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    July 14, 2003 - 13,238 subscribers
    Today's sponsor: The John Marshall Law School Center for Tax Law and Employee Benefits

    (Click on company name or banner to learn more.) 

      Summer 2003 Employee Benefits Law Classes 
 
Intensive week-long courses designed to help attorneys and law
students understand the rules and regulations affecting
employment benefits. Survey of Executive Compensation Plans 
(Aug. 11?Aug. 15)
   * Equity, cash-based incentives, deferred compensation plans Survey of Retirement Plan Issues 
(Aug. 18?Aug. 22)
   * Overview of ERISA and qualification rules

Information sessions on degree programs in tax law or employee
benefits law: Monday, July 21 (noon to 1 p.m. and 5 to 6 p.m.)

    (Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
    Popularity of 401(k)s Falls As Firms Halt Matching Contributions
    Excerpt: "Particularly worrisome to retirement experts is an apparent falloff in 401(k) savings by younger workers. A recent survey of 330,000 workers found that 68.2 percent contributed last year to a 401(k), a drop from 71 percent in 2001, according to Hewitt Associates ..." (The Baltimore Sun)

    Automatic Rebalancing Can Simplify 401(k) Asset Reallocation
    Excerpt: "A study by Hewitt Associates found that 94% of companies consider finding additional methods to support employees in their retirement planning an important concern for 2003. One tool that may help is 'automatic rebalancing,' a relatively new, 'no-fuss, no-fee' 401(k) plan feature." (BenefitNews.com)

    Comments of Teachers Organization on Proposed 403(b) Regulations (PDF)
    6 pages. Excerpt: "[A] number of public retirement systems qualify for, and continue to rely on, the grandfather treatment for self-insured annuity programs under Rev. Rul. 82-102.... [Your] decision to rewrite the section 403(b) rules does not provide a basis for revoking the 20-year grandfather rule upon which these well-established state and local systems and their members have relied." (National Council on Teacher Retirement)

    Some Analysts Fear Long-Term Consequences of Plan to Erase Pension Shortfalls
    Excerpt: "By changing a key accounting assumption, analysts estimate the plan would change a $9.5 billion shortfall among the [Seattle] region's 15 biggest corporate pension funds-- the largest in their history-- into a surplus of more than $1 billion." (The Seattle Times via NewsAlert.com)

    Save Big on Taxes When Selling U.S. Employer Stocks
    Excerpt: "The new U.S. tax law creates a tax-saving window of opportunity if you have company stock. If you needed a reason to sell a large stake in company stock-- and you are retiring or changing companies-- now's the time to consider it." (John Wasik on Bloomberg.com)

    Business Owners Sell Stock to Newly Formed ESOP; Proceeds to Be Contributed to Jesus Film
    Excerpt: "When Phil and Jamie Holtje decided to sell a portion of their Racine company to their employees, they chose to invest the proceeds -- about $2.4 million -- in a charitable trust that will benefit the Jesus Film Project." (The [Milwaukee] Business Journal via bizjournals.com; one-time registration required)

    Overview: Final 457 Regulations (PDF)
    6 pages. Excerpt: "This article summarizes the changes made to the proposed regulations based upon the comments IRS received from the public." (Great-West/BenefitsCorp via 457bWise.com)

    Big Pay Boosts In Last Year at Work Inflate Retirement Packages of Illinois School Superintendents
    Excerpt: "New Trier is doing what many other suburban school districts do to reward retiring superintendents: Give them big salary boosts their last years on the job, knowing that it'll be taxpayers statewide-- and not the individual district-- that gets stuck with the cost of paying the higher pension that results." (Chicago Sun-Times)

    Congress to Consider Airlines' Request for Statutory Exemption from Minimum Funding Requirements
    Excerpt: "The U.S. Congress will consider this week allowing big U.S. airlines to defer for five years the requirement to make hefty cash contributions to make up for growing deficits in their pension plans." (Financial Times via Yahoo! News)

    Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

    3d Circuit: SPD Terms Can Trump Conflicting Plan Language (PDF)
    42 pages; Burstein v. Retirement Account Plan for Employees of Allegheny Health Education and Research Foundation, No. 02-2666 (3d Cir. 2003). Excerpt: "[W]e join several other Circuits in ruling that when a summary plan description under ERISA conflicts with the complete, detailed ERISA plan document, a plan participant may nevertheless state a claim for plan benefits based upon terms contained in the summary plan description." (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, via FindLaw.com)

    5th Circuit Adopts 'Serious Consideration' Rule for Requirement to Disclose Possible Plan Changes (PDF)
    54 pages (!); Martinez v. Schlumberger, Ltd., No. 02-20173 (5th Cir. 2003). Excerpt: "This case presents the question whether the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ... imposes upon a company that acts as administrator of its employee benefit program a duty to truthfully disclose, upon inquiry from plan participants or beneficiaries, whether it is considering amending the benefit plan." (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, via FindLaw.com)

    Overview: SEC Approves NYSE and Nasdaq Rules Governing Shareholder Approval of Equity Comp Plans (PDF)
    5 pages. Excerpt: "The new rules govern shareholder approval requirements for equity compensation plans provided by companies that are subject to the listing standards of the NYSE or Nasdaq. Accordingly, listed companies that adopt or materially revise any equity compensation plan, as defined under the NYSE and Nasdaq rules, after June 30, 2003 will be required to solicit shareholder approval for such actions unless an exemption applies." (Gardner Carton & Douglas LLC)

    Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
    Post a Help Wanted Ad

    Defined Benefit Implementation Analysts
    for Constantin Control Associates
    in NJ

    Retirement Plan Sales Executive
    for Ceridian
    in CA

    Inside Benefits Service Rep
    for Rockville Area
    in MD

    Chief Compliance Officer
    for Transamerica
    in CA

    Regional Compliance Manager
    for Transamerica
    in CA

    RPS Technical Customer Service Representative
    for Charles Schwab
    in NC

    Account Specialist- Recordkeeping
    for AMVESCAP Retirement
    in RI

    Pension Plan Administration Consultant - Experienced CH-030619-004
    for Hewitt Associates, Inc.
    in GA
    Newly Posted Conferences
    ( Post Yours! )

    Pension, Profit-Sharing, Welfare and Other Compensation Plans
    in DC
    October 9, 2003
    ALI-ABA (American Law Institute-American Bar Association)

    Pension, Profit-Sharing, Welfare and Other Compensation Plans
    in CA
    March 18, 2003
    ALI-ABA (American Law Institute-American Bar Association)
    Newly Posted Press Releases
    ( Post Yours! )

    FORT WORTH TPA APPROVED BY AMERICAN FUNDS
    (Pension Planning Associates, Inc.)

    Reminder: No Form 5500 Required for 'Pure Fringe Benefit Plans'
    (Internal Revenue Service)

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