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[Guidance Overview]
New Safe Harbor 402(f) Explanations
Excerpt: "Plan administrators are not required to use the safe harbor language, but we generally think it wise to do so to the greatest extent possible. At a minimum, the new safe harbor language serves as a great starting point to ensure that a plan's Section 402(f) explanation reflects the current state of the law. If you have questions regarding the appropriate steps to take with respect to your plan in light of this new guidance, please do not hesitate to contact us. Please also keep in mind that even an explanation including the safe harbor language will need to be modified when relevant law changes. Notice 2009-68 includes an explicit reminder of that fact." (Utz, Miller & Eickman, LLC)


[Guidance Overview]
Use of Summary Prospectus to Meet Section 404(c) Prospectus Delivery Requirements (PDF)
3 pages. Excerpt: "The Summary Prospectus must include at the beginning or on the cover page, among other things, the mutual fund's name, the share classes to which the Summary Prospectus relates, and a required legend containing an Internet address, email address, and toll-free telephone number where investors may obtain the statutory prospectus and other information free of charge. Furthermore, the Summary Prospectus must contain the key information required to appear at the beginning of the statutory prospectus, including a description of the investment objectives of the mutual fund, fee and expense information, principal investment strategies, associated risks, fund performance, investment advisers and subadvisers, purchase and sale of fund shares, and financial intermediary compensation." (Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP)


[Guidance Overview]
Guide for Plan Sponsors to Ensure Compliance on Several PPA-Imposed Requirements and Deadlines Between Now and the End of the Year
Excerpt: "Between now and the end of 2009, pension plan sponsors of calendar-year plans will need to attend to a host of PPA compliance matters, including final 2008 plan year funding decisions, 2009 AFTAP certifications, PBGC filings and premium payments, 2008 Form 5500 filings (including elections related to yield curves, asset valuation, and credit balances), required benefit statements to participants, and updating of plan documents to reflect changes due to PPA. [The chart should aid sponsors in ensuring upcoming compliance requirements are satisfied." (JPMorgan Chase & Co.)


[Guidance Overview]
Current Pension Legislative and Regulatory Outlook on DB Plan Initiatives
Excerpt: " In this article we focus on defined benefit plans and, critically, temporary relief from Pension Protection Act (PPA) funding requirements. Our review covers both Congressman Pomeroy's (D-ND) just-released Discussion Draft for Pension Funding Relief and H.R. 2989, reported out of the House Education and Labor Committee in June." (JPMorgan Chase & Co.)


[Guidance Overview]
Current Legislative and Regulatory Outlook on DC Plan Initiatives
Excerpt: " In this article we cover defined contribution plan issues - where initiatives on 401(k) fee disclosure and investment advice remain a priority - and broader issues relevant to both DB and DC plans." (JPMorgan Chase & Co.)


[Guidance Overview]
Plan Language and Design Make All the Difference in In re Citigroup ERISA Litigation
Excerpt: "Take a retirement plan, add company stock -- and throw in a dash of economic turmoil. The result is a volatile mix that sometimes leads to 'stock drop' litigation. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York recently granted the defendants' motion to dismiss a stock drop case in In re Citigroup ERISA Litigation. The decision is a veritable roadmap that plan fiduciaries can use as a guide to protect themselves from claims of breach of fiduciary duty that may result when the price of company stock held in their plan declines." (Faegre & Benson LLP)


[Guidance Overview]
IRS Guidance on Rollovers of Pension Plan Distributions to Roth IRAs
Excerpt: "Notice 2009-75 clarifies that if an eligible rollover distribution from an eligible employer plan is rolled over to a Roth IRA and the distribution is not made from a designated Roth account, then the amount that would be includible in gross income were it not part of a qualified rollover contribution is included in the distributee's gross income for the year of the distribution. The amount included in gross income is equal to the amount rolled over, reduced by the amount of any after-tax contributions that are included in the amount rolled over, in the same manner as if the distribution had been rolled over to a nonRoth IRA and that nonRoth IRA had then been immediately converted to a Roth IRA." (Wolters Kluwer)


[Guidance Overview]
No Fiduciary Breach Where Plan Rolled Back Retiree's Mistakenly High Monthly Benefit Payment
Excerpt: "The trustees of a defined benefit plan did not breach their ERISA fiduciary duty when they decreased a retiree's monthly benefit because the plan had made mistakes when it first calculated the benefit amount, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Philadelphia (CA-3) has ruled in Bocchino v. Trustees of District Council Ironworkers Funds of Northern New Jersey." (Wolters Kluwer)


Pittsburgh Gets Extension in Pennsylvania's House Version of Pension Reform
Excerpt: "The Pennsylvania state House has approved a new version of legislation proposing the Pennsylvania Municipal Retirement System take over municipal retirement systems with less than 50% of the assets needed to meet liabilities. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that under the revamped bill, Pittsburgh gets the two-year exemption it sought from the state takeover of its pension system. In addition, the news report said, after unions across the state blasted the Senate version of the bill, the House stripped away all the language objectionable to organized labor. Pittsburgh is among the roughly three dozen municipalities that could be taken over by the Pennsylvania Municipal Retirement System. Its $899 million plan is 28% funded." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)


Can Illinois Find a Fix for Its Pension Crisis?
Excerpt: "For years, pensions have been the multibillion-dollar problem that Illinois lawmakers just can't fix. Legislators thought they'd solved it in 1995. But they failed to follow through on their own 50-year plan to fund state pension systems long-term, skipping pension payments and concocting pension borrowing schemes that only worsened the state's financial condition. At the same time, pension plans for government workers continued to provide lucrative benefits -- from the ability to retire at 50 to yearly pension increases of 3 percent for most retirees 60 and older." (Chicago Sun-Times)


Labor Department Nixes Bush Rule to Let Brokers Advise 401(k) Plans
Excerpt: "The Department of Labor is killing a regulation issued in the last days of the Bush administration that would have allowed advisers affiliated with mutual funds, brokerage firms and other companies that sell investments to provide investment advice to 401(k) participants. 'We believe the final investment advice regulation published in the Jan. 21, Federal Register went too far in permitting investment advice arrangements not specifically contemplated by the statutory exemption,' said Phyllis C. Borzi, assistant secretary of the Employee Benefits Security Administration, a unit of the Labor Department." (Investment News; free registration required)


CRS Report to Congress: Pension Sponsorship and Participation -- Summary of Recent Trends (PDF)
20 pages; September 11, 2009. Excerpt: "The proportion of year-round, full-time workers employed at firms that sponsored a retirement plan fell from 59.9% in 2007 to 59.0% in 2008. The participation rate among these workers fell from 52.0% in 2007 to 51.1% in 2008. Between 1990 and 2000, plan participation among fulltime workers increased from 54.6% to 57.4%. It has since fallen by more than six percentage points." (Congressional Research Service, U.S. Library of Congress)


One-Third of U.S. Workers Have Little or No Understanding of Their Employer-Sponsored Defined-Contribution Plan, According to Survey
Excerpt: "The survey of 1,019 adults, conducted in April, found plan participants turn most to their employers for retirement savings advice (22 percent). Participants also seek advice from financial advisors (15 percent), spouses (13 percent), immediate family (12 percent), the Internet (9 percent) and retirement plan providers (7 percent), according to the survey." (Workforce Management; free registration required)


[Opinion]
SPARK Institute Testimony on Retirement Security to ERISA Advisory Council, September 15, 2009 (PDF)
6 pages. Excerpt: "[The] SPARK Institute recommends the creation of a new simplified and standardized employer-sponsored 401(k) savings plan for small employers. This new arrangement would deal directly with the roadblocks small employers have identified as the reasons for not voluntarily adopting a 401(k) plan." (The SPARK Institute)


[Opinion]
Comments on Proposed Legislation in Oklahoma Relating to Treatment of Military Retired Pay at Time of Divorce (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "Together with the National Women's Law Center, the PRC sent a letter to the Oklahoma state legislature expressing concerns about proposed legislation that would change the way Oklahoma state courts divide military pension benefits." (Pension Rights Center)

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Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

Are You Maximizing the ROI in Your Executive Retirement Plans?
Excerpt: "As employers look to cut costs and optimize investments, executive retirement programs merit close review. By examining these programs with the same lens used for other investments, companies can better meet stakeholder expectations, improve alignment with business needs and maximize the return on investment (ROI). This Perspective outlines how to increase the ROI of executive retirement programs by ensuring plan terms and benefits support market positioning and retention goals, optimizing financing efficiency, and eliminating disconnects between perceived value and employer cost." (Mercer LLC)

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Webcasts and Conferences

No-cost Webinar: Reducing Ongoing Benefits Administration Costs for New Hires, Qualifying Events, and Open Enrollment
Nationwide on September 17, 2009
presented by Benefit Software Inc.

No-cost Webinar: Total Rewards - The Key To Successful Benefits Communication
Nationwide on September 17, 2009
presented by Benefit Software Inc.

Obama Administration Announces "Retirement Security for American Families" Webcast
Nationwide on September 17, 2009
presented by Convergent Retirement Plan Solutions, LLC

Obama Administration Retirement and Savings Initiatives: New Opportunities to Grow Your Retirement Business?Today!
in Minnesota on October 1, 2009
presented by Integrated Retirement Initiatives, LLC

Obama Administration Retirement and Savings Initiatives: New Opportunities to Grow Your Retirement Business?Today!
in Minnesota on October 14, 2009
presented by Integrated Retirement Initiatives, LLC

( Click to post your webcast or conference )

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Press Releases

Retirement Plan Money Launderer Sentenced
U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)

SPARK Institute Recommends Simple Universal 401(k) Plan For Small Employers To ERISA Advisory Council
The SPARK Institute

( Click to post your press release )

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Employee Benefits Jobs

Pension Administrator
for Jordan & Associates
in CA

Plan Analyst and Enrollment/Communications Specialist
for Pension Specialists, Inc.
in CA

Employee Benefits/Executive Compensation Associate Attorney
for Phelps Dunbar LLP (New Orleans, LA)
in LA

Benefits Manager
for SiriusXM Satellite Radio
in DC

Trust/Pension Administrator
for Associated Pension Consultants
in CA

Director of Solution Marketing
for SunGard
in AL, IL

Senior Plan Consultant
for BPAS
in NY

DC/401(k) Administrator
for TPA in Orange County
in CA

( Click to post your job opening | View all jobs | RSS feed of all jobs )

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Handy Links:

• View Today's Active Message Threads
• Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research (hypertext article)
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