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September 21, 2011 Get Health & Welfare News  |  Advertise  |  Unsubscribe  |  Past Issues  |  Search

Employee Benefits Jobs

Plan Administrator
for Blue Ridge ESOP Associates in ANY STATE

Sales
for Third Party Administrator for retirement plans in OH

Client Relationship Manager
for PensionTrend, Inc. in MI

Customer Care Consultant
for PAi in ANY STATE

Senior Account Manager
for Univers Workplace Solutions in FL

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Webcasts and Conferences

"457(b) Plans for 401(k) Practitioners" - A 3-part Web Seminar
Nationwide on November 1, 2011 presented by SunGard Relius

"Don't Be Caught Short: Understanding Short Plan Years" Web Seminar
Nationwide on September 27, 2011 presented by SunGard Relius

"Electronic Participant Fee Disclosure" Web Seminar
Nationwide on October 12, 2011 presented by SunGard Relius

"Premature Withdrawal Penalties" Web Seminar
Nationwide on October 7, 2011 presented by SunGard Relius

COBRA Compliance Workshop
in Washington on September 26, 2011 presented by U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)

Rekon Road Show- Atlanta (Buckhead)
in Georgia on October 20, 2011 presented by 401(k) Rekon

SPDs for Group Health Plans: Complying With Style and Content Rules
Nationwide on September 15, 2011 presented by EBIA / Thomson Reuters


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[Official Guidance]
Disaster Relief Announcement 11–23 Relating to PBGC Deadlines in Response to Hurricane Irene in New Jersey
"[PBGC] is waiving certain penalties and extending certain deadlines in response to the Hurricane Irene that occurred beginning on August 27, 2011, in New Jersey." (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation)


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[Official Guidance]
Disaster Relief Announcement 11–24 Relating to PBGC Deadlines in Response to Hurricane Irene in North Carolina
"[PBGC] is waiving certain penalties and extending certain deadlines in response to the Hurricane Irene that occurred beginning on August 25, 2011, in North Carolina." (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation)

[Guidance Overview]
IRS Handout for Phone Forum on Current Developments and Issues from Office of Employee Plans Rulings and Agreements (PDF)
"The [September 21, 2011] presentation will cover topics such as: (1) technical guidance hot topics; (2) issues noted that cause delay in issuing determination letters; and (3) how to avoid and correct frequent errors noted on voluntary compliance applications." (U.S. Internal Revenue Service)

[Guidance Overview]
DOL Interim Guidance on Electronic Disclosure to Participants of Fee and Expense Information (PDF)
"DOL has now accepted, at least in form and on an interim basis, four electronic delivery methodologies: the general safe harbor rule, the new rule for participant fee disclosures, and, for benefit statements, the IRS electronic disclosure rule and the secure website rule." (Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP)

[Guidance Overview]
Resolving Employee Benefit Plan Audit Problems and Late or Amended Forms 5500
"Under the Delinquent Filer Voluntary Compliance Program (DFVC), an employer can file a late Form 5500 for a penalty of $10 per day measured from the original, unextended filing deadline. Penalties may be capped depending up on the circumstances. If an audit reveals a prior year issue that necessitates an amended return, the employer may select the correct form with the DOL's new correction tool." (Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP)


Stay current on Form 8955-SSA individual statement requirement.   [Advert.]

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[Guidance Overview]
IRS Publishes Form 5316: Application for Group or Pooled Trust Ruling
"The IRS published new Form 5316: Application for Group or Pooled Trust Ruling, for group or pooled trust sponsors to request an IRS determination letter stating that the trust is a group trust arrangement." (Practical Law Company)

[Guidance Overview]
One-Person Employment Contract Not an ERISA Plan, Says Eighth Circuit
"However, the court held that a federal court may still have jurisdiction over portions of the complaint and remanded the case with instructions for addressing ERISA preemption." (Practical Law Company)

[Guidance Overview]
August 30-Year Treasury, Corporate Bond and PPA Yield Curve Rates
"The IRS has announced the August 30-year Treasury securities rate (3.65%), composite corporate bond rate (4.99%), corporate bond yield curve, and PPA funding and lump sum segmented yield-curve rates." (Mercer LLC)

Illinois Law Gives Huge Pension Perks to Union Leaders
"All it took to give nearly two dozen labor leaders from Chicago a windfall worth millions was a few tweaks to a handful of sentences in the state's lengthy pension code. The changes became law with no public debate among state legislators and, more importantly, no cost analysis." (Chicago Tribune)

Boomers' Spending Binge Presents Additional Retirement Planning Challenge
"Around the time they turn 50, many people unconsciously begin to ratchet up their spending. Instead, prominent retirement planning scholar Alice P. Munnell thinks financial planners and employers need to wage a campaign to get their clients and employees to hit the pause button at this crucial midpoint in their lives." (Employee Benefit News; free registration required)

Participant Reaction to the August 2011 Market Sell-Off
"During the market volatility of early August 2011, trading activity among defined contribution plan participants increased, but the absolute number of participants trading remained low. In August, 2.5% of participants traded—up from the year's low of 1.3% in May and June, but nevertheless a small percentage." (The Vanguard Group, Inc.)

The Impact of Timing of Retirement Plan Contributions on Investment Returns: The Case of Defined Benefit vs. Defined Contribution Plans
"I show that contributions to DB plans are counter-cyclical while contributions to DC plans are pro-cyclical. The counter-cyclicality of contributions to DB plans means that dollar-weighted returns on DB plans are higher than the geometric average of annual returns. The opposite is true for DC plans." (Social Science Research Network)

National Save for Retirement Week, October 16–22, 2011
"A Resolution has been passed by the Senate (S. Res. 266) calling on the week of October 16, 2011 as National Save for Retirement Week. The Resolution was introduced by Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND) and cosponsored by Senators Mike Enzi (R-WY) and Ben Cardin (D-MD)." (NAGDCA)

Colorado Sues State Pension Plan Demanding Recipients' Data
"Colorado's public employee pension plan was sued by state Treasurer Walker Stapleton, who asked for a court order directing it to turn over data on its top beneficiaries . . . ." (Bloomberg L.P.)

New Policy Center Advises Rhode Island Lawmakers about Pension Reform
"[The Rhode Island Center for Freedom & Prosperity, a newly constituted non-profit corporation] is encouraging the General Assembly to clearly annunciate the critical public interest at stake if the pension system is not modified. In doing so, lawmakers may ward off further court decisions that could hinder changing the system." (The Providence Journal Co.)

'Airtime' May Boost Sacramento County's [California] Pension Costs
"Sacramento County employees are using a controversial perk to boost retirement benefits, possibly adding to the county's rapidly growing pension debt. They're purchasing up to five years' service credit for time they didn't work—a benefit commonly referred to as 'airtime.'" (The Sacramento Bee)

[Opinion]
Maryland Court Ruling Jeopardizes Actuarial Relations
"A Letter-to-the-Editor from Milliman Chairman Brad Smith appears in the September 19, 2011 issue of Pensions & Investments magazine. The letter deals with the anticipated fallout from a recent 4–3, split decision in which the Maryland Court of Appeals ruled against Milliman in a lengthy dispute over a coding error." (Milliman, Inc.)

[Opinion]
Fiduciary Standard Loses Three Battles, but War's Not Over Yet
"As long as only the costs of implementing a fiduciary standard are studied by either the DOL or the SEC, any cost-benefit analysis will be hopelessly skewed. Protecting the investing public, which is the mandate of both departments, can only be achieved by accurately calculating the true costs of the current regulatory schemes to investors, in the form of excessive fees, underperforming holdings and hidden investment risk." (AdvisorOne)

[Opinion]
Mil.lion-Dollar 401(k): Fantasy or Reality?
"Amassing $1 mil.lion in an 401(k) plan is possible, but up to this point not very probable. Recently, I contacted both Fidelity and Vanguard retirement plan services to determine how many individual 401(k) account balances exceed $1 mil.lion dollars." (Forbes.com LLC)

[Opinion]
Mass Public Revolt over Proposal To End Retirement Plan Fleecing
"While the liberal media is busy fabricating stories about riots in Europe over austerity measures, only the Wall Street Journal today in an article on its Opinion page 'Defusing a Savings Bomb' had the courage to report about the 'mass public revolt' in response to a Department of Labor proposal that would have subjected more financial advisers to a fiduciary standard to address conflicts of interest within the retirement planning industry." (Forbes.com LLC)

Benefits in General; Executive Compensation

[Guidance Overview]
Noncompete As Condition for Option Exercise in Texas
"Distancing itself from earlier precedent, the Supreme Court of Texas recently concluded that an employer could require an employee to give a covenant not to compete in exchange for allowing the employee to exercise stock options, if the noncompete were reasonable as to time, scope of activity, and geographical area." (Utz, Miller & Eickman, LLC)

PwC Releases Results from Human Resource Services 2011 Global Equity Incentives Survey
"Since 2009, performance-based equity has surpassed all other equity vehicles as the compensation vehicle of choice. Sixty-one percent of Restricted Share Units (RSUs) granted in 2011 had performance metrics attached to the vesting schedule; only 39% had service-based (i.e. time-based) vesting. Forty-three percent of Restricted Shares (RS) granted had performance metrics attached to the vesting schedule." (PLANSPONSOR.COM)

Lifestyle Benefits Are Becoming More Important to Employees
"'The big focus now is on offering people pleasers,' explains Marie Dufresne, a Dallas-based senior principal with Hay Group. She defines these pleasers as offerings that cost the employer little to nothing, but save the employee on something that they would be paying for anyway, or perhaps couldn't quite afford." (Workplace Management: free registration required)

Study Reveals Global Work-Life Imbalance
"A global survey reveals a growing imbalance between what employers say about work-life balance and what they actually do." (PLANSPONSOR.COM)

Press Releases



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