Today’s Federal Register.
More on the IBM Cash Balance Plan Decision:
The Wall Street Journal has an intriguing article today that raises all sorts of questions in my mind: “Memos Sent to IBM Show Awareness Of Pension Moves.” (Subscription required.) While I am sure that there are many other ERISA cases where memos/emails from non-lawyer professionals have turned out to be terribly damaging to a defendant’s cause, one comes to mind which has been in the news lately. Would these cases have had different results if the defendants’ attorney(s) had hired the consultants to do the analysis so that the correspondence would have been protected by the attorney-client privilege?
In another article, Ari Weinberg for Forbes reports: “Pension Plans Wade Into Murky Water.” The article quotes James Klein, president of the American Benefits Council, as saying that even though the IBM decision issued last week really “flies in the face of other court decisions,” critics of cash balance plans will try to play it for all that is worth. The article suggests plaintiffs’ attorneys may attempt to bring more lawsuits in the cash balance plan arena.
Mary Deibel for Scripps Howard News Service via the Albuquerque Tribune also has this article entitled “Pension tension prompts legal fight.” The article contains some information regarding the cash balance plans for Verizon and FedEx which give older workers a choice between the old formula and the cash balance plan formula.
Andrea Coombes for CBS Marketwatch reports: “Cash-balance plans under fire: Court ruling against IBM could invalidate all such plans.
On other news:
While hardly anything new could be said about expensing stock options, this article–“Unhatched Chickens“–breathes some new life into a subject we are all tired of hearing about–stock option expensing. The op-ed by Stephen W. Stanton for Tech Central Station says that stock option expensing can be likened to the “mandatory counting of unhatched financial chickens.” The article also reports that while William Donaldsen, the SEC’s Chairman, is a proponent of stock option expensing, Bush is not.
With all of the worry about retirement plan investment returns, there seems to be a greater focus on controlling plan expenses as was reported about here yesterday and now in this article at 401khelpcenter.com: “What Does Your Plan Really Cost, And How Can You Lower It?”
“In 10 Years, Family & Medical Leave Act Has Transformed Lives, Workplaces“: a very interesting article by Kenneth Aaron for Times Union via the International Foundation of Employee Benefits Plans about how the Family and Medical Leave Act has changed the workplace.
The Wall Street Journal also reports: “EEOC Sees Rise in Complaints Involving Intrarace Color Bias.” (Subscription required.)