letters
"The regulations set forth standards by which a plan sponsor may satisfy the notice to interested parties requirement." (Wolters Kluwer Law & Business)

Retirement Plan Audits from the CPA Perspective
"[Two CPSs describe] two types of audits, the full scope and the limited scope." (planadviser)

Reentering the Labor Force After Retirement (PDF)
"One way that individuals can insure against uncertainty in retirement is to reenter the labor force after 'retiring.' Reentry can come about in two ways. First, it can be planned, as a way to move out of career employment gradually by taking a break from paid work for a certain length of time before moving to another job." (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)

A Reasonable Proposal: Treat ESOP Valuators as Fiduciaries Under ERISA (PDF)
"The [DOL's] proposed regulation regarding the definition of 'fiduciary' under [ERISA] has come under fire for reversing a long-standing rule that performing valuations for the purposes of an employee stock ownership plan . . . does not qualify as rendering investment advice within the meaning of ERISA's fiduciary definition. This article discusses whether the proposed regulation is a reasonable interpretation of ERISA and analyzes the common arguments made by the regulation's opponents." (The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. via Lewis, Feinberg, Lee, Renaker & Jackson, P.C.)

Unions and Public Pension Benefits (PDF)
"This brief identifies the impact of public sector unions and other factors on benefit levels, wages, and employment." (Center for State and Local Government Excellence)

Retirement Flexibility and Portfolio Choice
"This paper explores the interaction between retirement flexibility and portfolio choice in an overlapping-generations model. We analyse this interaction both in a partial-equilibrium and general-equilibrium setting." (Social Science Research Network)

IRS Getting Better and Better at Selecting and Auditing Noncompliant Plans
"Monika Templeman, the Director of Employee Plans Examinations (the person at IRS responsible for overseeing the examinations discussed above), identified several common errors this week at the ASPPA Northeast Area Benefits Conference . . . ." (Verrill Dana, LLP)

10 Reasons to Delay Retirement
"Working longer has a variety of economic and social benefits. 'At the bottom end of the socioeconomic scale, people need the money and the insurance to make ends meet, and at the upper-end people are working because they want to,' . . . ." (U.S. News & World Report)

The 8 Toughest Retirement Decisions
"These are just some of the choices that must be dealt with at retirement. Other issues, such as transformation of personal identity and use of leisure time will further complicate the picture. Most retirees would be wise to seek both personal and financial counseling in order to successfully navigate the last major transition in their lives." (Investopedia US via San Francisco Chronicle)

The Public Pension Reform Imperative
"Since in most cases reforms apply only to new employees, they often won't save money until the reformers are long gone. Yet failure to enact them would be catastrophic." (Governing)

The New Reality for Companies Is That Pensions Have Become an Acceptable Expense
"Companies have successfully shifted a considerable amount of the risk associated with defined programs to set contribution programs, transferring the risk from the company to the individual. The result is a legacy program which over the next several decades will mostly work its way out of the last bastions of the U.S. labor market, and out of existence." (Bloomberg LLP)

Defined Contribution Plans: Private and Government Style
"What I am tackling in this piece are the specific differences between a private sector plan that is covered by ERISA and a government plan that is not covered by ERISA in terms of consumer protections." (The Meridian Blog)

The S&P 500 Pension and OPEB Report
"[E]ven with massive underfunding, S&P 500 pension and OPEB costs have now become a reasonably-controlled expense to corporations, with costs and outflows fitting well within income and assets levels as well as cash-flow." (Bloomberg LLP)

Question of Unpaid Benefits Is One of N.F.L.'s Last Details
"At issue is a demand by the players' lawyers for $320 mil.lion that the owners did not have to pay in benefits because 2010 was a year in which there was no salary cap. The absence of benefits payments was a provision of the last collective bargaining agreement . . . ." (The New York Times; free registration required)

Companies Turn to Incentives to Hold Their Top Employees
"These days, it's typically not pay increases or 401(k) matches that employers are stressing. More fanciful perks such as personal shoppers and concierge services also are mostly gone -- victims of the Great Recession. Instead, employers are offering low-cost perks such as help outlining career development plans, flexible scheduling and on-site health care." (www.indystar.com)

FDIC Finalizes Rules for the Recoupment of Compensation from Executives of Failed Financial Institutions
"Despite heavy criticism by commenters, the final rule adopts a rebuttable presumption that certain senior executives or directors are 'substantially responsible' for the failed condition of a financial entity company that is placed into receivership under the orderly liquidation authority of the Dodd-Frank Act." (Michael S. Melbinger via Winston & Strawn LLP)

New Center for Excellence Issue Brief, "Unions and Public Pension Benefits"
(Center for State and Local Government Excellence)

EmployeeBenefitsJobs.com Named as One of Top 100 Job Boards on the Web
(EmployeeBenefitsJobs.com)