The BenefitsLink Newsletter -
Retirement Plans Edition

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September 13, 2000

New Cash Balance Pension Proposal Erupts in Controversy
Excerpt: "Controversy has erupted over new cash-balance provisions that have been added to proposed legislation aimed at expanding tax-advantaged saving accounts, with critics of the new proposals arguing that the provisions will harm workers enrolled in cash-balance pension plans." (Ellen Shultz, in the Wall Street Journal)

Senate Finance Committee Approves Unanimously Pension Reform Bill
(Investment Company Institute)

Select a Retirement Plan
Guidance on selecting a retirement plan, including an overview of types of plans, an interactive form for helping to select a plan, and helpful links. (Department of Labor, the U.S. Small Business Administration, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Merrill Lynch.)

Pension Bill Gains Momentum
Excerpt: "After two years of Republicans passing tax cuts and President Clinton vetoing , the one tax measure with broad appeal to middle-class voters that could still become law this year would raise contribution limits for IRA and 401(k) retirement plans." (Associated Press)

Appeals Court Addresses Calculation Of Lump Sums Under Cash Balance Plans
Excerpt: "A lump sum benefit from a defined benefit plan must be calculated by discounting back to the present value (using the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation's discount rate) of what the normal retirement benefit would be if the participant had not elected a lump sum benefit.... [T]he Eleventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that this provision of Reg. Sec. 1.411(a)-11 applies to distributions from cash balance plans made after the 1988 effective date of the regulations." (Spencernet)

DOL Concerned with Employers' Timely Submission of Employee Contributions
Excerpt: "A significant area of concern for the Department of Labor (DOL) and its Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration (PWBA) is the timely submission of employee contributions that are withheld by employers. This area should also concern auditors completing 1999 plan year audits because auditors are required to report on certain supplemental schedules, including the Schedule G to Form 5500, 'Financial Transaction Schedules.'" (Practitioners Publishing Company)

County of Los Angeles Faces Challenge Over Use of Pension Funds
Excerpt: "Representatives of more than 90,000 current and retired members of county employee unions have taken the first step toward a lawsuit that could foreclose the use of their pension earnings to balance Los Angeles County's $15-billion budget." (Los Angeles Times)

Senate Finance Committee Unanimously Approves Retirement Security and Savings Act of 2000
(The Segal Company)

Hewitt Associates' Washington Status Report: September 11, 2000 Issue
Topics: Retirement Plan Reform, Estate Tax (Hewitt Associates)

Tax Credit for Low- and Middle-Income Savers in Senate Finance Comm. Pension Bill: How Effective?
(Center on Budget Policies and Priorities)

Telecom Companies Go Dot-Com With Stock Option Incentives
(CNet.com)

(Following also appears in Welfare Plans Edition)

Need Someone from Corbel to Speak to Your Employee Benefits Organization?
Searchable by employer, such as Corbel, McKay Hochman Co., AccuDraft, Milliman & Robertson, and so forth. Use our free Speakers Database to find speakers for your organization. Practitioners: get in the database at no charge! A service to the employee benefits community from BenefitsLink. (BenefitsLink)

Need a Local Employee Benefits Speaker for Your Organization in Illinois?
Use our free Speakers Database to find speakers for your organization. Practitioners: get in the database at no charge! A service to the employee benefits community from BenefitsLink. (BenefitsLink)

Need a Speaker to Talk About the Anti-Cutback Rules for Qualified Retirement Plans?
Use our free Speakers Database to find speakers for your organization. Practitioners: get in the database at no charge! A service to the employee benefits community from BenefitsLink. (BenefitsLink)

Updated URL: E-signature Law Has Employee Benefits Implications
(Workforce.com)

Dutch Legalize Same-Sex Marriages
(Washington Post)

Graef Crystal: J.C. Penney's Questrom Gets a Clean, Rich Deal
Excerpt: "Is there a going price for retailing chief executives? Hard on the heels of Kmart Corp.'s hiring of Charles Conaway and giving him a bewildering array of goodies initially worth $37 million, we have J.C. Penney Co. hiring Allen Questrom and giving him a much simpler contract initially worth $34 million." (Graef Crystal, on Bloomberg.com)

Cheney Has Now Cashed in Most of His Stake in Halliburton
(New York Times; free registration required)



Job Openings Newly Posted or Reposted on EmployeeBenefitsJobs.com

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