ASPPA

Compliance Manager
Verisight
in IL

401(k) Administrator
Findley Davies, Inc.
in OH

Retirement Plan Administrator
Matthews Benefit Group, Inc
in FL

Benefits Specialist - Flexible Spending Accounts and COBRA
Primark Benefits
in CA

Customer Service Representative (Call Center)
Pentegra Retirement Services
in NC

Director, Non-Qualified Implementation & Conversions
The Newport Group
in FL

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Assessing Your ESOP Service Providers
March 24, 2015 WEBCAST
(National Center for Employee Ownership)

Form 5500 for Health and Welfare Plans: Preparation and Filing Basics
April 2, 2015 WEBCAST
(Thomson Reuters / EBIA)

Restating Pre-approved (Prototype/Volume Submitter) Plan Documents
April 14, 2015 WEBCAST
(Spencer Fane Britt & Browne LLP)

ASPPA Regional Conference
April 30, 2015 in PA
(ASPPA [American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries])

COBRA Compliance for Group Health Plans
May 8, 2015 in TX
(Thomson Reuters / EBIA)

Cafeteria Plans
May 12, 2015 in MN
(Thomson Reuters / EBIA)

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[Guidance Overview]

Text of Revised LRMs for Section 403(b) Pre-Approved Plans: Sample Plan Provisions and Information Package (PDF)
March 2015; 78 pages. "This information package contains samples of plan provisions that have been found to satisfy certain requirements of section 403(b) of the Internal Revenue Code and the regulations thereunder, Rev. Proc. 2007-71, and Rev. Proc. 2013-22 ... The Service has prepared this package to assist sponsors who are drafting section 403(b) pre-approved plans (that is, prototype and volume submitter plans), and to accelerate the review and approval of the plans." [Also available: a redlined version, showing changes from the March 2013 version.] (Internal Revenue Service [IRS])  

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Second Circuit: Owner of Contributing Employer May Have Personal Fiduciary Liability for Delinquent Contributions
"The Second Circuit held that the owner of a contributing employer to multiemployer benefit plans breached his fiduciary duties by failing to make required contributions and was thus personally liable for the delinquencies, interest, and attorneys' fees.... [T]he Court also ruled that the owner was not obligated to pay liquidated damages because the owner was liable under a fiduciary breach claim, not a claim for delinquent contributions." [Bricklayers v. Moulton Masonry, No. 14-295 (2d Cir. Feb. 26, 2015)] (Proskauer's ERISA Practice Center)  

GAO Urges DB Sponsors to Add Information on Lump-Sum Offers
"[T]he agency called on the [DOL] to require plan sponsors to notify DOL when they implement so-called lump-sum windows for such offers, a step not currently required but also proposed ... in September 2014 by the [PBGC]. GAO also recommended clarified guidance for what information plan sponsors should provide when offering to transfer their pensions to an annuities provider, which could lead to the need for DB plan sponsors to revise their lump-sum offer information packets." (Thompson SmartHR Manager)  

Fiduciary Requirements for Selecting an Insurance Guarantee for Participants
"[T]he key to a prudent process for selecting the insured guarantee of retirement income is to compare the competing products in terms of their design, features and prices. This article focuses on the selection of guarantee withdrawal benefits [GWBs].... It's important to look at the financial strength of the insurance company, since the participant's income is guaranteed well into the future. However, it's also important to look at the features of a GWB, as compared to the competing guaranteed withdrawal benefit products." (Drinker Biddle)  

EBSA Enforcement Activity: Advisers are an Enforcement Priority (PDF)
"While the compliance departments of [investment advisers, broker dealers, and other financial services companies] are very familiar with the [SEC] and [FINRA] examination process, they are not familiar with the examination process undertaken by EBSA's Office of Enforcement (OE). In fact, some compliance officers may not even realize that service providers to ERISA-covered employee benefit plans are in fact subject to OE's examination authority. [This article provides an update of] recent trends in DOL enforcement activity including joint enforcement efforts by the EBSA and the SEC." (Groom Law Group, via The Investment Lawyer)  

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Four Things 401(k) Plan Sponsors Need to Know About Default Funds
"[1] A default option doesn't have to be a QDIA.... [2] A QDIA doesn't have to be a target-date fund.... [3] The fiduciary requirements to prudently monitor and select a QDIA are no less than for any other plan investment option -- and they are fiduciary requirements.... [4] Just because a default fund isn't a QDIA doesn't mean it isn't a prudent default choice." (Nevin Adams via LinkedIn)  

Should You Offer Only Index Funds In Your 401(k) Plan?
"A number of large plan sponsors have dumped all of their actively managed funds, for the following reasons: Better fiduciary compliance.... Less litigation risk.... No more bad performing funds.... Simplicity.... The end of fund changes." (Lawton Retirement Plan Consultants)  

A Closer Look at the 'Top' 401(k) Mutual Funds
"The first test was relatively simple -- performance relevant to its benchmark the most recent five year period.... The second test was for prudence in terms of cost efficiency, using a fund's R-squared rating and subsequent effective annual expense ratio.... [F]iduciaries and investors can perform a meaningful analysis by simply investing a little time in looking up the relevant numbers through free online sources such as Morningstar and Yahoo. The investment in time may prevent unnecessary financial losses and improve one's overall financial security." (The Prudent Investment Adviser Rules)  

Calvinball and ESOP Governance
"Quality of valuations that are used for statutory and commercial reasons can and do vary -- sometimes materially so. A 'quickie' appraisal that ignores fundamentals about an industry let's say or proceeds from grossly inflated management projections are two potential vulnerabilities. The danger is that an inadequate valuation report potentially creates a domino effect of unwanted outcomes because it is used as a driver to make subsequent decisions." (Pension Risk Matters)  

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Group Annuity Experience, 2007-2010
"[T]his report ... presents the 2007 through 2010 calendar-year experience of retired individuals in the United States who are covered under group pension contracts. Comparisons to the prior four years of experience are also included. In addition, the committee has presented the results in pivot table format to allow readers to easily customize their analyses to suit their individual purposes." (Society of Actuaries)  

What Do Subjective Assessments of Financial Well-Being Reflect?
"Subjective financial assessments primarily reflect day-to-day conditions.... Financial literacy enhances sensitivity to the lack of a retirement plan and having a mortgage greater than the value of one's house, but it has no noticeable effect on sensitivity to life and medical insurance deficits, having an inactive retirement plan, not saving for college, or student debt burdens." (Center for Retirement Research at Boston College)  

The Annual Required Contribution Experience of State Retirement Plans, FY 2001 to FY 2013 (PDF)
"This study evaluates the [annual required contribution (ARC)] that was received by 112 state public pension plans, including the District of Columbia, from fiscal years 2001 to 2013. This study finds that although variation exists in ARC effort among states and other pension plan sponsors, i.e., cities, school districts, etc., most governments made good-faith efforts to fund their pension plans, and only a few severely neglected their pension funding responsibilities." (National Association of State Retirement Administrators [NASRA])  

Vendors Selected for Connecticut Feasibility Study of Public Retirement Plan for Private-Sector Employees
"The Connecticut Retirement Security Board (CRSB) has concluded its competitive bidding process and has selected Boston College's Center for Retirement Research to conduct a market analysis, and Mercer and Oliver Wyman to design a retirement program, conduct a financial feasibility study and provide general consulting services. Each designation is subject to successful contract negotiations.... 'The goal of this analysis is to explore a public retirement solution for private-sector employees and to fully consider the impact of each possible solution on retirement insecurity in Connecticut,' [State Comptroller Kevin Lembo] said." (State of Connecticut Retirement Security Board)  

BLS Report: Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, December 2014 (PDF)
"Private industry employers spent an average of $31.32 per hour worked for total employee compensation in December 2014 ... Wages and salaries averaged $21.72 per hour worked and accounted for 69.4 percent of these costs, while benefits averaged $9.60 and accounted for the remaining 30.6 percent.... Private industry employer costs averaged $2.54 per hour worked for insurance benefits (life, health, and disability insurance), or 8.1 percent of total compensation." (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics [BLS])  

Revisiting Rochow: En Banc Sixth Circuit Rejects Earlier $3.8 Million Equitable Award
"The court remanded for a determination of whether prejudgment interest should be awarded under ERISA Section 502(a)(1)(B). However, the court warned that ... an excessive prejudgment interest rate would amount to punitive damages and 'would "contravene ERISA's remedial goal of simply placing the plaintiff in the position he or she would have occupied but for the defendant's wrongdoing." ' There was a concurring opinion, a dissenting opinion, and an opinion concurring and dissenting. Interestingly, all judges seemed to agree that make-whole relief is available under either ERISA Section 502(a)(1)(B) or Section 502(a)(3) but not both. However, even on this point of apparent agreement, there were diverging opinions on whether disgorgement of profits constitutes make-whole relief or punitive relief against the defendant." [Rochow v. LINA, No. 12-2074 (6th Cir. Mar. 5, 2015)] (Ogletree Deakins)  

Matrimonial Attorneys Should Follow the Bouncing Ball of Beneficiary Designations (PDF)
10 pages. "The point of this article ... is to identify ... the risks and potentially disastrous consequences of a failure to attend to beneficiary designations ... The issues here are exacerbated by the fact that, by the time [they] become apparent, the participant is generally, by hypothesis, deceased and therefore not present or otherwise able to correct the situation....This Article will review the Court's approach in [Kennedy v. DuPont Sav. and Inv. Plan], consider the potential reach and breadth of the issue and discuss the approach taken in various post-Kennedy cases.... [S]imple but critical steps relating to identifying the intent of the parties and conforming the applicable beneficiary designations to that intent will be identified." (Andrew L. Oringer and Albert Feuer, via Tax Management Compensation Planning Journal)  

Say-on-Pay Vote Did Not Create Disclosure Obligation
"Insofar as plaintiff claims that [ARIAD Pharmaceuticals] was injured by the payment of compensation to officers, the claim fails to allege that the underlying corporate transaction (between ARIAD and the compensated executives) required shareholder approval. The proxy statement told the shareholders that their votes were sought on 'an advisory basis' with respect to executive compensation but told them that '[b]ecause your vote is advisory, it will not be binding on our Compensation Committee or our Board of Directors.' " [Liang v. Berger, No. 13-cv-12816-IT (D. Mass. Mar. 9, 2015)] (Dodd-Frank.com, a blog by Stinson Leonard Street)  

Benefitfocus Launches New Data-Driven Platform to Optimize Benefits Administration and Enrollment
Benefitfocus

Hal Rose Joins 401kDirect as President and Chief Marketing Officer
401kDIRECT

Mercer Wins First Place at the Eddy Awards for Mercer Benefits U
Mercer

Northern Trust Offers DC Plan Sponsors Increased Flexibility in Trading Support using SunGard’s Funds Platform
Northern Trust

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