Ret plans - design (BenefitsLink.com)Headlines re Ret plans - design, gathered by BenefitsLink.comSupreme Court Grants Cert. in Hulteen Retroactive Pregnancy Discrimination Act Case- (Found June 24, 2008 ) Excerpt: "The case concerns whether Title VII permits an employer, when setting retirement benefits, to discriminate between women who took pregnancy disability leaves before the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) came into effect and other employees who took any other kind of temporary disability leave during that same period. The en banc Ninth Circuit held that AT&T's employment benefits system violated the PDA." (Workplace Prof Blog)http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/laborprof_blog/2008/06/supreme-courts.html Cross-Border Pension Plans Open Up (PDF)- (Found June 24, 2008 ) 1 page. Excerpt: "Two recent developments have opened up the possibility of using a single pension plan to cover employees in multiple countries: Towers Perrin is working with a major multinational employer to set up a ground-breaking, cross-border plan sited in the EU and covering employees both in multiple countries within the EU and even some outside of it." (Towers Perrin)http://www.towersperrin.com/tp/getwebcachedoc?country=global&webc=USA/2008/200806/GIST... The Future of Public Employee Retirement Systems- (Found June 24, 2008 ) Excerpt: "At a recent Wharton Impact conference hosted by the Pension Research Council, an energetic cast of academics, financial experts, regulators, and plan sponsors examined the challenges facing public retirement systems in the US and around the world." (Pension Research Council; registration required to download fulltext of paper)http://www.pensionresearchcouncil.org/publications/document.php?file=434 403(b) Rule Changes Spur New Approach- (Found June 24, 2008 ) Excerpt: "With new 403(b) regulations looming, plan providers, consultants and plan sponsors are changing how they market, advise and manage the plans. The regulations, effective Jan. 1, require plan executives to provide a written plan document, account for excess contributions and monitor the transfer of assets among multiple plan service providers." (Pensions & Investments)http://www.pionline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080623/PRINTSUB/487514209/1031/PIIssu... New Jersey Pension Changes Win Approval in Legislature- (Found June 24, 2008 ) Excerpt: "It took three and a half hours of cajoling and twisting arms, but the Assembly finally passed a bill to tighten eligibility for state pensions and eliminate one state holiday just after 11 o'clock Monday night. After easily passing the Senate, the bill stalled in the Assembly, forcing Democratic leaders to scurry to line up the 41 votes needed to pass it." (NJ.com)http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/06/pension_reform_bill_stalls_in.html Opinion Jottings from a Plan Designs Conference- (Found June 24, 2008 ) Excerpt: "Nevin E. Adams recalls what he heard at the conference: new ideas, modifications of existing 'assumptions,' and the occasional validation of the 'tried and true.'" (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)http://www.plansponsor.com/pi_type10/?RECORD_ID=41925 Opinion Proposed Rule Would Create a 'Safe Harbor' for Participant Contributions Deposited Within Seven Business Days of Receipt or Withholding- (Found June 24, 2008 ) Excerpt: "DoL's position, as stated in numerous Field Assistance Bulletins and Advisory Opinions, is that an employer impermissibly 'uses' plan assets if it fails to transmit participant contributions to the plan as soon as they are 'reasonably segregable' from the employer's general assets. This 'use of plan assets' is a potential prohibited transaction, subjecting the employer to remedies (e.g., making the plan whole), excise taxes, and penalties." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free...http://www.plansponsor.com/magazine_type3/?RECORD_ID=41760 Guidance Overview Supreme Court Charts New Course in Pension Plan Case Interpreting ADEA- (Found June 24, 2008 ) Excerpt: "In Kentucky Retirement Income Systems v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, No. 06-1037 (June 19, 2008), the United States Supreme Court interpreted the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) to permit Kentucky to increase disabled public safety workers' pensions to the level they would have attained at normal retirement age, even though that meant workers who became disabled after reaching retirement age would not receive any pension increase." (Littler Mendelson.http://www.littler.com/presspublications/index.cfm?event=pubItem&pubItemID=19233&c... In Down Economy, Less Upside to DC Plans- (Found June 24, 2008 ) Excerpt: "Pensions may be seen as a mill-stone around the corporate neck, but for some companies, these relics of business largesse might actually provide labor management flexibility that their defined-contribution cousins can't match. And that flexibility may come in especially handy if the economy continues to head south and layoffs become inevitable." (Financial Week; free registration required)http://www.financialweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080623/REG/716256064 |