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Treasury Department Notice of Multiemployer Pension Plan Application to Reduce Benefits: Laborers Local 265 Pension Plan

"The Board of Trustees of the Laborers Local 265 Pension Plan, a multiemployer pension plan, has submitted an application to reduce benefits under the plan in accordance with the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014 (MPRA). The purpose of this notice is to announce that the application ... has been published on the website of the Department of the Treasury, and to request public comments on the application from interested parties[.]"
U.S. Department of the Treasury

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PBGC Issues Policy Statement on Calculating Withdrawal Liability

"[M]ore and more requests have been made to the PBGC to review proposals to adopt alternative terms and conditions to satisfy withdrawal liability in advance of a potential mass withdrawal.... PBGC is now required to perform case-by-case reviews and must review different contingencies with different probabilities of occurrence.... This published policy statement is, therefore, a way of informing all future parties to a proposed revision to a withdrawal liability payment scheme to understand what concerns the PBGC will likely have, so that time and resources for all parties can be minimized."
October Three Consulting

Make Sure You Take Sufficient Steps to Find Missing Participants

"When searching social media sites, it may be necessary to follow the trail to the missing participant's family and friends, known affinity groups or professional organizations, as well as any book, sporting, and retirement clubs the missing participant may have connected with.... Work with the company's legal department to subscribe to a robust public records database to assist in finding missing participants, their family members, and friends. Such lists may include telephone numbers.... Piggyback on the investigative tools and contracted resources already established by the company's security team and fraud department." HR Daily Advisor

2018 National Cash Balance Research Report (PDF)

16 pages. "The number of new Cash Balance plans increased 15%, compared with just 1% growth in new 401(k) plans ... 92% of Cash Balance plans are in place at firms with fewer than 100 employees, and 57% have 10 or fewer employees.... [T]he average employer contribution to staff retirement accounts is 6.9% of pay in companies with both Cash Balance and 401(k) plans, versus 4.7% of pay in firms with 401(k) alone." Kravitz

Survey of Capital Market Assumptions: 2018 Edition (PDF)

"For ongoing pension plans without solvency issues, we believe a horizon of 20 years or more is appropriate for evaluating the reasonableness of the long-term investment return assumption. A shorter horizon, such as 10 years, may be more appropriate for evaluating the return assumption for a plan that is more mature or has solvency issues.... When compared to the 2017 edition of the survey, the expected returns for this 2018 edition were lower over 10-year and 20-year horizons by 23 and 16 basis points, respectively." Horizon Actuarial Services LLC

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Governance Checklist for Today's Fiduciaries

"[A]sset management responsibilities ... were once the purview of an investment committee are increasingly delegated to investment staff or transferred to an outsourced chief investment officer (OCIO) partner.... [T]he investment committee should be satisfied that a certain standard has been met in each of five categories: investment policy, investment thesis, risk, trust and process." Russell Investments

T. Rowe Price Loses Bid to Dismiss Fiduciary Breach Case

" 'Defendants argue that the plan document required the plan trustees to select an exclusive lineup of T. Rowe Price funds,' [the federal district judge] wrote, adding that T. Rowe Price had contended that because it did this as a plan sponsor, it was not subject to ERISA's fiduciary provisions.... 'Regardless of the reasons that T. Rowe Price may have chosen to restrict the trustees to investing in only in-house funds, it does not provide a blanket defense for the plan trustees,' [Judge Bredar] wrote." [ Feinberg v. T. Rowe Price , No. 17-427 (D. Md. Aug. 20, 2018)]
Pensions & Investments

States Flex Their Muscles on Mandated Retirement Plan Coverage

"On a host of issues, the map of the U.S. is a crazy quilt, with states creating a kaleidoscope of responses to problems and circumstances -- one of which is the retirement readiness of employees in the private sector. [This article describes] some of the most significant developments in states that have taken steps to create state-run programs for these employees." American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries [ASPPA]

IRS Provides New Rules under Stricter $1 Million Tax Deduction Limit for Executive Compensation

"Prior to the December 2017 legislative changes, the IRS had issued guidance indicating that the deduction limitations of Section 162(m) did not apply to compensation deductible in an acquired public company's short pre-acquisition year where, as was typically the case, SEC rules did not require executive compensation disclosure for that fiscal year. The Notice no longer accommodates that helpful relief." Ropes & Gray LLP

IRS Issues Long-Awaited Initial Guidance under Section 162(m)

"[T]he TCJA changes to Section 162(m) will apply to an employment agreement that is renewed after November 2, 2017, due to action or non-action by the covered entity. On the other hand, an employment agreement will not be treated as renewed due to the action or non-action of the employee to keep the covered entity bound to the contract beyond a certain date at the employee's sole discretion." McDermott Will & Emery

IRS Issues Anticipated Guidance on Covered Employees and Grandfathering Rules Under Code Section 162(m)

"Companies should ... review the terms of their existing incentive compensation plans and arrangements and discuss the extent to which they may be grandfathered as well as how to avoid inadvertent material modifications that could jeopardize the deductibility of compensation paid to covered employees for current and future taxable years. Companies should also develop a protocol for keeping track of covered employees going forward." Skadden

Some of the Twists and Turns of the 162(m) Grandfathering Rules

"The grandfathering protection for legally binding plans and agreements only applies until such contracts are materially modified. The Notice provides several examples of material modifications, including: [1] The automatic renewal of a grandfathered employment agreement that provides for automatic renewal unless either party gives notice to the other before a specified date.... [2] A substantial increase in the base salary amount specified under a grandfathered employment agreement, e.g., an increase in excess of normal 'cost-of-living adjustments.' " Winston & Strawn LLP

Most Popular Items in the Previous Issue

PBGC Staff Express Concern Over Premium Reduction Strategy (PDF) Lockton

Shares of Former Parent Company Were No Longer 'Employer Securities' for ERISA Purposes After Spinoff Mayer Brown

IRS Clarifies Grandfather Rule and Other Code Section 162(m) Issues Groom Law Group

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Cigna Shareholders Approve Express Scripts Acquisition Cigna

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