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March 6, 2012 Get Health & Welfare News  |  Advertise  |  Unsubscribe  |  Past Issues  |  Search

Employee Benefits Jobs

Retirement Plan Administrator
for Retirement Plan Services, Inc. in NC

ERISA Associate
for Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP in CO, NV

Retirement Counselor
for Prudential in NJ

Account Manager, Retirement Plans
for Cammack LaRhette Consulting in NY

Senior Investment Analyst
for Cammack LaRhette Consulting in NY

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Webcasts and Conferences

Cafeteria Plans
in Texas on April 10, 2012 presented by Thomson Reuters / EBIA

COBRA Compliance for Group Health Plans
in Texas on April 12, 2012 presented by Thomson Reuters / EBIA

Creating a Culture of Well-Being with OneBody3 Live Smartcast
Nationwide on March 8, 2012 presented by Davidson Marketing Group -- FutureOffice Network

ERISA Compliance for Health & Welfare Plans
in Texas on April 11, 2012 presented by Thomson Reuters / EBIA

Health Care Reform
in Texas on April 13, 2012 presented by Thomson Reuters / EBIA

HIPAA Privacy & Security
in Texas on April 12, 2012 presented by Thomson Reuters / EBIA

HSAs, HRAs, and Consumer-Driven Health Care
in Texas on April 11, 2012 presented by Thomson Reuters / EBIA

Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program Advanced Workshop
in Illinois on March 23, 2012 presented by U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)


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[Official Guidance]
PBGC Web Page for Practitioners: "ERISA Section 4044/4050 Mortality Tables"
The page has links to the ERISA Section 4044 Mortality Tables (for valuing annuities in distress and involuntary single-employer plan terminations) and the ERISA Section 4050 Mortality Tables (for valuing annuities of missing participants). (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation)


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Over the last three years we’ve received lots of valuable feedback from our customers and made some impressive enhancements. Sign up for our free webinar on Wednesday, March 28th and see some of the automation and productivity tools in action.


[Official Guidance]
PBGC Web Page for Practitioners: "Interest Rates & Factors"
The page includes the Monthly Interest Rate Statement with access to a chronological summary of the various interest rates, and, the Variable-Rate Premiums with access to current and historical interest rates used to value vested benefits for variable-rate premiums. (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation)

[Official Guidance]
PBGC Web Page for Practitioners: "ERISA Section 4044 Retirement Assumptions"
"For ERISA section 4044 calculations, the age at which benefits are assumed to commence depends on two factors: (1) whether the benefit amount is considered low, medium or high (the Retirement Rate Category), and (2) when participants, under the provisions of their plan, can begin receiving reduced and unreduced benefits[.]" (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation)

[Official Guidance]
PBGC Web Page for Practitioners: "Present Value of PBGC Maximum Guarantee"
The page has information about the present value of the PBGC maximum guarantee for purposes of complying with IRC Section 436 benefit restrictions, and a chart showing the PBGC maximum guarantee as in effect for benefits staring on various annuity starting dates. (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation)

[Guidance Overview]
Dispute Over Pension Claim Governed by Railway Labor Act, Not by ERISA
"Federal courts lacked subject matter jurisdiction to review the adverse benefit determination of a Retirement Board established under the Railway Labor Act (RLA), despite express language in the pension plan guaranteeing participants' right to sue under ERISA Section 502(a), the [U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit] ruled." (Wolters Kluwer Law & Business / CCH)

[Guidance Overview]
How Investment Advisers Can Leverage the Retirement Fee Disclosure Rule
"[W]hile there are certainly devilish details in the rule, advisers who understand the spirit of the regulations and how to make the disclosures meaningful to plan sponsors could find the new rule to be a business godsend." (Investment News; free registration required)

Understanding Defined Contribution Plan Fees (PDF)
"What this means for a vigilant plan sponsor is that in order to fulfill the ERISA fiduciary duty of knowing all plan expenses, a fair amount of digging must still be done in calculating all plan fees and ensuring they are reasonable given the services provided. And since there is no real standard for quantifying plan costs and equating them to services, the plan sponsor is still left with few tools to make a meaningful comparison among providers[.]" (Conrad Siegel Actuaries)

408(b)(2) Compliance and the Service Provider List
"Being that many 401k plan sponsors received these services from one source, otherwise known as a bundled service provider, and since the new Fee Disclosure Rule now requires fees to be broken out by service, [it is] instructive to review the different service providers and their primary duties." (Fiduciary News)

The Retirement Prospects of Divorced Women
"Older divorced women are more likely to be poor than other older women, and historical divorce and remarriage trends suggest that in the future a larger share of retired women will be divorced.... Social Security benefits and retirement incomes are projected to increase for divorced women [and] their poverty rates are projected to decline, due to women's increasing lifetime earnings. However, not all divorced women will be equally well off; economic well-being in retirement varies by Social Security benefit type." (Urban Institute)

Educate Employees on 401(k) Contribution Limits and Matches
"Two situations can prevent employees from getting the full amount of an employer's match money on contributions to their 401(k) or similar retirement plan. One is contributing too little to the plan — that is, contributing at less than the full rate that gets matched at least in part by their employer. The other is contributing too much to the plan — so much that they reach the annual federal limit on contributions before the last pay period of the year." (Society for Human Resource Management)

Congressional Budget Office Paper: The Earned Income Tax Credit and Expected Social Security Retirement Benefits Among Low-Income Women
"Expansions in the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) are associated with increases in formal employment and increases in long-term year-over-year growth in earnings for single mothers. In this study, we examine whether expansions in the EITC are likely to lead to increases in Social Security retirement benefits for less-educated women (those likely to be affected by the EITC) by increasing their employment and earnings when young." (Congressional Budget Office)

Report Shows Increase in Funded Status of State Retirement Plans
"Wilshire Consulting estimates, of the 126 state retirement systems included in the study, the ratio of pension assets-to-liabilities, or funding ratio, for the plans was 77% in 2011, up from an estimated 69% in 2010." (PLANSPONSOR.com)

New Fee Disclosure Regs Pose New Litigation Risks for Retirement Plan Providers
"New regulations by [DOL] concerning fee disclosures by retirement plan service providers could pose new litigation risks on the murky legal issue of whether service providers act as fiduciaries under [ERISA], said an attorney with O'Melveny & Myers." (InsuranceNewsNet)

IRS Checking Pension Plans' Compliance with Funding-Based Benefit Restrictions
"Sponsors of single-employer pension plans less than 80% funded may receive requests from the IRS Employee Plan Compliance Unit about compliance with PPA's funding-based benefit restrictions. The IRS is sending the requests to a random sample of plans reporting adjusted funding target attainment percentages below 80% on Form 5500 Schedule SB for 2009 or later plan years." (Mercer)

Infographic: How America Saves
"Sixty-seven mil.lion Americans participate in private-sector defined contribution plans, like 401(k) plans. Over $4 tril.lion has been saved in 401(k) and similar retirement plans. Trillions more have been saved in these plans and rolled into IRAs." (ASPPA)

Benefits in General; Executive Compensation

[Guidance Overview]
Another Federal District Court Finds DOMA Unconstitutional
"DOMA's validity is significant in the benefits arena given the federal tax implications for benefits provided to same-s.ex spouses and the impact DOMA has on other benefit rules (such as whether same-s.ex spouses have COBRA and HIPAA special enrollment rights). Despite this decision, the question of DOMA's constitutionality is far from resolved." (Thomson Reuters/EBIA)

Principal Developments in Compensation & Benefits, Winter 2012
The newsletter covers recent issues on health benefits, retirement plans, executive compensation, and MEWAs. (Katten)

Obama's 2013 Budget Proposal Includes Benefit Changes
"The proposal would give authority and direct the PBGC to adjust PBGC premiums taking into account the risks that different sponsors pose to their retirees and to PBGC. The proposal is estimated to save $16 billion over ten years." (Deloitte)

Providence, RI, Mayor Asks City Retirees to Accept Reduced Pensions and Less Generous Health Care Coverage
"During a sometimes tense meeting ... the mayor asked Providence's 4,300 retirees to accept three changes: the suspension of future pension cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) until the system gets from its 32% funded level to 70%; a 20% health insurance co-share for retirees under the age of 65; and a transition to Medicare with a supplemental plan for those 65 and older." (WPRI.com)

Press Releases



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