Oral Promise Does Not Amend ERISA Plan
May 28, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - An oral promise of severance benefits is not allowed for an Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) governed plan, and therefore state law...
Compliance
Employers Need Not Apply 'Treating Physician Rule'
May 28, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The United States Supreme Court unanimously held that employer-sponsored health care plans need not defer to an employee's doctor when deciding whether to...
Judge Dismisses Homosexual Harassment Claim
May 28, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Despite providing sufficient evidence to back a Title VII claim that being homosexual led to workplace harassment, a judge ruled that the alleged...
House Panel To Discuss Option Expensing Bill
May 28, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - A U.S. House of Representatives panel has scheduled a hearing for June 3rd to discuss the accounting treatment of stock options.
Feds Publish "Things to Do" List
May 27, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Plan sponsors looking for signals regarding the direction of upcoming regulatory actions can glean some insight from today's Federal Register.
NY Appeals Court Expands Supervisor Definition in Harassment Case
May 27, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - An employee that "enabled or materially augmented the ability of the employee to create a hostile work environment" can be classified as a...
High Courts Upholds State Worker FMLA Rights
May 27, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - State worker rights to 12 weeks of family leave have been upheld by a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision.
Texas Court: Employer Can Conduct Own Drug Test
May 27, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - An at-will employee is not entitled to a common-law duty of reasonable care when an employer conducts a mandatory drug test that ultimately...
ILA Trustees Ordered to Step Down
May 27, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The U.S. Department of Labor (DoL) has obtained a consent order barring trustees of the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) of Portage, Indiana from...
Judge Dismisses Harassment Claims As Non-Discrimination
May 23, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Discrimination claims made by a white, Jewish, blonde woman from Moldavia are little more than her own judgments about the bigoted intent of...
Court: 'Presumed Dead' Beneficiary's Estate Is Not Entitled to Benefits
May 22, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Presumption of death does not warrant benefit payments to the estate of a retirement plan participant's widow, since the estate could not provide...
Court: Trustees Own ESOP Shares, Entitled to Tax Deduction
May 22, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The trustee of the employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) is the owner of the stock and therefore, payments made by a company for...
Krispy Kreme Operator Hit With Sex Harassment Suit
May 21, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Four former employees of the state of Washington's Krispy Kreme doughnut shop operator have sued, claiming they were discriminated against because they were...
DC Fiduciaries Must Follow Plan Document Expense Allocation Rules
May 21, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) -Defined contribution plan fiduciaries will be expected to strictly follow the dictates of the plan document about dividing up expenses among participants, the US...
EEOC, ConAgra Subsidiary Reach $900K Disability Settlement
May 21, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Gilroy Food and the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) have reached a settlement of alleged disability discrimination.
Genetic Discrimination Protection Bill Passes Senate Committee
May 21, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - A US Senate committee has passed out a bill, which would protect individuals from discrimination in hiring, employment, and health insurance on the...
Jury: UPS Dismissals Are Not Discriminatory
May 21, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - A federal jury has ruled the dismissal of seven Hispanic and black United Parcel Service (UPS) workers was not racially motivated.
Court: Mistaken Loan Default Payment Is Taxable
May 20, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) -Withdrawals made from plan annuity contracts to repay a default on a loan, regardless if the contracts were assigned by mutual mistake between the...
State Law Pension Claims Not Pre-empted by ERISA
May 20, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - A pension fund's state law claims for negligence against an actuary whose error in judgment resulted in the underfunding of the pension plan...
Tire Workers Roll In Retiree Benefits Battle
May 20, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - A group of tire company workers has emerged victorious in its long legal battle over whether their employer lied about their future medical...