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Sick with Apprehension: Will Your Sick Leave and PTO Policies Comply with California’s New Paid Sick Leave Law by the Deadline?
May 27, 2015 WEBCAST
(Ogletree Deakins)

Future of Retirement Plan Advice
June 3, 2015 WEBCAST
(Pensions & Investments)

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[Guidance Overview]

Documentation Hardship for Hardships (and Participant Loans, Too)
"[It] may be impossible for many recordkeepers to 'transfer' the hardship and loan documentation in electronic format to the plan sponsor. But every plan sponsor should probably request it from the recordkeeper and request that the electronic data be transmitted to the plan sponsor with each future hardship distribution and each participant loan. And, then, of course, there's the fiduciary obligation to review the information and make certain of compliance with the rules since the plan sponsor may not be able to rely on the recordkeeper to do that. And failing or refusing to do this, maybe the IRS's real objective will be met -- the plan will be amended to eliminate participant loans and hardship distributions in order to avoid leakage." (Benefits Bryan Cave)  

[Advert.]

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Limited travel budget? Let ASPPA bring the conference to you. Register for one of four ASPPA Regional conferences - Chicago, Boston, Cincinnati, or Philadelphia! We'll get you up to speed without the travel.

[Guidance Overview]

Analysis of the DOL Fiduciary Proposal's Impact on Independent Registered Investment Advisers
"A recommendation to a participant to take a distribution, and advice regarding the investment of assets to be rolled over to an IRA, are fiduciary investment advice under the proposed regulation. This is in contrast to existing guidance in DOL Advisory Opinion 2005-23A ... In other words, the proposal applies to a recommendation, regardless of whether the adviser already is a fiduciary to the plan and regardless of whether the adviser is otherwise providing services to the plan or participant.... For an RIA who is not already serving as a fiduciary to a plan, the proposal could be significant." (Drinker Biddle)  

Text of Letter from Senators to President Obama Requesting Clarification on Application of ERISA to State-Based Retirement Savings Programs (PDF)
"We respectfully request that you ask the [DOL] and the Department of the Treasury to ... clarify that: [1] California's and Illinois' Secure Choice Retirement Savings Programs, and similar IRA-based programs enacted in the future, are not preempted by ERISA; [2] the retirement savings vehicles created by those laws, and similar IRA-based vehicles created by the laws of other states in the future, are not 'plans' subject to ERISA; and [3] contributions to the savings vehicles created by those laws, and similar IRA-based vehicles created by the laws of other states in the future, are tax-preferred at the federal level. Furthermore, please provide specific guidance on what other types of state-based IRA vehicles are not to be subject to ERISA, including information on the program features that could be adopted without triggering ERISA." (26 U.S. Senators)  

President Obama Taps Thomas Reeder as PBGC Director
"Mr. Reeder, whose nomination was announced Wednesday, has served as health-care counsel at the Internal Revenue Service since March 2013. He was senior benefits counsel on the Senate Finance Committee staff from 2009 to 2013, and held numerous tax policy positions with the Department of Treasury. He has also worked in private law practice." (Pensions & Investments)  

FASB Eases Benefit Plan Measurement Date Rules
"For employers with a fiscal year-end that does not coincide with a month-end, the amendments will permit the entity to adopt an accounting policy to measure benefit plan assets and obligations as of the month-end closest to the fiscal year-end. If this policy is adopted, the practical expedient must be applied consistently to all of its plans. For any employer that must remeasure plan assets and obligations in an interim period due to a significant event, the amendments allow the entity, on an event by event basis, to remeasure the plan using the month-end closest to the date of the significant event." (PricewaterhouseCoopers)  

The Funded-Status Seesaw and DB Decision-Making
"While it's not impossible, and it won't necessarily be painless, [there are] three ways that funded status can increase: [1] Contributions are made to the plan. [2] Interest rates rise. [3] Plan assets return more than the plan liability. The first route has little -- or no -- risk ... [S]ponsors have been waiting years, basically, for the rate to rebound and maintain a rate above, say, even 6%.... Whatever the choice to manage or transfer risk, the investment strategy to do so and its precise execution are critical to its success." (Vanguard)  

In-Plan Income Guarantees Available to More Retirement Plan Participants in 2014
"3 million participants have access to an in-plan income guarantee through their employee-sponsored retirement plan in 2014, a 32 percent increase from 2013.... [T]here was a 24 percent increase in the number of participants electing an in-plan guarantee to reach 71,300 in 2014. In 2014, the number of retirement plans offering in-plan guarantees grew 41 percent totaling 33,500 and over 132 billion in assets are in plans that offer a in-plan guarantee, up 27 percent compared with 2013." (LIMRA)  

Eliminating the Company Stock Fund from Your Public Company's 401(k) Plan: Navigating the Securities and ERISA Fiduciary Issues (PDF)
33 presentation slides. Topics include: [1] Types of sunsetting; [2] Why it can be problematic; [3] Process; [4] SOX Blackout? [5] Company stock via brokerage window? [6] Impact of Dudenhoeffer and Tatum; [7] Fiduciary override; [8] Settlor action by the company; [9] Securities disclosure -- materiality; [10] Potential dangers of non-disclosure; [11] Best Practices. (Jenner and Block LLP, for American Benefits Council)  

High Court Affirms Ongoing Duty to Monitor Plan Investments, but Says Little on Scope of that Duty (PDF)
"The Court acknowledged the Ninth Circuit's point that 'characterizing the mere continued offering of a plan option, without more, as a subsequent breach would render the statute of limitations meaningless. ' Thus, according to the Court, there exists an as yet unspecified threshold lower than the Ninth Circuit's 'significant change in circumstances' for bringing a breach of fiduciary duty claim concerning investments selected prior to the six-year window.... ERISA's limitations period has stymied efforts to challenge the prudence of investments that have long been part of a plan's line up. This ruling may pry open the door for many such challenges." [Tibble v. Edison Int'l, No. 13-550 (U.S. May 18, 2015)] (Buck Consultants at Xerox)  

Lessons for Advisers from Supreme Court's Decision on 401(k) Excessive Fees Lawsuit
"In the past, advisers were able to go about their business with retirement plans and only know about the investments that go into the menu. Nowadays, with the Labor Department releasing its fiduciary proposal and with plaintiffs' attorneys scoring wins for employees, 'advisers have to be mini ERISA lawyers,' [said Marcia Wagner, managing director of The Wagner Law Group]. 'They have to understand not just how you invest and what's prudent, but they have to understand the law, the terminology and the statute of limitations.' " (Investment News)  

Three Considerations Before Allowing Your Employer to Make Your 401(k) Decisions
"[M]ore employers have ... [adopted] plans where employees must actively choose not to participate or 'opt-out'. If they ignore the paperwork and do nothing, they'll be automatically enrolled in their employer's 401(k) plan and begin accumulating retirement funds. It sounds like a good thing; a way to turn inertia into something positive. You don't have to do a thing and your retirement savings begin to accrue. But the question remains, should you just sit back and let your employer make your 401(k) decisions for you?" (PennLive)  

The Actuarial Approach: Periodic Matching of a Retiree's Assets and Liabilities
"[A]ny spending approach that does not periodically match a retiree's assets with her liabilities runs a significant risk of failing to achieve the retiree's spending objectives.... This [article] illustrate[s], with an example, the matching of assets and liabilities achieved by the Actuarial Approach[.]" (Ken Steiner, FSA Retired)  

Americans Are Aging, But Not as Fast as People in Germany, Italy and Japan
"[In] the United States, the share of people aged 65 or older will rise dramatically by 2050. However, the U.S. isn't experiencing the same gray wave that many other developed nations in Europe and Japan are. At least one-in-five people in Japan, Germany and Italy are already 65 or older, and most other European countries are close behind. In the U.S., 13% of the population is 65 or older, ranking the country 42nd on this measure out of about 200 other places in 2010[.]" (Pew Research Center)  

[Opinion]

Two-Headed Nightmare: The Robos and the DOL
"The robo-advice threat and the DOL conflict-of-interest threat are two parts of the same threat to traditional distribution. Both aim to make the distribution of financial products and services less expensive, more objective and more transparent -- i.e., more consumer-friendly. Of the two, you should be more worried about the digital threat. Consider the DOL its messenger." (Kerry Pechter, of Retirement Income Journal, via LinkedIn)  

AHIP President and CEO Karen Ignagni to Lead EmblemHealth; AHIP EVP Dan Durham Appointed Interim CEO
America’s Health Insurance Plans [AHIP]

Prudential Day One Target Date Funds Pass $1 Billion in Assets
Prudential Financial, Inc.

Refund Fees Being Mailed for Registered Tax Return Preparer Test
IRS [Internal Revenue Service]

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