Benefits in the News

Excerpt: "A newly commissioned survey from Union Bank concludes that fiscal fitness, not physical fitness, is a higher priority for younger adults than for older adults. According to a press release, the survey found 59% of respondents ages 18-34 are focused more intently on achieving fiscal fitness rather than physical fitness in 2009 (41%). In contrast, 61% of adults age 55+ said physical fitness was a high priority for 2009, and 39% selected fiscal fitness."

Excerpt: "Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, and Patty Duke, yesterday unveiled Social Security's new online retirement application and launched the agency's Retire Online campaign. Featuring cousins Patty and Cathy Lane from the hit 1960's sitcom, 'The Patty Duke Show,' the campaign has been developed to 'let Americans know that it's now easier than ever to retire online.' 'Social Security's new online retirement application can be completed in as little as 15 minutes from the comfort of your home or office,' Commissioner Astrue said. 'Filing online means there's no need to drive to a local Social Security office or wait for an appointment with a Social Security representative. . . .'"

5 pages. Excerpt: "This alert includes the following topics: Action May be Required by December 31, 2008 to comply with Proposed Cafeteria Plan Regulations; Highlights of the New Proposed Regulations; New Plan Design Features; and, Action Items."

Excerpt: "Governor Deval Patrick yesterday accelerated his administration's efforts to control spiraling statewide healthcare costs, warning that rising premiums threaten to crush families and businesses and doom Massachusetts' groundbreaking experiment with universal insurance. Patrick said officials are considering using state insurance regulations to block excessive healthcare premiums. He is also summoning leaders of insurance and hospital companies for meetings as soon as this week to ask for their 'vigorous cooperation.'"

Excerpt: "Imagine for a moment a perk that, since 1999, has either cost the city's pension fund $141 million or saved it $125 million. No one knows for sure. Imagine also that it was designed primarily to persuade non-uniformed employees to retire earlier, but may have had the opposite effect. Finally, imagine that the elected officials who decide whether it is a good deal for taxpayers personally enjoy its benefits. There is just such a program. It's called the Deferred Retirement Option Plan. DROP allows city workers to accrue pension payouts while still working so that when they finally retire, they leave with 'a pot of money,' as one pension official described it."

Excerpt: "Generally speaking, the economics of retirement plans is screwed up and has been for years. Despite the fact that just about every 401(k) provider I now meet claims to have been a long-time proponent of full disclosure, the retirement plan industry has really fallen short of providing clear and easy-to-understand information. As a result, fees have come under intense scrutiny over the past year and become a major hot-button issue. This is a good thing because the issue of fees has a major impact on both fiduciaries and participants."

Excerpt: "Just before the end of last year, Ford Motor Company moved to dismiss a case brought by participants of Ford's employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) on the ground that participants failed to state a viable claim for relief. Participants claim that the ESOP's investments in Ford company stock were imprudent. U.S. District Judge Stephen J. Murphy favored the argument made by the ESOP participants. He noted in his opinion that 'while ERISA does provide an exemption from diversification rules for ESOPs, it does so while still requiring that the plan sponsor act with prudence when investing in company stock.'"

Excerpt: "The Obama administration is unlikely to make radical defense spending changes in the near term, but some programs, such as Future Combat Systems and missile defense, could see cuts, and pension expenses might become a bigger problem than previously thought, said analysts from Macquarie Capital during a conference call on the 2009 outlook for aerospace and defense."

Excerpt: "A former employee of Boston Scientific Corp., who dropped out of a previous lawsuit before it was dismissed, has filed a new lawsuit alleging the company breached its fiduciary duties by offering company stock as a retirement plan investment option. Former employee Robert Hochstadtvwas originally a lead plaintiff in the previous suit along with Douglas Fletcher and Michael Lowe, but he dropped out of the suit before a review by U.S. District Judge Joseph Tauro of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. In dismissing the previous case, Tauro ruled that because Fletcher and Lowe sold more stock than they purchased during the time period when they claimed the company's stock price was artificially inflated, they likely were not financially injured by any potential misdeed by the employer and therefore, lacked constitutional standing . . . ."

Excerpt: "Giant Food stores and stores of its sister chain Stop & Shop will provide no-cost generic antibiotics to customers with prescriptions for three months beginning Jan. 2, the Washington Post reports. Numerous popular antibiotics, such as amoxicillin, penicillin and ciprofloxacin, will be included. Medications that treat common viral illnesses, such as the flu and the common cold, will not be included. According to the Post, such medications often are not available in generic form and are more costly."

Excerpt: "In a regulatory sea change that could cost billions of dollars, thousands of U.S. companies -- plus foreign corporations that do business here -- will adopt global financial reporting rules within five years if regulators have their way. The impact is likely to surpass that of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, the tough anti-corporate fraud law of the Enron era that cost individual businesses millions of dollars in accounting fees. Whether U.S. companies like it or not, the new era of global accounting appears unstoppable, and businesses that ignore the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) will fall behind."

Excerpt: "WorldCom Inc. is seeking bankruptcy court approval to pay remaining severance benefits to employees it laid off or gave notice before it filed for bankruptcy. The company had sought authority to pay severance obligations only up to $4,650 per dismissed employee, according to a motion filed late Tuesday. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan on July 22 authorized the company to pay about $22 million. WorldCom, based in Clinton, Miss., now owes roughly $36 million in severance payments to about 4,143 dismissed employees, the filing said."

Excerpt: "[T]he US Department of Labor released a Fact Sheet called Your Employers Bankruptcy: How Will it Affect Your Employee Benefits? Workers should find out as much information as possible about their health plans and retirement benefits as soon as they learn of possible bankruptcy filing. What's in the guidance? The DOL fact sheet [at http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/newsroom/fsbankruptcy.html] explains the types of bankruptcy, Chapter 7 and Chapter 11, and how they can affect workers health and pension plans."

3 pages. Excerpt: "The Act contains minimum required distribution relief for seniors, defined benefit plan funding relief, and technical corrections to the Pension Protection Act of 2006 ('PPA'). This Legal Alert summarizes the key provisions of the Act."

17 pages. Excerpt: "This issue highlights some of the considerations your company will need to focus on this annual meeting season. . . . Within this issue, we begin with a brief discussion on executive compensation disclosure rules as they remain an important topic for this annual meeting season in light of the recent economic crisis and the SEC's well-published messages that it will continue to focus on Compensation Discussion and Analysis ('CD&A'). We will also discuss how recent market and economic conditions will affect your disclosure in your Annual Report on Form 10-K."

Excerpt: "Supporters of legislation that would create tax breaks for long-term care insurance premiums will have to wait until the next Congress. A handful of measures died in committee last month that either would have provided a tax deduction for such insurance premiums or would have given a tax credit to individuals who cared for those with long term care needs."

2 pages.

Excerpt: "One thing is certain about the coming year: It probably won't turn out as forecasted. This year certainly didn't! Benefits-related items on the agenda include health reform and issues affecting retirement savings. With money tight, however, proposals will likely be less expansive than once anticipated."

27 pages. Interactive version is at http://www.sibson.com/publications-and-resources/rd-calendar/.

6 pages. Excerpt: "Sixteen years after the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) was enacted, the Department of Labor (DOL) has issued new regulations that take effect on January 16, 2009. Many of the changes are technical and will have no effect on your day-to-day FMLA policy administration. Other changes, most significantly the new military family leave provisions, will require employers to modify their existing policies."

3 pages. Excerpt: "This article provide tips on how to manage that change [to tax-advantaged heath accounts and wellness programs] -- how to accomplish a paradigm shift that affects every employee with a minimum amount of disruption."

Excerpt: "According to the survey, 25.2% of the respondents have an annuity group custodial agreement (GCA) and 19.5% of plans have a nonannuity GCA. Plans with large assets ($100 million or more) tend to have nonannuity GCAs (60.0% of plans), while plans with the lowest plan assets ($2 million or less) tend to have annuity GCAs (28.2% of plans) or nonannuity individual custodial agreements (14.1%of plans)."

Excerpt: "The Pension Protection Act of 2006 established new disclosure provisions relating to funding-based limits on benefit accruals and certain forms of benefit distributions, plan actuarial and financial reports, withdrawal liability of contributing employers, and participants&rsquo rights and obligations under automatic contribution arrangements. The PPA gave the DOL authority to assess civil monetary penalties of up to $1,000 per day per violation against plan administrators for violations of the new disclosure requirements. The DOL has now issued final regulation setting forth the administrative procedures for assessing and contesting such penalties, but the new regulations do not address the substantive provisions of the new disclosure requirements."

4 pages. Excerpt: "What should be done? Most importantly, the 10% limit on smoothing should be increased to 30% for 2009 and 20% for 2010, then return to 10% thereafter. This proposal would go a long way towards making 2009 contributions manageable for most plans. Companies should be given the right to elect asset smoothing for 2009 without regard to whether the company used fair market value in 2008. It would be quite unfair not to allow such elections since asset smoothing did not exist in 2008."

Examinations are now being offered for retirement plan practitioners who are not eligible to act as clients' agents pursuant to IRS Form 2848 and who seek the new IRS-blessed Enrolled Retirement Agent Designation. The examinations are being offered during 'window' periods; the first window has opened and will remain open (i.e., the exam can be taken) through a date in mid-February. Registration to take the exam during this initial window period now can be made as late as Friday, January 9, according to an announcement on January 5 (the original deadline was January 6). As of Tuesday morning the text of the ERPA web site had not been updated to reflect the extension but practitioners can follow our hypertext link for immediate registration and more information.

Excerpt: "[Color-coded dietary changes made by 3,234 participants in the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP), a federally funded study that began in 1996 and ended in 2001 proved] that a diverse group of Americans -- overweight, with impaired glucose tolerance, and at risk of developing full-blown diabetes -- could successfully undertake interventions to delay the onset of diabetes or prevent it altogether. [S]tudy participants accomplished that by changing the colors of foodstuffs in their kitchens, eating a healthier diet, adding a modest amount of exercise to their daily routines, and shedding some pounds. In fact, by losing just 7 percent of body weight and exercising moderately (only two and a half hours a week), [Many] reduced their risk of developing diabetes during the study period by a whopping 58 percent."

Excerpt: "Health improvements and cost savings are achievable by providing targeted, evidence-based, and cost-effective health promotion and disease prevention programs that reduce modifiable risk factors, often the cause of costly chronic diseases. Adopting commonsense health practices does not require expensive technology, medication, specialty training, or elaborate treatment facilities. Instituting environmental, policy, and normative interventions, in addition to individual behavior change programs, can shift our thinking about how we pay for health. Employers' efforts in providing health promotion programs to their workers offer a microcosm of how prevention can lead to populationwide risk reduction and cost savings."

1 page. Excerpt: "A core truth about chronic conditions is that most are preventable. As Susan Brink's Report from the Field recounts, the multiyear trial known as the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) demonstrated that lifestyle modifications alone could produce sharp reductions in the development of diabetes in high-risk people with prediabetic conditions. Moreover, a few key strategies -- such as improved diet, exercise, and weight loss, along with smoking cessation -- can simultaneously reduce the risk of several conditions such as cardiovascular disease and cancers. So it's no surprise that policymakers say that prevention should assume a far more prominent role in U.S. health care."

Most articles require a subscription to Health Affairs Online.

Excerpt: "American Well, a Web service that puts patients face-to-face with doctors online, will be introduced in Hawaii on Jan 15. Its first customer, Hawaii Medical Service Association, the state's Blue Cross-Blue Shield licensee, will make the Internet version of the house call available to everyone in the state, the company said. The service is for people who seek easier access to physicians because they are uninsured or do not want to wait for an appointment or spend time driving to a clinic . . . ."

Excerpt: "The free-falling retirement investments of many employees may lead to lawsuits being filed against plan administrators. Although the causes of action are narrow, fiduciaries would be wise to review investment strategies and keep the lines of communication wide open with plan participants."

Excerpt: "National health spending grew in 2007 at the lowest rate in nine years, mainly because prescription drug spending increased at the slowest pace since 1963, the government reported Monday. But other types of health spending rose at a brisk pace, pushing the total to $2.2 trillion, or 16.2 percent of the gross domestic product, a record. Spending averaged $7,421 for each person. Total health spending rose 6.1 percent, compared with a 6.7 percent increase in 2006."

Excerpt: "Workers are much less willing to pay higher premiums in order to keep their out-of-pocket costs such as deductibles and co-pays lower and more predictable, according to a recent survey. As they take steps to lower their current costs, many of their actions could lead to much higher costs in the future."

29 pages. Excerpt: "1. This FASB Staff Position (FSP) amends FASB Statement No. 132 (revised 2003), Employers' Disclosures about Pensions and Other Postretirement Benefits, to provide guidance on an employer's disclosures about plan assets of a defined benefit pension or other postretirement plan. 2. This FSP also includes a technical amendment to Statement 132(R) that requires a nonpublic entity to disclose net periodic benefit cost for each annual period for which a statement of income is presented."

Excerpt: "American medicine is already in a crisis mode when it comes to geriatric care, and the problem will only become worse unless new approaches are found, experts say. . . . Dr. Gawande, who examined the problems of medical care for the aged last year in The New Yorker, pointed out that as we grow older, 'we don't get one problem at a time.' 'People with multiple problems need time, and that is not cheap and is currently not paid for by medical insurance,' he said. 'It's not possible to address five different problems in a 20-minute visit.'"

Excerpt: "More and more health plans, including WellPoint, Inc. and a subsidiary of UnitedHealthcare, are rolling out value-based insurance design (VBID) programs in response to growing demand for the concept that aims to boost pharmaceutical adherence by lowering barriers to access. Interest in value-based benefits, pharmacy executives say, will continue to expand alongside emerging evidence that the programs improve overall member health and avoid more costly medical expenses later on."

Excerpt: "This Technical Update expands guidance provided in Technical Update 07-3 on lump sum valuation issues for single-employer plans that terminate in a standard termination pursuant to ERISA section 4041. This Technical Update applies to plans that terminate on or after the effective date of certain amendments to the law as enacted by the Pension Protection Act of 2006 ('PPA 2006'). It provides guidance on how to apply the PPA 2006 changes in the interest rate and mortality table used in calculating minimum lump sum amounts."

Excerpt: "Cool, what a nice treat to me for the first real workday of the New Year. I have always wanted a reason to link to the Harvard Law School Corporate Governance blog because, well, it just sounds so impressive (that plus it's a really good read on all things corporate), and one of their contributors handed me the opportunity over the weekend. In a post addressing SEC requirements for online posting of public company proxy materials, the author - a Gibson Dunn partner and visiting professor at Georgetown - points out how these requirements differ from the notice requirements under ERISA . . . ."

Excerpt: "Summaries of several recent editorials and opinion pieces that address issues related to health care reform . . . ."

Excerpt: "'Communicating Medical News -- Pitfalls of Health Care Journalism,' New England Journal of Medicine: In the perspective, Susan Dentzer, editor-in-chief of Health Affairs and on-air analyst on health policy for PBS' 'NewsHour with Jim Lehrer,' examines how some journalists reporting on health care developments 'all too frequently' convey a message that is 'wrong or misleading.'"

Excerpt: "Retirement health care for as many as three-quarters of a million Americans will be placed at high risk if conditions proposed as part of auto rescue loans are enforced by the incoming Congress and Obama administration, labor experts say. At issue is a condition of the federal loans that calls for General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC to use company stock or the equivalent to pay half, or $10.5 billion, of the cash owed to a union retiree health-care trust."

NCEO Executive Director Corey Rosen discusses a wave of stock option repricings; IRS statements to ESOP advisors that they are putting on hold approving plan provisions that segregate ESOP accounts at termination until the IRS comes up with a position on this; enhanced employee ownership opportunities in Germany; an employee ownership proposal at Change.org; and an invitation to submit stories about how your employee ownership company is dealing with the downturn.

2 pages. Excerpt: "Employers may recreate their own version of the Employee Health Insurance Responsibility Disclosure (HIRD) form. However, all information must be included, with the same wording and order, and the sequence and numbering of the Questions must be exactly as it appears on the version provided by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts."

Excerpt: "Effective immediately, Dayton-based NCR (NYSE: NCR) will reduce its employee savings match, [Bill Nuti, chief executive officer, said in a Dec. 29 memo to employees.] This is a tactic taken by many companies to shave expenditures. The company also will cancel a $5 million travel program given annually to employees who win achievement awards. Nuti also said all international benefit plans, such as pension plans and retirement plans, are under review and he expects another announcement this month about them."

Excerpt: "People are policy. And now that President-elect Barack Obama has fielded his team of Tom Daschle as secretary of Health and Human Services and Melody Barnes as director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, we can predict both the strategy and substance of the new administration's health-care reform. The prognosis is not good for patients, physicians or taxpayers. If Mr. Daschle meant what he wrote in his book 'Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis,' Americans can expect a quick, hard push to build more federal bureaucracy, impose price controls, restrict medicines and technology, boost taxes, mandate the purchase of health insurance, and expand government health care."

Excerpt: "More companies are allowing women -- and some men, too -- to bring their babies to work. The advantages are clear: The women don't lose money by taking maternity leave. They can breastfeed conveniently. And they can bond with the baby rather than worry that he or she will develop a closer connection with a nanny or a day-care provider. Of course, disadvantages are clear, too. The needs and noises of babies have the potential to be highly disruptive and to stir resentment among co-workers."

Excerpt: "Two new studies led by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, suggest that taking maternity leave before and after the birth of a baby is a good investment in terms of health benefits for both mothers and newborns. One study found that women who started their leave in the last month of pregnancy were less likely to have cesarean deliveries, while another found that new mothers were more likely to establish breastfeeding the longer they delayed their return to work."

Excerpt: "What are employers required to do for 401(k) participants now, in order to be legally compliant? Fred Reish: ERISA's 'Prudent Man' rule says that fiduciaries -- [fiduciaries would include plan officers and plan committee members] -- have to act with the care, skill, prudence, and diligence of a person who is knowledgeable about participant-directed retirement plans, in this case 401(k)s. You can easily reach the conclusion that they'd have to tell participants what the investments are and explain something about them, but that isn't specified."

Excerpt: "One popular proposal would cap the chief executive's pay at each company at 20 times its average worker's salary. But while Congress may well have compelling reasons to limit executive pay in companies seeking bailout money, voter anger is not a good reason to extend pay caps more generally. To be sure, executive pay in the United States is vastly higher than necessary. Executives in other countries, whose pay is often less than one-fifth that of their American counterparts, seem to work just as hard and perform just as well. The same was true of American executives in the 1980s."

Excerpt: "To stanch the bleeding of valuable talent, McDonald's in 2004 began offering a rich retirement savings perk. Employees who put 5 percent of their salary in the company 401(k) receive a company match of as much as 11 percent, turbocharging their savings right off the bat. To make sure employees take advantage of the program, McDonald's has made enrollment automatic. And to ease the pain of automatically deferring 1 percent of pay, the company gave managers a one-time, 1 percent salary increase."

5 pages. Excerpt: "The regulation is necessary to reflect recent amendments to section 502(c)(4) by the Pension Protection Act of 2006, under which the Secretary of Labor is granted authority to assess civil penalties not to exceed $1,000 per day for each violation of section 101(j), (k), or (l), or section 514(e)(3) of ERISA. . . . [T]he PPA amended . . . ERISA by adding a new disclosure requirement . . . under which the plan administrator of a single-employer defined benefit pension plan must provide written notice of limitations on benefits and benefit accruals to participants and beneficiaries . . . . A notice of benefit limitations must be furnished within 30 days after a plan becomes subject to an ERISA section 206(g) funding-based restriction . . . . [PPA made other amendments that are subject to the new rules, as described herein.]"

8 pages. Excerpt: "Social Security benefits are an important source of income for women of all ages. Today, women receive more than 48 percent of retired worker benefits and almost 46 percent of disabled worker benefits. Women receive 99 percent of non-disabled survivor benefits and 99 percent of widowed mothers and fathers benefits (SSA, 2006A). More than 50 percent of women age 65 and older would live in poverty were it not for their Social Security benefits. Unfortunately, even with Social Security benefits, over 12 percent of all older women are poor."

Excerpt: "Falling share prices have left many option holders -- both senior management and rank-and-file employees -- with severely underwater options. If these options remain underwater for a significant period of time, employee morale and retention could be negatively affected. To help avoid such consequences, companies may wish to consider repricing options to better reflect current share prices. Before doing so, however, a number of important securities, tax and accounting issues should be considered."

61 pages. Excerpt: "Over the past three decades, as the private pension system has shifted from defined benefit (DB) plans toward 401(k) type defined contribution (DC) plans, the financing of benefits has shifted from employers to participants. In 1978, when legislation was enacted authorizing 401(k) type plans that allow employees to contribute on a pre-tax basis, 29 percent of contributions to DC plans, and only 11 percent of total contributions to all DB and DC pension plans were contributed by participants. The percent of contributions1 made by the employee to DC plans has doubled since then, but has remained steady at 60 percent for the past eight years."

Excerpt: "From curbs on benefits offerings as companies look to cut budgets, to retirement savings issues as workers see their 401(k) accounts shrink, and health care reform as a new administration takes office, benefit managers face numerous uncertainties as the year begins. . . . Just as benefits managers are waiting to see how their benefits departments will be affected by the economic downturn, they are pondering if and when health care reform will occur and how their organizations will be affected . . . ."

From 401khelpcenter.com, LLC. Excerpt: "This white paper explores [fee transpancy and] disclosure efforts by the federal government over the last decade, reviews some of the currently pending proposals, and offers some insights for the future."

Excerpt: "In November 2008, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the 'SEC') approved new rules that apply to mutual fund prospectuses that will (i) require key information to appear in plain English in a standardized order at the front of the prospectus, and (ii) permit a fund to satisfy its prospectus delivery obligations using a short form 'summary prospectus,' as long as the full prospectus is available on the Internet and in paper upon request."

Excerpt: "Its 10:30 pm?do you know where your 401(k) assets are? Unfortunately, the plan sponsors who had their assets invested with Bernard Madoff didn't. And the resulting losses have been devastating to their unknowing participants. Madoff's operations lacked any sort of transparency. His clients, including a number of large 401(k) plans, simply didn't know where their assets were or how they were invested. If your plans, or the plans of your clients, utilize Collective Trusts, Collective Funds, Unit Investment Trusts, or other tools with similar names, you face a similar lack of transparency. . . . As fiduciaries, we cannot fulfill our duties without full transparency. We've heard that all year as it relates to fee disclosure, but the Madoff fraud reminds us that we also have to apply that to the structure of the investments we offer to plan participants. Collective Trusts, Collective Funds, and Unit Investment Trusts simply don't meet the transparency standard."

Chart. 2 pages. Excerpt: "The Act includes Technical Corrections related to the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA) and pension recovery provisions designed to provide relief for individuals and plan sponsors to help them deal with the economic downturn. This summary focuses on the defined contribution-related provisions of the Act and includes a brief explanation of the new provisions and the corresponding effective dates."

Excerpt: "That said, I'm not altogether sure where one crosses the line between a series of related occurrences and 'a trend' -- when the tipping point is reached, the Rubicon crossed . . . . What I do know is that we are still at a point where the decision to suspend a 401(k) match is 'news.' And I dread the day -- should it ever come -- when it isn't."

Excerpt: "While it's still, too early to tell if the upcoming influenza season will be mild, moderate or severe, health plans [say] that they're extending their outreach efforts to get as many of their members vaccinated as possible. And a researcher associated with the strain-selection process used in developing each year's vaccine [says] that this year's version should be right on target."

Excerpt: "UnitedHealth Group on Dec. 1 became the first health plan to fully launch itself into the increasingly crowded field of online health content, personal health records (PHRs) and e-commerce. That same day, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts said a new partnership with Google Health would allow its members to import claims-based health information into a PHR. Last month, Aetna Inc. said it would give members access to Microsoft Corp.'s HealthVault PHR."

Excerpt: "When CMS came to audit CIGNA HealthCare of Arizona's Medicare Advantage prescription drug (MA-PD) plan in May, the company was prepared, said Jody Miller, operations manager in the Medicare administration and compliance department. And the best piece of advice she could give other plans is to do the same. Put everything that CMS wants to look at together, and have it ready for the auditors when they get there, she advised attendees at the recent Medicare Enrollment and PDE Data Summit sponsored by CBI in Alexandria, Va."

Excerpt: "In taking the case of Metlife v. Glenn, the Supreme Court attempted to bring some clarity to ERISA denial of benefit cases when the insurer is both the one to determine the benefits and pay them. Instead, things are now even more confused. We already reported how the Fourth Circuit took the new language of Glenn and used it to reverse a decision for the plaintiff. Now comes the Second Circuit in McCauley v. First Unum Life Ins. Co., No. 06-5100 (2d Cir. Dec. 23, 2008), doing the exact opposite."

Excerpt: "Sears has announced that it is suspending its 401(k) match for most employees. A Chicago Sun-Times article, quoting a December 30 memo to employees from Sears Holdings Corp. Interim CEO Bruce Johnson, said the match suspension is effective January 31, 2009, and that the company will consider reinstating it when its financial performance improves."

Excerpt: "Distribution planning is one of the most important components of the planning process. Even if you had a detailed plan in place when you established your plan, chances are that things have changed. You should perform a distribution analysis annually. Here are some things to consider . . . ."

Excerpt: "Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. employees who put retirement money in a stable-value fund suffered their first losses because the securities firm's bankruptcy stripped the fund of insurance protection. The fund, managed by Invesco Ltd., wrote down certain bond assets, resulting in a 1.7 percent loss this month for Lehman employees and retirees who invested in it, according to two people familiar with the matter. Stable-value funds promise to protect investors' principal and maintain a consistent price of $1 a share because they are insured. The insurance coverage can be dropped if a company undergoes significant changes, as Lehman did in the biggest U.S. bankruptcy."

Excerpt: "The year of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals has ended with a series (seven, by my count) of dissents and one reluctant concurrence from Justice Starcher. In a case involving a hospital's subrogation claim: 'I dissent because, in my 12 years on the appellate bench, I have too often seen arcane procedural decisions like this one flow forth from this Court. These decisions brilliantly and eloquently describe the trees, while failing to recognize the surrounding forest. These kinds of decisions may be technically correct, but they wholly miss the public policy waves that will ripple from the Court's decision...'"

Excerpt: "Although many pension plans have given way to employee contribution plans, Stuart Zalowitz, managing partner at Zalowitz Frisch Benefits Group, says many smaller professional groups such as accountants and doctors still use pension plans as long as they have reliable income streams to fund them. That's just not the case with some of the bigger companies and they're the ones who will struggle. 'The trust in the defined benefits plans in the wrong situation are deadly to corporations,' he says."