Retirement

Obama proposes automatic IRA enrollment

02/16/2010

President Obama used his State of the Union address in January to call on Congress to create a new kind of employer-sponsored retirement account: the “automatic workplace IRA.” By default, workers would be enrolled in a direct-deposit individual retirement account. Workers could opt out of the program, but they would proactively have to do so.

Aurora trucking firm sued for bilking employees on benefits

02/16/2010

The U.S. Department of Labor has sued Mid-State Express, alleging that the trucking company collected health care premiums from its employees, but never actually used them to buy insurance. As a result, employees face more than $3 million in unpaid medical bills.

Eagles’ Vick still dogged—this time by pension woes

01/27/2010

Philadelphia Eagles backup quarterback Michael Vick may be back in the NFL, but the litigation continues. The Employee Benefits Security Administration discovered that pension funds in one of Vick’s companies were improperly diverted to Vick to pay his criminal restitution. Now Vick must pay $400,000.

Pension Protection Act of 2006

01/02/2010

HR Law 101: The Pension Protection Act of 2006 allows employers to more easily move employees from defined benefit plans to defined contribution plans. It also established tougher standards for employers to meet to ensure existing pensions’ solvency.

Make sure attorney coordinates your response to disability retirement claim and ADA defense

12/11/2009

Employees who manage to win both disability retirement benefits and an ADA case get the best of all possible worlds—a regular retirement check, plus a lump-sum jury award for their employer’s failure to accommodate their disability. Employees can pursue both claims if they can show that, with an accommodation, they could have performed their jobs. But if it’s very clear from their testimony in the disability retirement case that they couldn’t possibly perform their jobs under any circumstances, then their ADA cases will be dismissed.

Eaton Neck Fire Department settles age discrimination suit

12/09/2009

The Eaton Neck Fire Department agreed to settle an EEOC age discrimination suit that challenged the department’s practice of not allowing the time firefighters serve after their 65th birthdays to count toward length-of-service awards. And those awards are critical to firefighters because they’re used to calculate pension benefits.

Fort Lauderdale suit shows cops don’t know all the laws

12/08/2009

When Fort Lauderdale police officers sued the city, they claimed an early retirement offered to older workers violated the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). The grounds: that a release the city asks the departing officers to sign illegally makes retirees relinquish all claims against the city.

North Carolina Supreme Court rules: No unemployment with voluntary early retirement

12/04/2009

Employees who decide to accept their employer’s offer for early retirement can’t also collect unemployment compensation. So said the North Carolina Supreme Court in a decision based on a simple concept: The employee would still have a job if he or she hadn’t chosen instead to take the enhanced retirement benefits offered as an incentive to leave early.

Charlotte’s BofA on the hook for Merrill Lynch’s bull

10/23/2009

Merrill Lynch—now owned by Charlotte-based Bank of America—has reached a settlement with retired teachers in Ohio who sued when the brokerage firm allegedly misstated earnings expectations before the housing market tanked a year and a half ago. The Ohio State Teachers Retirement System’s windfall: $475 million.

Ohio retirees to see refunds following Merrill Lynch’s bull

10/05/2009

Ohio Attorney General Richard Codray announced that a settlement with Merrill Lynch means the State Teachers Retirement System will be among the investors set to gain after the brokerage firm misstated earnings expectations before the housing market tanked a year and a half ago.