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Rising Pension Costs are California's Biggest Problem

"Over the next seven years, rising pension costs will require cities to nearly double the percentage of their General Funds they pay to CalPERS.... Without fundamental changes, cities will have to choose between cutting services or raising taxes.... There are three things we should do now ... First, cities and the state should set aside 2 to 3% of their budgets to pay down their unfunded liabilities. Second, cities and the state should look for cuts and new revenue sources now, not wait until pension costs begin to crowd out funding for basic services. Third, and most importantly, we must revise the California Rule."

The 401(k) Was Never Intended to Be the Retirement Plan

"In 1981, the 401(k) was expanded into a supplemental retirement plan, and the IRA was enlarged so that people with traditional defined benefit retirement plans could also contribute to IRAs and still get a tax deduction. These changes seemed fairly enlightened. Ironically, this marked the beginning of the end of America's progress toward retirement security."

Can an Individual Supervisor Be Liable Under the FMLA?

"[T]he court observed that liability under the FMLA may attach to any 'employer,' and the statute broadly defines the term 'employer' to include 'any person who acts, directly or indirectly, in the interest of an employer to any of the employees of such employer.' Next, the court noted that the definition of 'employer' in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is 'materially identical' to the definition in the FMLA. Because the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit ... has ruled that individual supervisors may be sued personally under the FLSA, the judge ruled that it was only logical to follow the 1st Circuit's ruling when determining individual liability under the FMLA." [Eichenholz v. Brink's Inc., No. 16-11786 (D. Mass. May 9, 2017)]

Text of Second Circuit Opinion: Human Resource Director Can Be Held Individually Liable for FMLA Interference Claim (PDF)

28 pages. "[The plaintiff-employee] challenges the district court's conclusion that [the employer's Director of Human Resources] does not constitute an 'employer' under the FMLA and therefore cannot be held individually liable.... [S]everal of our sister circuits ... have observed that the FMLA's definition of 'employer' largely tracks the definition of 'employer' used in the Fair Labor Standards Act and have come to the reasoned conclusion that the standards used to evaluate 'employers' under the FLSA should therefore be applied to govern the FMLA as well....[We] conclude that a rational jury could find, under the totality of the circumstances, that [the Director of Human Resources] exercised sufficient control over [the plaintiff-employee's] employment to be subject to liability under the FMLA." [Graziadio v. Culinary Institute of America, No. 15-888 (2d Cir. Mar. 17, 2016)]

COVID-19 Vaccination Sweepstakes: Best Practices for Employee Incentives

" 'Vaccine sweepstakes,' by which employers offer cash or other prizes (often substantial) to winning employees who are randomly selected from a pool of vaccinated entrants, are gaining popularity across all industries.... To date, no official guidance has been issued on sweepstakes as a vaccine incentive tool. However, by observing the existing guidance on traditional vaccine incentives and certain other best practices, employers can run fair (and fun!) vaccine sweepstakes programs aimed at increasing workforce vaccination and boosting company morale."

Text of FASB Proposed Accounting Standards Update -- Stock Compensation (Topic 718): Determining the Current Price of an Underlying Share for Equity-Classified Share-Option Awards (PDF)

19 pages. "The Private Company Council (PCC) is proposing amendments to the Codification in response to feedback from private company stakeholders indicating that determining the fair value of private company traditional stock-option awards (share-option awards) at grant date or upon a modification to an award is often costly and complex.... During its research and outreach efforts leading to the amendments in this proposed Update, the PCC received feedback that the current price input is typically the most difficult input for private companies to estimate and substantiate to their auditors, primarily because of the lack of observable prices for private company equity shares." [Issued Aug. 17, 2020; comments due Oct. 1, 2020]

Mortality by Career-Average Earnings Level (PDF)

33 pages. "In general, we observe lower death rates for retired-worker beneficiaries with higher-than-average [average indexed monthly earnings (AIME)] levels, and higher death rates for retired-worker beneficiaries with lower-than-average AIME levels. At older ages, the differences in death rates across AIME levels diminish.... The trends from 1995 to 2015 show the spread in death rates among the AIME levels remaining fairly steady." [Actuarial Study No. 124]

Trump Executive Order on ACA: What It Won't Do, What It Might Do, and When

"In sum, nothing happens yet, nor is it likely to happen until the heads of HHS, Treasury, and probably Labor, as well as the CMS Administration and IRS Commissioner are in place; even then it will take a while for changes to be put into motion. In the long run a great deal may change ... But change will only be 'to the maximum extent permitted by law.' There may be, for example, a fairly dramatic shift in the interpretation of section 1332 of the ACA, which permits HHS to grant innovation waivers to states, but waivers will still have to be granted subject to section 1332's requirements. Sale of insurance across state lines is already permitted by the ACA, but subject to state approval and consumer protections that will have to be observed."

How Has Supreme Court Decision in Fifth Third Bancorp v. Dudenhoeffer Affected Litigation Over Company Stock in Retirement Plans?

"Many observers believed the decision would significantly increase litigation concerning company stock in retirement plans. That clearly has not happened. In tracking this type of litigation since 1990, there have been far fewer lawsuits initiated over stock-drop issues after the Dudenhoeffer ruling than in the years before the decision.... While the number of remands is still fairly small (and probably will not grow by much), the trends have shown that the new standards are at least as strongly pro-defendants as the presumption of prudence rule was."

GAO Testimony: Preliminary Information on IRA Balances Accumulated as of 2011

13 pages. "In 2014, the federal government will forgo an estimated $17.5 billion in tax revenue from IRAs. Congress limited annual contributions to IRAs to prevent the tax-favored accumulation of unduly large balances, but concerns have been raised that tax benefits accrue primarily for higher income individuals. This statement provides preliminary observations based on ongoing work on information on IRA balances in terms of reported fair market value aggregated by taxpayers. GAO analyzed 2011 IRS statistical data." [GAO-14-878T, Sept. 16, 2014]