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Defense Department to Extend Benefits to Same-Sex Spouses of Military Personnel (PDF)

"The Department will construe the words 'spouse' and 'marriage' to include same-sex spouses and marriages, and the Department will work to make the same benefits available to all military spouses ... [A]ll spousal and family benefits, including identification cards, will be made available to same-sex spouses no later than September 3, 2013."

GAO Report: Additional Guidance Needed to Ensure DB Funding Requirements Are Consistent and Reasonable for Federal Defense Contractors

62 pages. "DOD contractors are among the largest sponsors of defined benefit pension plans in the United States and factor pension costs into the price of DOD contracts.... GAO assessed how [1] contractor pension costs are determined; [2] DOD ensures the contractor pension costs it pays are appropriate; [3] DOD contractors' defined benefit pension plans compare with plans sponsored by similar companies; [4] pension costs have affected DOD contract costs and the factors that contributed to these pension costs; and [5] the harmonization of CAS with ERISA will affect the amounts DOD will pay in pension costs in coming years.... GAO recommends that the Secretary of Defense clarify responsibility for and guidance on assessing pension reasonableness and determining discount rates for pension cost projections." [GAO-13-158, Jan. 22, 2013]

Text of Brief of Secretary of Labor As Amicus Curiae Supporting Appellants In re: 1POINT SOLUTION, LLC

Excerpt: STATEMENT OF THE ISSUES: Whether a bankruptcy trustee, who also is an ERISA fiduciary, has standing to bring an ERISA action on behalf of plan participants against a former fiduciary of an employee benefit plan. Whether the defense of in pari delicto can be asserted against an innocent ERISA fiduciary seeking to remedy a fiduciary breach caused by the defendant fiduciary.