Pension Protection Act Blog

Yesterday, the Wisconsin Supreme Court decided Summers v. Touchpoint Health Plan Inc., No. 2005AP2643 (May 28, 2008), affirming the Wisconsin Court of Appeals decision ordering the case remanded and the participant’s benefits in the Kimberly Clark health plan reinstated as of the date that the benefits were terminated.
When the Summers’ young son was […]

[Read more →]

As the lawsuit against the U.S. Sugar ESOP proceeds in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, it continues to fascinate. Today, the International Herald Tribune is reporting that the company has announced employees owning shares through the ESOP will not be permitted to attend the annual shareholders meeting. Such an […]

[Read more →]

The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College has created an interactive retirement game, and posted it on their website. The game is called Get Rich Slow, and follows a fictional couple through several decades starting when they are in their 40’s. For each decade, the game asks retirement-related questions about such topics […]

[Read more →]

With most cases involving a conflict between the plan document and the Summary Plan Description (SPD), it is the plaintiff who is arguing that the language in the SPD should apply instead of the language in the plan document. Not so for a case decided by the 6th Circuit today. In Kolpacke v. […]

[Read more →]

Employee benefit plans involving churchs are fascinating because traditional employee plan concepts are a poor fit when it comes to church employees. With Church 403(b) plans caught in the intersection this year between the Final 403(b) Regulations, which may require some church plans to restate onto an updated plan document by January 1, 2009, […]

[Read more →]

Communicating with employees about the retirement plans available to them can be an exercise in boredom and frustration for everyone involved. The employee whose eyes are more glazed over than the donuts being served at the enrollment meeting will be the same terminated employee two year later who will fail to understand why they […]

[Read more →]

Yesterday, in In re Marriage Cases, No. S147999 (May 15, 2008), the California Supreme Court addressed the issue of whether domestic partnership is the same as marriage. As framed by the Court, the issue they addressed in this decision is:
“Accordingly, the legal issue we must resolve is not whether it would be constitutionally permissible […]

[Read more →]

The IRS released Revenue Procedure 2008-29, containing the 2009 inflation adjusted amounts determined under Code section 223(g) for Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). For calendar year 2009, the annual limitation is $3,000 for deductions under Code section 223(b)(2)(A) for an individual with self-only coverage under a high deducitble health plan. For an indiviudal with […]

[Read more →]

The ERISA Advisory Council’s Working Group on Participant Benefit Statements has delivered it’s report to the Dept. of Labor. This working group was formed to study the Pension Protecion Act’s requirement that benefits statements are furnished to plan participants in defined benefit and defined contribution plans. The group was also given the task […]

[Read more →]

Here is a pretty good ERISA pop quiz written Barbara P. Pletcher of the law firm of Trucker Huss. In 5 questions, Ms. Pletcher covers a wide variety of ERISA topics. See if you can answer all 5 questions correctly. (hat tip to BenefitsLink)
Technorati Tags: Pension Protection Act, ppa, […]

[Read more →]