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Plan Administrator
Nationwide Financial
in OH

Benefits Analyst
Genuine Parts Company
in GA

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Health Care Reform Industry Update -- Recorded
May 5, 2014 WEBCAST
(Health Partners America)

What Keeps You Up At Night?
May 6, 2014 WEBCAST
(King & Spalding LLP)

Negotiating ERISA Service Provider Agreements: Practical Options and Avoiding Pitfalls
May 15, 2014 in NY
(WEB (Worldwide Employee Benefits Network), New York Chapter)

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[Guidance Overview]

Guide to Key DC Plan Reporting and Disclosure Deadlines
"Do you know that there are more than 30 statements, notices, participant communications, and forms that a 401(k) or other defined contribution plan may be required to distribute or file in a given year? ... [A table] describes the deadlines for distributing required participant and beneficiary disclosures for defined contribution plans, as well as key IRS and DOL reporting deadlines (e.g., Form 5500 deadlines). The table also identifies the party that is typically responsible for each item." (Quarles & Brady LLP)  

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Fourth Circuit Says County's Retirement Plan Violated ADEA by Requiring Age-Based Employee Contributions
"The Plan mandated different contribution rates that escalated explicitly in accordance with employees' ages at the time of their enrollment in the Plan. The Court found no merit in the County's argument that the employee contribution rates lawfully were based on a reasonable factor other than age, such as the 'time value of money.' The Court said that its conclusion is not altered by the County's reliance on the ADEA's 'safe harbor provision' ... The safe harbor provision permits an employer to subsidize early retirement benefits without violating the ADEA. However, the provision does not address employee contribution rates nor does it permit employers to impose contribution rates that increase with the employee's age at the time of plan enrollment." (Cary Kane ERISA Lawyer Blog)  

ERISA Fee Disclosures: Best Practices for Fiduciaries (PDF)
10 pages. Excerpt: "In response to intense public scrutiny and a series of lawsuits brought against plan sponsors and fiduciaries concerning the compensation paid to 401(k) service providers, the [DOL] created a three-part fee disclosure initiative aimed at greater transparency for the benefit of such plans and their participants. In addition to changes to Form 5500, Schedule C reporting, the DOL issued two final regulations: [1] a regulation on participant-level fee disclosure [DOL Reg. 2550.404a-5], and [2] a regulation on plan sponsor-level fee disclosure [DOL Reg. 2550.408b-2(c)]. It is now up to plan sponsors and participants to use the disclosure information obtained as a result of these initiatives in a manner that yields prudent and effective investment decisions." (Marcia S. Wagner, in Journal of Pension Benefits)  

Does Your ERISA 403(b) Plan Need a Financial Statement Audit?
"Many nonprofits who sponsor ERISA 403(b) plans are not aware that they need an audit, because counting participants involves much more than knowing how many full-time employees the organization has or how many account balances are in the plan. Especially in the case of nonprofit organizations, the universal availability rules and the ability to exclude certain contracts pursuant to DOL Field Assistance Bulletin 2010-1 add a layer of complexity that requires the employer to give careful consideration to the participant count." (Belfint Lyons & Shuman, CPAs)  

Don't Make These 401(k) Blunders
"With all of the literature that accompanies retirement plan enrollment, why do retirement savers continue to blow it? [Jacob Hale Russell of Stanford Law School] posits that people are simply overwhelmed by the decisions that they need to make. The policy response has been to use behavior economics to 'nudge' retirement plan participants into making better decisions." (Chicago Tribune; subscription may be required)  

[Advert.]

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Why the IRS Wants You to Watch Your IRA Rollovers
"At issue is a sophisticated strategy, allowable under the old rules, aimed at drawing what amounts to an interest-free loan through a series of indirect rollovers. It's usually executed by financial advisers or other financial experts because the penalties for mistakes are severe." (Reuters)  

Milwaukee County Demands Pension Repayments Because of 'Buyback' Errors
"More than 200 Milwaukee County employees and retirees will face delayed retirements or pension repayment demands totaling about $11 million because of errors made in the way the workers were allowed to purchase extra pension credit through a lucrative scheme. County Executive Chris Abele said Wednesday he had authorized the money recovery because some payments violated county ordinances governing the so-called pension buybacks." (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)  

Are More Americans Saving for Retirement Today? (PDF)
"The decline in those who reported saving for retirement occurs among those under age 55, especially among those ages 25-34 ... Workers age 55 and older today are actually more likely than their counterparts a decade ago to say they have saved for retirement." (Employee Benefit Research Institute [EBRI])  

Bipartisan Policy Center to Examine Retirement Savings Policy
"The initiative is being co-chaired by former Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad and former Deputy Commissioner of the Social Security Administration Jim Lockhart. Over the course of the next year, says Conrad, the initiative will craft a package of realistic policy recommendations to address the future savings needs of Americans and will model the recommendations' impact on retirement security and the federal budget. The final recommendations are slated to be released in early 2015." (PLANSPONSOR)  

Public Pension Plan Legislative and Judicial Roundup (PDF)
"Mounting public pension liabilities have triggered legislative and other state actions nationwide in an attempt to alter public employee pension rights -- with accompanying legal challenges always close behind.... The outcome of attempts to change public employee pension rights in these three jurisdictions could inform pending and future legislation and judicial rulings in other places, and may also affect the bargaining leverage of unions representing public-sector employees in pension-related issues." (Buck Consultants)  

Defined Contribution Plans in the Public Sector: An Update
"Post-2008 changes have been to establish either hybrid plans or cash balance plans, rather than stand-alone defined contribution plans. The changes appear driven by a desire to avoid future unfunded liabilities, to reduce investment and mortality risk, and to help short-tenure workers. Such changes transfer risk to participants, but if the new plans enhance the likelihood of responsible funding, they could also offer some increased security." (Alicia H. Munnell, Jean-Pierre Aubry, and Mark Carafelli of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College)  

Federal Employees Won't Be Able to Escape Their TSP Debt, Even by Leaving Government
"A final rule issued by the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board will allow the agency -- starting May 27 -- to require private-sector employers to deduct up to 15 percent of an employee's paycheck to pay back debts owed to the agency. The wage garnishment can continue until the debt is paid back in full." (Government Executive)  

[Opinion]

Public Employees' Pensions Are Budgetary Black Hole
"If anyone still believed public employee pensions weren't a budgetary cancer, then the court defeat New Orleans suffered last week with its firefighters' plan should convince them. Defined benefit plans are a menace.... The argument is not that public employees don't deserve a pension as much as the next guy. The economics, however, dictate theirs cannot be a generous package paid almost entirely with other peoples' money. What's more, it makes no sense to say public employees must have a cushion against market shocks not available to the general public." (The Times-Picayune)  

Adding Employer Health Insurance Contributions to Social Security's Earnings and Tax Base
"[The authors] find that the increased present value of OASDI benefits from including ESI in the wage base in 2014 offsets about 22 percent of increased income and payroll taxes, 57 percent of increased payroll taxes, and 72 percent of increased OASDI taxes.... Over a lifetime perspective, all earnings groups experience net tax increases, but workers in the middle of the earnings distribution experience the largest net tax increases as a share of lifetime earnings. Higher benefits offset a larger share of tax increases for lower than for higher income groups." (Center for Retirement Research at Boston College)  

New Risk Management Paradigms for U.S. Insurers Have Broad Implications for Talent Management and Executive Pay
"For many years, the measures of organizational success within the insurance industry have placed greater emphasis on absolute returns and have not adequately focused on the risks undertaken or levels of capital required to generate returns. Given the long tail of some types of insured risks, there was an inherent disconnect between incentive plan cycles (in most cases, with payouts based on performance over one or three years) and a truer time period for measuring the success of executive decision-making and company health. At the executive levels, insurance companies are beginning to think at a new level about the metrics used for measuring performance, the goals that they establish in relation to those metrics and the most appropriate time frames for measuring performance." (Towers Watson)  

Coca-Cola Shareholders Approve Executive Equity Plan
"Shareholders ratified a non-binding say-on-pay vote by 90% the executive compensation package for Muhtar Kent, Coca-Cola's chairman and CEO, and other top executives. The equity plan ... was opposed by the $177.9 billion Florida State Board of Administration, Tallahassee; C$201.5 billion (US$182.6 billion) Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Toronto; and C$140.8 billion Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, Toronto. The $183.3 billion California State Teachers' Retirement System, West Sacramento, supported the equity plan." (Pensions & Investments)  

Segal Group Expands Retirement Plan Services Via Defined Contribution Initiative
The Segal Group

Lockton Companies Selects the Principal Financial Group to Provide Retirement Plan Services
Principal Financial Group

fi360 Announces Three Senior Level Appointments
fi360

Seth Perretta Leads Benefits Team to Groom Law Group: Will Serve as Co-Head of Firm’s Health Group
Groom Law Group

Interactive Search Tool Allows Easier Access to Types of Medical Services and Procedures Delivered by Physicians and Other Healthcare Professionals
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)

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