Pension Protection Act Blog

Prof. Paul M. Secunda over at the Workplace Prof Blog discusses the article in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal about Wal-Mart’s health and welfare plan.
In Wal-Mart Insured Ranks Rise, reporter Ann Zimmerman states that:

“The world’s biggest retailer by sales said 690,970 employees, or 50% of its almost 1.4 million staff, signed up for company-furnished health insurance […]

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One of the reasons I write plan documents for a living is because they are so interesting. Each plan document is like writing a novel, and a good plan document reads like a good novel. The other reason I like writing plan documents for a living is that the IRS requires a plan […]

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For an employee working two jobs, can they receive qualified transportation fringe benefits from each employer? With more employers adding transit and parking benefits for their employees, and more employees working multiple jobs, this question keeps popping up.
The answer to this question is generally “yes” - an employee working two jobs can receive qualified […]

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Roy F. Harmon III of the Health Plan Law blog is reporting that a Petition for Certiorari has been filed in Administrative Committee of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. v. Shank, and has a copy of the petition for cert. posted on his website. He is also reporting that the Court has sent a letter to […]

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Another Walmart Health and Welfare reimbursement decision, this time out of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. In Administrative Committee v. Horton, No. 07-10012 (Jan. 15, 2008), the 11th Circuit reversed the district court’s decision which had granted summary judgment to the participant, and remanded the case back to the district court for further […]

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As defined contribution prototype and volume submitter plans begin to restate for EGTRRA later this year, and electronic storage of the old plan documents and amendments becomes more prevalent, this case is worth remembering before designing an electronic storage system. Even though the Court found no rational basis for the TPA firm’s storage system, […]

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One set of facts, two plan documents involved = two different outcomes.
While redrafting a cafeteria plan document to update the language in the plan, the Eleventh Circuit’s decision in Popowski v. Parrott, No. 05-10235 (Aug. 24, 2006), popped back up as a reminder to carefully consider the reimbursement language in the plan document.
Popowski caught my […]

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Back in August, I wrote about the announcement by Clarian Health that they would be charging employees for unhealthy practices, such as smoking.
Daniel Lee, in an article in the Indianapolis Star, reports that Clarian Health has decided to change the program so that it is now voluntary, and involves payment instead of penalty. Employees […]

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The 9th Circuit provides a good reminder about carefully writing plan restatements in Shane v. Albertson’s Inc, No. 05-56319 (Oct. 15, 2007).
Stacey Shane was employed by Albertson’s, and was a participant in Albertson’s Disability Plan, when she suffered a knee injury in 1999 and began receiving Long Term Disability (LTD) benefits. When Shane suffered […]

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The law firm of Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner has put together a handy chart containing changes to Welfare and Health Plans from 2005 to October 2007, including the effective dates.
Technorati Tags: Pension Protection Act, Thelen Reid, health plan, effective date, ppa, pension, retirement, employee […]

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