05/17/2012
Even if they’ve been diligently socking away money in their 401(k) plans, employees who are about to retire are no doubt nervous about their financial futures. The nagging question: With retirees living longer, will their retirement savings last as long as they do? Believe it or not, the IRS wants to help.
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05/10/2012
It’s a benefit designed to retain long-term employees, but the practice of allowing retiring government workers to cash out unused leave may turn into an actuarial time bomb. The problem: Local governments are shedding employees at a record pace, often through early-retirement packages. And the leave liability is largely unfunded.
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04/11/2012
How many of your retirement-age employees are just hanging around so they can receive benefits and collect paychecks, simply because they can’t afford to stop working? It’s in employers’ best interests to improve the retirement outcomes for their employees by creating a culture of retirement readiness.
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04/03/2012
A state appeals court has reversed a lower court ruling and held that the city of Yonkers’ refusal to reimburse new employees for their statutorily required Tier V retirement plan contributions was not subject to arbitration. Our firm—Bond, Schoeneck & King—represented the city of Yonkers in the litigation.
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03/29/2012
Two recent settlements make what should be an obvious point: You can’t misappropriate employees’ retirement money and expect to get away with it. Cases in West Chester and Bethlehem show that the feds will come looking for you, and make you pay it back.
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03/08/2012
Austin-based information technology firm HBMG and its president, Manuel Zarate, have agreed to settle a lawsuit alleging the company failed to transfer employee retirement fund contributions into its 401(k) program.
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02/15/2012
Q. We hired a nonexempt part-time employee, but for several months she’s been working about 40 hours a week. Are we required by law to convert her to full-time status and offer benefits if she averages near 40 hours?
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01/20/2012
Q. An employee’s spouse has become disabled. Even though this employee is younger than 59½, he’d like to take a distribution out of his 401(k) account. Can we accommodate him?
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11/23/2011
The U.S. District Court for Western Pennsylvania has ordered Kevin T. Weir, chief executive officer of Liberty-Pittsburgh Inc., to repay $67,138 to his employee’s 401(k) plan. The settlement resulted from an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s EBSA.
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11/09/2011
Using its power under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, the Department of Labor’s Employee Benefit Security Administration has taken over the 401(k) plan of the Northland Inn in Minneapolis after the hotel’s owner ceased operations in 2009.
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11/07/2011
The federal government is suing the owners of a Columbus printing company and their pension plan administrator, claiming they all failed to execute their fiduciary responsibilities to employees. At issue is more than $400,000 in funds missing from two pension accounts set up for employees of Clark Graphics.
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10/03/2011
The Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) is suing Keith Davis, owner of Elmhurst-based A.B.D. Tank & Pump Co., claiming he drained his employees’ retirement fund of $1.9 million.
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09/30/2011
Employees who were automatically enrolled in a defined contribution retirement plan—401(k)s and 403(b)s, for example—and who participate in automatic contribution increase programs have a 25% higher contribution rate than other employees, according to the Mercer consulting firm.
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09/15/2011
When cash for pay raises is tight, it’s hard to use that as a carrot to attract and retain employees. But the uncertain economy has many workers increasingly focused on long-term financial security. That makes retirement benefits all the more attractive. If you don’t currently offer a retirement plan, it might be time to consider establishing a 401(k) plan.
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08/08/2011
On June 24, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the Marriage Equality Act, which allows same-sex couples to be married in New York and to have, with certain exceptions, the same legal protections available to opposite-sex couples married in New York. The law has important implications for employer-provided benefits.
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