This is not, at this point, a novel idea, but I do take credit for being one of the first to blog regularly on the thesis that we are approaching, if haven’t by now already hit, a perfect storm when it comes to retirement benefits and ERISA. The perfect storm consists of a series of
Employee Benefit Plans
On ERISA and the Potential Liability of Senior Executives
Susan Mangiero of FTI Consulting, who blogs at Pension Risk Matters (as well as at Good Risk Governance Pays) and is one of my favorite sources of information concerning the investment and risk management realities that lie behind the façade of ERISA governed plans, is, along with a few other worthies, presenting a…
An Entertaining Little Primer on Cash Balance Plans
By Stephen Rosenberg on
All right, I am getting back in the saddle after a couple weeks off from blogging to recharge my batteries and tie up some key end of the year issues in a few cases. Not wanting to do too much heavy lifting on my first day back on the blog beat, I thought I would…
Talking About Fees
Summer time and the living is easy. Well no, not really – which is fine, because nothing makes a lawyer (at least this lawyer) more nervous than having time on his hands. Time demands have, though, cut down on my posting since the 4th. Still, I have had time over the past few weeks to…
Live Blogging from Bentley College . . .
Live blogging is usually used to mean that someone is attending a seminar and putting up posts about it while there. I mean it differently, that I will be talking live, about the topics I regularly address in my blog posts, at this seminar on May 10 hosted by Asset Strategy Consultants-Boston. The seminar is…
From Studebaker to Stock Drops, in One Lawyer’s Lifetime
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in Employee Benefit Plans, ERISA Statutory Provisions
How cool is this? I have talked in various posts and in seminars, webinars and the like for years about the transition from defined benefit plans to defined contribution plans, and how that integrates with the development of the law of fiduciary liability under ERISA. I am, in fact, outlining comments for a seminar later…
On SPDs and Compliance
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in Employee Benefit Plans
Compliance is its own reward. I think that’s my new motto for one of the underlying themes of this blog, which is the importance of strong operational compliance in running any ERISA governed plan. The return on that investment takes many forms, running from happier – or at least less disgruntled – employees, to better…
Handling the Impact on Benefit Plans of Corporate Acquisitions
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in Employee Benefit Plans
Here is a fine overview of employee benefit issues that arise after a corporate transaction. Of interest to me in particular is the discussion of compliance problems – broadly defined – in maintaining or running off the seller’s benefit plans and in amending the buyer’s plan to deal with the acquired employees or the coordination…
An Unfortunately Timely Topic: When Severance Programs are ERISA Plans
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Nothing shows up in my practice any more frequently, particularly in this economy and over the last couple of years, than severance packages, and the question of whether a particular severance package program is governed by ERISA. Roy Hoskins, on the ERISABoard.com site, reviews this issue, and its application by the District of Maine under…
Pozek on 403(b) Plans
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in Employee Benefit Plans
I always wondered what benefits whiz Adam Pozek did on Sundays, and now I know – he writes excellent blog posts on 403(b) plans, like this one right here! My own experience with such plans has concerned disputes over them, but Adam provides an interesting overview of the regulatory structure of the 403(b) plan…