[Guidance Overview]
Court Moves Forward ERISA Recordkeeping Claim
"The U.S. District Court for Northern District of California denied the motion to dismiss two employees' claims that their employer violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) by failing to keep a record of the hours they worked."
(PLANSPONSOR.COM)
|
Advance Your Career with ASPPA this Fall [Advert.]
Whether working towards an ASPPA credential or just growing knowledge in specific areas, ASPPA exams offer CPE credits (valid for ASPPA, JBEA and ERPA). Proctored exam window is open November 1 to December 14 - register early and have time to prepare.
|
[Guidance Overview]
Erroneous Hours-Worked Recordkeeping Was Not Made in ERISA Fiduciary Capacity, Court Says
"[The court] rejected plaintiffs' arguments that the defendants breached their fiduciary duties when they made misstatements in various Securities and Exchange Commission . . . filings and other public statements that were incorporated into a plan prospectus because defendants were not acting as ERISA fiduciaries when they made the alleged misstatements."
(PLANSPONSOR.COM)
|
[Guidance Overview]
'Denial' of Pension Benefits Via E-Mailed FAQ Not Enough to Show 'Futility' of Filing Claim with Plan
"The participant conceded that plan language provided an administrative remedy but argued that the FAQ e-mail demonstrated the futility of filing a claim with the plan. The court chided the participant for his pessimism. While the e-mail may provide 'some indication' of what the plan administrator's position would be if a claim were filed, it does not show with certainty that the participant's claim would have been denied."
(Wolters Kluwer Law & Business / CCH)
|
|
|
Massachusetts Senate to Take Up Major Pension Bill
"[The Senate bill would raise the minimum retirement age from 55 to 60 and raise] the retirement age for maximum benefits from 65 to 67. The bill would also base pension benefits on workers' top five years of earnings rather than their top three years, as is currently the practice."
(The Boston Globe)
|
|
|
|
|
Industries with the Best 401(k) Matches
"Workers in the private sector were offered a median 401(k) match of 3 percent of pay in 2010. But the maximum possible employer contribution is considerably higher for specific groups of workers."
(U.S. News & World Report)
|
Closing Defined Benefit Plans to Newly Hired Workers
"It's a stark contrast to the corporate benevolence of less than a decade ago when 83 percent of the Fortune 100 companies provided defined benefit plans to new hires in 2002."
(Workplace Management: free registration required)
|
Five Steps to a Secure Retirement
"Among the most crucial financial choices retirees must make is when to begin claiming Social Security benefits. The majority claim benefits before their normal retirement age, passing up an additional 25% or more in monthly inflation-adjusted benefits for the rest of their lives."
(The Kiplinger Washington Editors)
|
California Governor Vetoes CalPERS Survivor Benefits Legislation
"Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a measure today that would have increased the survivor payouts for about 13,000 CalPERS members who receive the least money from the benefit, saying that even though the fund could afford it, such a change needs to be part of pension reform."
(The Sacramento Bee)
|
Hybrid Pension Plans Under the New Regulations
"The regulations provide guidance on changes made by the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA), as amended by the Worker, Retiree, and Employer Recovery Act of 2008 (WRERA). The guidance provided in the regulations with respect to the Code also applies for purposes of the parallel amendments to ERISA made by Section 701(a) of PPA."
(Social Science Research Network)
|
The Power of Compound Interest
"After testing their subjects' knowledge, the researchers tested how they might respond if they knew the implications of starting to save early and benefitting from exponential savings growth due to compounding. Shown the impact it has, they became more interested in saving earlier (the students) or more (employees at a Fortune 100 company)."
(Trustees of Boston College, Center for Retirement Research)
|
|
Benefits in General; Executive Compensation
|
Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2011 (PDF)
"Private industry employers spent an average of $28.13 per hour worked for employee compensation in June 2011, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Wages and salaries averaged $19.81 per hour worked and accounted for 70.4 percent of these costs, while benefits averaged $8.32 and accounted for the remaining 29.6 percent."
(U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)
|
A Bipartisan Move to Tackle Benefits Programs
"In return for the Republicans' agreement to raise taxes after 2012 for the wealthy, Mr. Obama indicated that his party would support slowly increasing the eligibility age for Medicare to 67 from 65 and changing the formula for cost-of-living increases in Social Security to a less generous one that some economists consider more accurate."
(The New York Times; free registration required)
|
|
|
Employees Satisfied with Co-Workers, but Unhappy with Benefits
"Three in 10 employees are dissatisfied with the health insurance offered by their boss. The same amount also wish they earned more money. Compensation issues in general leave workers disgruntled—26% are unhappy with their promotion chances, 28% want better retirement benefits and 34% say there's too much stress at work."
(Los Angeles Times)
|
|
Press Releases
|
