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Retirement

Consider hidden costs before cutting retiree benefits

03/01/2008

Thirty-five percent of organizations offered retiree health benefits in 2007, up from 29% the year before, according to the Society for Human Resource Management. Even so, benefits analysts say organizations are under pressure to drop the coverage to save money and to lessen a costly liability line on their financial statements …

Sample IRS form helps announce auto-Enrollment

03/01/2008

Recent U.S. Labor Department rules make it easier (and legally safer) to automatically enroll employees in your company’s 401(k) plan. If you plan to make the switch to auto-enrollment, take note: The IRS has issued a sample notice that you can use …

File under: No such thing as a free lunch

03/01/2008
A Palatine man has been charged with theft by deception after he failed to report that the telecommunications company Avaya, had deposited paychecks totaling $469,000 into his checking account, despite the fact that he never worked there …

Big Supreme Court ruling gives employees the green light to sue over 401(k) losses

03/01/2008
In a decision that could spark more lawsuits against retirement-plan administrators, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Feb. 20 that participants in 401(k) plans can sue to recover losses if they think their account was mismanaged …

When is retirement not retirement? When the retiree is on workers’ comp

02/01/2008

No doubt about it, the workers’ compensation system is a headache for employers. It’s full of frustrations and surprises. Consider, for example, the fairly common scenario of a retired employee receiving workers’ comp payments. Seems like retiring would end workers’ compensation payments, right? Not necessarily, as the following case illustrates …

Illinois among states with underfunded pension obligations

02/01/2008

About half the states have underfunded the retirement plans of their public workers, according to a recent study by the Pew Center on the States. The center warns that states on the bottom half of the list may have to choose between honoring their pension obligations and funding other state programs …

Florida a national leader in pension funding

02/01/2008

Florida is a national leader in saving up for its public-employee pension bill, according to a recent study by the Pew Center on the States. Even so, the state faces a $3.6 billion pension-funding shortfall. Most states are in worse shape …

Georgia a national leader in public-Pension funding

02/01/2008

Georgia is a national leader in saving up for its public employee pension bill, according to a recent study by the Pew Center on the States. The state’s pension trust is sufficient to cover 96% of projected pension costs, compared to the national average among states of 82% …

North Carolina gets high marks for pension management

02/01/2008

North Carolina is one of only a handful of states with a fully funded pension, according to a recent study by the Pew Center on the States, although the state’s obligations for retiree health care and other benefits is underfunded by $139 million …

A pension to die for

02/01/2008

Is it a sad sign of the times, or a story as old as time? David Willis, postmaster for the U.S. Postal Service in Cornelius, has been indicted for soliciting someone to murder his ex-wife so he wouldn’t have to share his pension benefits with her …