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As Pension Recoupment Grows, Advocates for Retirees Offer Advice to Agencies (PDF)

"[S]uggestions that the DOL or Treasury can use to develop guidance [include]: ... [1] Either the DOL or Treasury should state that plans must follow the usual claims and appeals process.... [2] Many plans impose a statute of limitations on participants, stating, for example, that claims must be brought within three years, or even as little as one year. But plans impose no such limitations on themselves. [3] Limit recoupment to a percentage of monthly benefit.... [4] Prohibition on interest.... [5] The DOL should also develop guidance as to what constitutes a hardship, such as exists with the OPM and Social Security."

ERISA Anti-Cutback Rule at Heart of Debate on Proposal for Multiemployer Plans (PDF)

"Only plans that are in danger of becoming insolvent ... and which, after making necessary adjustments, will remain solvent, would be eligible for relief under the [National Coordinating Committee for Multiemployer Plans' (NCCMP)] proposal... Amending the anti-cutback rule could also help prop up the PBGC ... The problem with giving trustees the ability to cut retirees' pension benefits is that, 'when you give them the discretion to do so, in many cases they're going to have to use it' [said Karen Friedman, executive vice president and policy director at the Pension Rights Center in Washington, D.C.]."

Speakers Tell ERISA Advisory Council More Guidance Needed from DOL to Boost Savers' Lifetime Income Option (PDF)

"Norman P. Stein, a law professor at Drexel University School of Law, speaking on behalf of the Pension Rights Center, told the [ERISA Advisory Council] that the Department of Labor could 'issue guidance on steps employers can take to educate employees on how to evaluate plan distribution options without creating potential fiduciary liability on the part of the employer.' The DOL also could consider creating 'model documents for employers to provide employees to guide them in making decisions about plan distribution options,' or working with outside professional groups to create model documents[.]"

PBGC Partition Rules Give Clear Guidance, Will Help Preserve Plans (PDF)

"The rules aren't burdensome and let endangered plans understand the procedures they must follow before the PBGC can use its authority to approve partitions, [said W. Andrew Douglass, of Polsinelli PC].... Thomas C. Nyhan, [Central States Pension Fund's] executive director, said the plan's trustees are currently reviewing the guidance and 'will be working expeditiously to develop a fair rescue plan. Once that has been completed, we will be filing that rescue plan with Treasury and notifying all of our pension fund participants. We expect for that to happen sometime this summer.' "

IRS Hearing on Multiemployer Plan Benefit Suspensions Features Impassioned Voices (PDF)

"Generating particular interest was how the vote will be conducted, with many ... advocating that the IRS and Treasury reconsider the ban on paper ballots.... [One witness] said that many of the people who are served by multi-employer plans aren't computer literate and many may even still have rotary phones. He suggested that the agencies consider evaluating the need for paper ballots based on the industry, as some may be more suited for electronic voting than others."

As Church Plan Debate Hits Next Level, Third Circuit Receives Competing Amicus Briefs (PDF)

"[T]he groups supporting Saint Peter's Healthcare System -- which lost at the district court level -- have encouraged the Third Circuit not to overlook the unique organizational structure employed by the Roman Catholic Church or the critical role that health care plays in the church's ministry. Groups supporting the hospital workers have argued for a narrow church plan exemption that wouldn't apply to large hospitals, saying that a broader exemption would violate the First Amendment's Establishment Clause by extending special benefits to religious groups and burdening third parties such as hospital workers in the process." [(Kaplan v. Saint Peter's Healthcare Sys., No. 13-2941 (D.N.J. Mar. 31, 2014; interloc. appeal to 3d Cir. granted Sept. 19, 2014)]

PBGC Director Gotbaum Says Lump-Sum Cash-Outs Are Like Cigarettes: Legal But Bad for You (PDF)

"Improvement is needed in the disclosures, regulations and education that warn defined benefit plan participants about the risks of taking lump-sum cash-outs, [PBGC Director Joshua] Gotbaum told a packed room at the [August 29 ERISA Advisory] council meeting.... [L]ump-sum cash-outs are cheaper than buying annuities because the market price of annuities has risen, he said. Second, regulatory guidance about offering annuities is not as clear as that for offering lump sums ... Third, some people have lost faith in all financial institutions, which makes lump sums more attractive, he said."

Sixth Circuit Church Plan Case Remanded for Settlement Consideration (PDF)

"The first church plan case to reach the federal appellate courts is being returned to the district court to consider a proposed settlement between the parties ... If the settlement is approved, this case will join the very first case in recent years to test the church plan exemption, Thorkelson v. Publ'g House of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Am. ... as cases in which the district court ruled on the interpretation of the statute, but the parties settled before the court could rule." [Overall v. Ascension Health, No. 14-1735 (6th Cir. Mar. 17, 2015)]

Courts, Not IRS, May Be Ultimate Arbiter of Church Plan Exemption (PDF)

"Recent Internal Revenue Service rulings on the 'church plan' status of retirement plans sponsored by large hospital systems, including a ruling apparently received by the Saint Peter's Healthcare System Retirement Plan, indicate that the IRS is disinclined to modify its long-standing interpretation of [the] church plan exemption ... '[T]he real fight for those who believe the IRS has been getting this wrong for decades is going to be in the courts. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see the Supreme Court being the final arbiter,' [said one practitioner]."