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Compliance |
Lack of Notice Leads to Double Payment of Pension |
A federal district court judge ruled employees
whose pension assets from a former employer’s plan were transferred to a new
plan are entitled to benefits from the former employer because they were not
notified of the transfer. U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell of the U.S. District
Court for the District of Utah said that because Southwestern Portland Cement
Company (now known as CEMEX, Inc.) failed to give the statutorily required
notice of the plan changes, it abused its discretion by denying benefits in the
face of this lack of notice. Campbell cited previous court cases that
recognized the purpose of Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)
disclosure provisions is “to ensure that the individual participant knows
exactly where he stands with respect to the plan.”Read more > |
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued a
publication, “Choose a Retirement Plan,” which offers a comparison of plan
types available to employees of tax-exempt and governmental entities. The
publication includes a plan feature comparison chart with highlights of eight
types of retirement plans—noting the latest tax laws specific to each plan.Read more > |
Hospital Employees Sue Colorado Springs for Pension |
Employees of Memorial Health System, owned by
the City of Colorado Springs, Colorado, have sued the city, claiming they were
unlawfully removed from the state’s Public Employees Retirement Association
(PERA) and subsequently not given promised benefits. According to the lawsuit
filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, the city did not
follow the state’s PERA statute providing a process for an employer such as
Memorial Health System to terminate its affiliation with PERA. In addition, the
lawsuit alleges the new employee pension benefit plan for Memorial employees is
inferior to the benefits they would have accrued under PERA.Read more > |
Some plan sponsors, under limited circumstances,
may submit requests for voluntary correction to the Internal Revenue Service
(IRS) for their 457(b) retirement plans. In an update on its website the IRS
reminds plan sponsors that its Employee Plans Voluntary Compliance (VC) team
will not consider any issue relating to the form of a written 457(b) plan
document. Also, governmental plan sponsors do not have to make a submission to
VC to voluntarily fix problems with their 457(b) plans.Read more > |
Advisers Gain Allies in Fiduciary Definition Debate |
A number of elected officials have emerged on
the side of financial advisers in opposing the Department of Labor’s fiduciary
redefinition effort—introducing ambitious legislation to block changes to the
fiduciary standard.Read more > |
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From the Magazine |
TDF Focus: 2014 Notable Performers |
Even though 2014 marked another bull market for
U.S. equities, with the Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500 returning 13.7% for
the year, target-date funds (TDFs) returned a weighted average of 6% to
investors. This difference in performance may be attributed to target-date
mutual funds’ weighted average exposures of 21% to non-U.S. stock—the MSCI EAFE
posted losses of 4.5% in 2014—and of 20% to U.S. bonds—the Barclays U.S.
Aggregate Bond Index returned 6% for the year.Read more > |
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Small Talk |
ON THIS DATE: In
1836, Texas declared its
independence from Mexico and an ad interim government was formed. In 1861, the U.S. Congress created the
Territory of Nevada. In 1899, Mount
Rainier National Park in Washington was established by the U.S. Congress. In 1917, President Woodrow Wilson signed
the Jones-Shafroth act, granting U.S. citizenship to the residents of Puerto
Rico. In 1925, state and federal
highway officials developed a nationwide route-numbering system and adopted the
familiar U.S. shield-shaped, numbered marker. In 1933, the motion picture King Kong had its world premiere in New
York. In 1962, Philadelphia Warriors
center Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points against the New York Knicks. It was
the first time that a professional basketball player had scored 100 points in a
single game. In 1985, “Sugar
Walls” reaches No. 9 on Billboard magazine’s R&B Singles chart, making
Sheena Easton the first and still only recording artist to score top-10 singles
on all five major Billboard singles charts: Pop, Country, Dance, Adult
Contemporary and R&B. In 2004,
NASA announced that the Mars rover Opportunity had discovered evidence that
water had existed on Mars in the past. |
SURVEY SAYS: Asleep on the Job |
Last week, I asked NewsDash readers, have you
fallen asleep on the job? What other work mistakes have you made because you
were tired? And, how do you refresh yourself when tired at work? Nearly six in
ten respondents (58.5%) admitted they have fallen asleep at their desk, in
their car or in another work area due to being tired at work, and 29.3% said
they have fallen asleep in a meeting, during a presentation or on a phone call.
Fifty-six percent of responding readers reported being tired at work caused
them to make typos in a written communication. Asked how they refresh
themselves when tired at work, 53.7% of responding readers selected “coffee”
and 4.9% selected “energy drink.” Thirty-four percent said they snack, 78% said
they stretch, take a walk, or exercise, and 22% have a non-work-related
conversation with a coworker. Many of those who chose to make general comments
noted that big lunches, warm rooms and boring people lead to sleepiness at
work. One suggested an office sofa just for catnaps. One reader said, “This was
such a huge problem for me it had a somewhat significant influence on the
timing of my retirement,” while another said it was such a worrisome problem
he/she went to the doctor—and was diagnosed with sleep apnea. Editor’s Choice goes to the reader who
said: “Mostly I am just tired of being at work! Some days, I think a walk…all
the way home…would be the right idea!” Thanks
to everyone who responded to the survey!Read more > |
Share the good news with a friend! Pass the Dash along – and tell your
friends/associates they can sign up for their own copy.Read more > |
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