BenefitsLink
Retirement Plans
Newsletter
March 6, 2009
Here are the Web's best new links about compliance and cost
aspects of plan operation, design and policy.
Today's sponsor is DATAIR Employee Benefit Systems, Inc.
(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)
Efficient Administration, Discrimination Testing and Proposal software.
Updated for PPA?06 Pension Funding Rules:
Schedule SB reports and links to our 5500/PBGC System
Links to our systems for FAS 158 and Relative Value reporting.
Contact us for details: sales@datair.com or call 1-888-328-2474 (1-888-DATAIR-4)
Updated for PPA?06 Pension Funding Rules:
- Funding Target and Target Normal Cost with 3-rate segments
- 404(o) Cushion; 430 minimum and 404(o) maximum contributions
- Funding Target Attainment Percentages (FTAPs)
Schedule SB reports and links to our 5500/PBGC System
Links to our systems for FAS 158 and Relative Value reporting.
Contact us for details: sales@datair.com or call 1-888-328-2474 (1-888-DATAIR-4)
[Guidance Overview]
Summary Plan Description and Summary of Material Modifications Requirements
Excerpt: "With only a few exceptions, it has been the law for more than 30 years that the plan administrators for all employee pension plans and employee welfare plans that are subject to ERISA are required to issue and periodically update SPDs for those plans. This is not news, but worth mentioning especially now that many plan sponsors have updated plans for recent law changes." (Dorsey & Whitney LLP)
[Guidance Overview]
Court Finds 'Egregious' Failure to Comply with ERISA Notice Rules in Pension Plan Conversion
Excerpt: "An employer committed an 'egregious' failure to comply with the notice requirements of ERISA Sec. 204(h) when it converted its traditional defined benefit plan into a pension equity plan. This was the ruling of the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Brady v. The Dow Chemical Company Retirement Board (No. 07-2040)." (Wolters Kluwer)
140 Madoff Victims in a Medical Practice Retirement Plan Treated As One Person
Excerpt: "[The corporation known as SIPC] will decide how much Madoff victims will get. SIPC treats all people in a retirement plan - no matter how many - as one person. So all the people invested in a single retirement plan may have to divide up the same amount of money that an individual investor would get." (CBS News)
'Value at Risk' for Pension Plans to Rise in 2009, According to Watson Wyatt
Excerpt: "Watson Wyatt developed a measure of the potential dollar-value decline in a pension plan's funded status (reflecting both plan assets and liabilities) relative to the market value of the plan sponsor under a simulation of a 'worst-case' financial market scenario. Watson Wyatt quantifies the additional risk implied by a pension fund for a company's core finances over the next year by a value at risk (VaR) measure called the Pension Risk Index (PRI). The VaR is the dollar reduction in the pension fund's position under adverse financial market conditions given the plan's asset allocation and current funding positions." (Watson Wyatt Worldwide)
Winter 2009 Report of Results from the 2008 Survey of Withdrawal Liability Funded Ratios (PDF)
4 pages. Excerpt: "The Segal Company's 2008 Survey of Withdrawal Liability Funded Ratios found: The average withdrawal liability funded ratio of multiemployer pension plans was unchanged from the prior year's survey: 84 percent. This finding is not surprising given that the 2008 survey is based on data from before the economic downturn." (The Segal Group, Inc.)
Rep. Lynch Introduces Legislation to Automatically Enroll New Federal Employees and Members of the Military in Thrift Savings Plan
Excerpt: "Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., has introduced legislation (H.R. 1263) that would automatically enroll new federal employees and members of the military in the Thrift Savings Plan and assign their investments to the government securities fund. 'Currently, 14 percent of the eligible federal civilian and 75 percent of uniformed service members are not participating in TSP,' Lynch, the new chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Federal Workforce Subcommittee, said in a statement. 'Therefore they are less likely than participants to be financially self-sufficient.'" (GovernmentExecutive.com)
Social Security Financing: Automatic Adjustments to Restore Solvency
Excerpt: "This paper describes the various automatic stabilizing mechanisms and explains how they have been adopted in 12 countries. It appears likely that automatic adjustment mechanisms adopted in Sweden and Japan will succeed, whereas those adopted in Italy and Germany have already been overridden. Because these mechanisms are relatively new, it is not clear how well they will work in the long run. Nevertheless, the experience of these 12 countries provides useful insights on the potential design features of auto-stabilization mechanisms and what their effects might be if implemented in the U.S." (AARP)
[Opinion]
Reserve and National Guard Members Deserve a Better Retirement Plan
Excerpt: "Current reserve retirement offers little or no incentive for members to serve past 20 years, Stultz said, because longer service doesn't change the age 60 start of annuities. So it's hard to persuade members or spouses that another hitch is worth the risk of returning to war or being separated . . . ." (Stars and Stripes)
[Opinion]
NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg's Refreshing and Realistic Look at Retirement Math
Excerpt: "New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has bravely taken the high ground. He has challenged the '20 and out' mentality of public safety pension plans that allow police and fire employees to draw lifetime pension benefits when they are barely 40 years old, and expected to live beyond 80. If successful, this effort will help restore sanity and sustainability to public pension plans." (Governing.com)
[Opinion]
Marketplace Lessons for Workplace Pensions
Excerpt: "[Regarding the President's proposals for Workplace Pensions -- t]he retirement markets have a long and rich experience in dealing with salary deferral programs which can well inform the structure of this new program. We know what things work, and what things have been a disaster. This proposal is unique in that it DOES recognize our experience. It has the support of both ends of the political policy spectrum (both Brookings and Heritage have lent their weight), which is likely because it uses well learned lessons of our past." (Giller and Calhoun)
SunGard (Sponsor)
(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)
Form 5500 must be electronically filed, beginning January 2010. Modifying your existing procedures and routines and helping your clients understand how to collaborate with you electronically are essential to meet the new requirements of the EFAST2 system. SunGard?s Relius Government Forms 5500 Web Client provides you and your clients an efficient and easy way to gather all necessary information and electronically file 5500 forms and schedules. Contact John Latson at 800-326-7235, ext. 1100.
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
[Guidance Overview]
Further IRS Guidance on Section 409A: Tax Calculation, Reporting, Withholding and Payment (PDF)
6 pages. Excerpt: "Effect of Section 409A Income On Later Distributions. An amount included in income under section 409A for a year is applied to reduce the amount recognized as income related to distributions under the plan in later years until fully applied. If any section 409A income remains unapplied after all possible distributions to the employee, then the employee may report the unapplied amount as a miscellaneous itemized deduction for the year of final distribution or the year in which the payment due becomes uncollectible. The employer may be required to adjust its deductions accordingly." (Bryan Cave LLP)
Say-on-Pay Mandate for TARP Participants Is Effective in 2009, SEC Confirms
Excerpt: "The 2009 proxy statements of companies participating in the Troubled Asset Relief Program must include a 'say on pay' proposal asking shareholders to approve executive compensation programs, the SEC confirmed Feb. 26." (Mercer LLC)
Expats Hearing Call from Their Companies to Come Home
Excerpt: "American firms are speeding up cost-cutting efforts, pulling assignees back early, reducing overall overseas assignments, restructuring compensation packages and using more non-U.S. or in-country managers." (Workforce Management; free registration required)
Newly Posted Events
Documented Confusion: Understanding Restatement Procedures (Archived Web Seminar)
Nationwide on March 5, 2009
presented by SunGard Relius
401(k) Plans
in Oregon on March 31, 2009
presented by EBIA / Thomson Reuters
401(k) Plans
in Georgia on April 14, 2009
presented by EBIA / Thomson Reuters
401(k) Plans
in Massachusetts on April 28, 2009
presented by EBIA / Thomson Reuters
401(k) Plans
in Ohio on May 5, 2009
presented by EBIA / Thomson Reuters
401(k) Plans
in California on May 12, 2009
presented by EBIA / Thomson Reuters
401(k) Plans
in Illinois on May 19, 2009
presented by EBIA / Thomson Reuters
401(k) Plans
in Minnesota on June 2, 2009
presented by EBIA / Thomson Reuters
Cafeteria Plans
in Oregon on April 1, 2009
presented by EBIA / Thomson Reuters
Cafeteria Plans
in Georgia on April 15, 2009
presented by EBIA / Thomson Reuters
Cafeteria Plans
in Massachusetts on April 29, 2009
presented by EBIA / Thomson Reuters
Cafeteria Plans
in Ohio on May 6, 2009
presented by EBIA / Thomson Reuters
Cafeteria Plans
in California on May 13, 2009
presented by EBIA / Thomson Reuters
Cafeteria Plans
in Illinois on May 20, 2009
presented by EBIA / Thomson Reuters
Cafeteria Plans
in Minnesota on June 3, 2009
presented by EBIA / Thomson Reuters
COBRA Changes under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Recorded Webcast
Nationwide on March 6, 2009
presented by Nixon Peabody LLP
COBRA Compliance for Group Health Plans
in Oregon on April 3, 2009
presented by EBIA / Thomson Reuters
COBRA Compliance for Group Health Plans
in Georgia on April 17, 2009
presented by EBIA / Thomson Reuters
COBRA Compliance for Group Health Plans
in Massachusetts on May 1, 2009
presented by EBIA / Thomson Reuters
COBRA Compliance for Group Health Plans
in Ohio on May 8, 2009
presented by EBIA / Thomson Reuters
COBRA Compliance for Group Health Plans
in California on May 15, 2009
presented by EBIA / Thomson Reuters
COBRA Compliance for Group Health Plans
in Illinois on May 22, 2009
presented by EBIA / Thomson Reuters
COBRA Compliance for Group Health Plans
in Minnesota on June 5, 2009
presented by EBIA / Thomson Reuters
ERISA Compliance for Health & Welfare Plans
in Oregon on April 2, 2009
presented by EBIA / Thomson Reuters
ERISA Compliance for Health & Welfare Plans
in Georgia on April 16, 2009
presented by EBIA / Thomson Reuters
ERISA Compliance for Health & Welfare Plans
in Massachusetts on April 30, 2009
presented by EBIA / Thomson Reuters
ERISA Compliance for Health & Welfare Plans
in Ohio on May 7, 2009
presented by EBIA / Thomson Reuters
ERISA Compliance for Health & Welfare Plans
in California on May 14, 2009
presented by EBIA / Thomson Reuters
ERISA Compliance for Health & Welfare Plans
in Illinois on May 21, 2009
presented by EBIA / Thomson Reuters
ERISA Compliance for Health & Welfare Plans
in Minnesota on June 4, 2009
presented by EBIA / Thomson Reuters
Form 5500 Update and Plan Audits with Janice M. Wegesin, CPC, EA
in Ohio on April 6, 2009
presented by ASPPA Benefits Council of Cleveland
HIPAA Portability, Privacy & Security
in Oregon on April 3, 2009
presented by EBIA / Thomson Reuters
HIPAA Portability, Privacy & Security
in Georgia on April 17, 2009
presented by EBIA / Thomson Reuters
HIPAA Portability, Privacy & Security
in Massachusetts on May 1, 2009
presented by EBIA / Thomson Reuters
HIPAA Portability, Privacy & Security
in Ohio on May 8, 2009
presented by EBIA / Thomson Reuters
HIPAA Portability, Privacy & Security
in California on May 15, 2009
presented by EBIA / Thomson Reuters
HIPAA Portability, Privacy & Security
in Illinois on May 22, 2009
presented by EBIA / Thomson Reuters
HIPAA Portability, Privacy & Security
in Minnesota on June 5, 2009
presented by EBIA / Thomson Reuters
HSAs, HRAs, and Consumer-Driven Health Care
in Oregon on April 2, 2009
presented by EBIA / Thomson Reuters
HSAs, HRAs, and Consumer-Driven Health Care
in Georgia on April 16, 2009
presented by EBIA / Thomson Reuters
HSAs, HRAs, and Consumer-Driven Health Care
in Massachusetts on April 30, 2009
presented by EBIA / Thomson Reuters
HSAs, HRAs, and Consumer-Driven Health Care
in Ohio on May 7, 2009
presented by EBIA / Thomson Reuters
HSAs, HRAs, and Consumer-Driven Health Care
in California on May 14, 2009
presented by EBIA / Thomson Reuters
HSAs, HRAs, and Consumer-Driven Health Care
in Illinois on May 21, 2009
presented by EBIA / Thomson Reuters
HSAs, HRAs, and Consumer-Driven Health Care
in Minnesota on June 4, 2009
presented by EBIA / Thomson Reuters
Medication Therapy Management: A New Way to Reduce Healthcare Costs
in District of Columbia on March 18, 2009
presented by WEB (Worldwide Employee Benefits Network) Washington Chapter
New CHIP Law Implications for Employer Health Plans Smartcast
Nationwide on March 17, 2009
presented by Davidson Marketing Group -- FutureOffice Network
Washington Update with Brian H. Graff, Esq.,APM
in Ohio on April 22, 2009
presented by ASPPA Benefits Council of Cleveland
Newly Posted Press Releases
CEFEX Certifies Alliance Benefit Group of Houston
Centre for Fiduciary Excellence (CEFEX)
Pennsylvanians Encouraged To Take Another Look At COBRA Options
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
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in IL
EmployeeBenefitsJobs.com (Sponsor)
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Handy Links:
- View Today's Active Message Threads
- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research (hypertext article)
- Employee Benefits Library
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