Law Commons^™

The Limitations Of Retirement Plan Law, Peter M. Van Zante

ExpressO

It is widely believed that employers determine whether or not their employees receive retirement benefits and the type and amount of any benefits that are received. This belief is mistaken. While sponsorship of a retirement plan is a voluntary choice on the part of the sponsoring employer and the sponsoring employer directly controls the type of plan and the level of benefits provided, the employer's choices on these matters are controlled by its employees' preferences for different forms of compensation. An employer must spend the funds available for employee compensation so as to provide its employees with those forms of …

Recovering Retirement Security: An Analysis Of The Lockdown Claims Under Erisa, As Illustrated By The Enron Litigation, Margo Eberlein

Chicago-Kent Law Review

This Note discusses Enron's lockdown of its 401(k) plan, the effect this decision had on Enron employees' pension funds, and the legal implications of this decision under the current statutory framework, ERISA. It describes the lawsuit filed by Enron employees in an attempt to recover some of the lost funds, as well as the probability of success for that action specifically and similar actions under ERISA in the future.

Commentary: Is It Time To Take The Broom And Really Clean House? A New Paradigm For Employee Benefits, Mary Ellen Signorille

Chicago-Kent Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Changing World Of Employee Benefits, Maria O'Brien Hylton

Chicago-Kent Law Review

The employee benefits picture, at least for many plan participants and some plan sponsors, is a scary and bleak one. The number of workers with pension coverage is declining, health insurance rates are rising much faster than the rate of inflation, and the number of uninsured continues to rise as well. The decline in union density, the recent boost given by the U.S. Supreme Court to Any Willing Provider ("AWP") laws, and the deluge of recent benefits-related scandals are also all part of this landscape. This Article examines each of these issues, with a focus on reforms that would increase …

To Preempt Or Not To Preempt: Hmo Liability Pre And Post Pegram V. Herdrich , Adam D. Glassman

Journal of Law and Health

Should consumers have the right to sue their HMOs (health maintenance organizations) for the way they deliver medical care? In recent years, the federal courts have focused their attention upon, inter alia, the issue of whether HMOs have a duty to reveal financial incentive provisions contained in contracts between the HMO plan physicians to plan members and beneficiaries under a health plan. In fact, on June 12, 2000, the United States Supreme Court, in Pegram v. Herdrich, pondered whether HMO physicians and administrators are fiduciaries under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), and if so, must they exercise their …

Predicting The Future Of Employment Law: Reflecting Or Refracting Market Forces?, Stewart J. Schwab

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

In this Article I predict how employment law will change in the future. My task is positive rather than normative. I will not argue that the developments I foresee are good ones to be applauded. Rather, they arise "inevitably" from the way the law will react to changes in labor markets.

Of course, as Professor Ronald Dworkin emphasizes, in developing a theory of law one cannot sharply distinguish between the positive and normative. Dworkin points out that even in describing the current legal framework, one must choose what to highlight and what to ignore, a process based on values. When …

Erisa Preemption And The Case For A Federal Common Law Of Agency Governing Employer-Administrators, Joshua Fairfield

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Proceedings Of The 1999 Annual Meeting, Association Of American Law Schools Section On Employment Discrimination Law: Is There A Disconnect Between Eeo Law And The Workplace?, Douglas D. Scherer, James C. Sharf, Richard T. Seymour, Maria O'Brien Hylton, Paulette Caldwell

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Preemption Between The Poles: Erisa's Effect On State Common Law Actions Other Than Benefit Claims, Troy A. Price

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Retirement Incentives In The Twenty First Century: The Move Toward Employer Control Of The Adea, Judith A. Mcmorrow

University of Richmond Law Review

Retirement has become an increasingly important topic of public policy discussion in the United States, as well as an accepted, and even cherished, goal for many American workers. Consequently, it is not surprising that the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) recognized, somewhat inartfully, the importance of retirement. When originally passed, the ADEA expressly provided an exemption for any bona fide employee benefit plan such as a retirement, pension, or insurance plan, which is not a subterfuge to evade the purposes of the ADEA. In 1986, Congress amended the ADEA to eliminate mandatory retirement, but made clear in its legislative …

Wards Cove Packing Or Not Wards Cove Packing? That Is Not The Question: Some Thoughts On Impact Analysis Under The Age Discrimination In Employment Act, Mack A. Player

University of Richmond Law Review

Assume two employers, A and B. Each gives a separate objective test to select employees for a particular position. Employer A utilizes a pen-and-paper, multiple choice examination that has questions in three major categories: 1) biology and genetics which includes DNA theory, cloning, etc.; 2) astrophysics, with questions about time, space, light relationships, "black holes," novas, etc. and 3) microprocessor engineering, the internet, silicon chips, and the like.

Organized Labor As Shareholder Activist: Building Coalitions To Promote Worker Capitalism, Marleen A. O'Connor

University of Richmond Law Review

In the past, the traditional question posed by unions was: "which side are you on?"--presenting a clear choice between labor and capital. As membership and bargaining power fall, however, unions are asserting their rights as shareholders to influence corporate decision making outside the conventional labor law framework. Because the National Labor Relations Act does not adequately protect workers' rights, unions have devised innovative methods as shareholders to exercise unprecedented power over managers. In only a few years, labor-shareholders have become highly visible players in the institutional shareholder movement. As a group, labor-shareholders submit one of the largest numbers of shareholder …

The Diversity Of Contingent Workers And The Need For Nuanced Policy, Stewart J. Schwab

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The contingent work force is rising. Policymakers and analysts must respond. These are the central themes of Dr. Belous's paper m this symposium. Twenty-five to thirty percent—his current upper- and lower-bound estimates of the size of the contingent work force—are the basic statistics underpinning his call to arms. Dr. Belous includes in the contingent work force all workers who are temporary, part-time, self-employed, or in business services. The spread comes from different methods of handling double counting. The figures update similar estimates he published in 1989 in his well-known book, The Contingent Economy. Dr. Belous has done a great …

4th Biennial Employment Law Institute, Office Of Continuing Legal Education At The University Of Kentucky College Of Law, Carol Pate Palmore, Robert D. Hudson, J. Whitney Wallingford Iii, James D. Moyer, Walter F. Skiba Jr., Richard E. Blanchard, Richard G. Griffith, Linda Scholle Cowan, Matthew R. Westfall, Carolyn S. Bratt, Richard C. Stephenson, Paula J. Shives, Robert J. Reid, Marvin L. Coan, Jon L. Fleischaker, Joseph M. Hood, William H. Fortune, John Frith Stewart, Donna King Perry, Donald P. Wagner

Continuing Legal Education Materials

Materials from the 4th Biennial Employment Law Institute held by UK/CLE in June 1994.

Working And Poor: The Increasingly Popular Practice Of Excluding Disabled Employees From Health Care Coverage, Maria O'Brien

Faculty Scholarship

One might think, since passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA),' that the employment story for disabled employees or would-be disabled employees was cheerful, or at least improving. This may be true in so far as obtaining and retaining employment is concerned;' however, the ADA, because it permits employers and third-party insurers to continue to utilize traditional risk management techniques, has resulted in reduced or (in some cases) non-existent employee benefits for the disabled. At the same time, more and more employers are opting to self-insure under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA),3 in …

The Status Of The At-Will Employment Doctrine In Virginia After Bowman V. State Bank Of Keysville, Gary S. Marshall, Maris M. Wicker

University of Richmond Law Review

The development of the employment-at-will doctrine has tracked the changing character of the work force from the days of simple master-servant domestic relations to the commercial realities of twentieth-century industrial capitalism. The rule grew out of the humane principle that it would be unjust to employ a laborer during the planting and harvesting months, only to discharge that laborer during the harsh winter. Hence, the realities of the agrarian economy of the British Isles and the closeness of the master and domestic servant relationship shaped the yearly hiring rule. This rule developed into a presumption that a hiring for an …

The Employee Retirement Income Security Act Of 1974 And Union Influence In Pension Fund Investment Decisions, Gerald P. Cunningham

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Unions will eventually attempt to gain a voice in the direction of the investment of pension funds to which their members contribute. The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) contains provisions relating to fiduciary duty which may bar union influence over the investment decision-making process. This Note addresses the issue of whether a union-appointed fiduciary may influence investment decisions to incidentally benefit the union without violating the fiduciary duty provisions of ERISA. Ultimately, Courts should apply a materiality standard when interpreting the fiduciary duty provision of ERISA. The issue should be whether the investment decision was materially affected …

Multiple Legal Representation Of Erisa Plans And Employers Following Allegations Of Fraud And Malfeasance, Elwyn C. Lee

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Qualified Plans Under Erisa: Tax Shelter Or Bureaucratic Paper Chase?, Louise Cobb Boggs

University of Richmond Law Review

The enactment of the Employee Retirement Security Act of 1974 has had a profound and far-reaching impact upon existing employee benefit plans and upon those which have since been created. ERISA, as the act is commonly designated, is a comprehen- sive federal statute with strong consumer protection overtones which sets up strict requirements for regulating most aspects of the operation and administration of private employee benefit plans. Its primary goals are: (1) to protect benefit rights and to provide retirement security for the participants of employee benefit plans by setting out minimum standards for nondiscriminatory participation, vesting, benefit accrual, and …

Spendthrift Trusts And Employee Pensions: The Problem Of Creditors' Rights, Jeffrey G. Sherman

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The "Elaborate Interweaving Of Jurisdiction:" Labor And Tax Administration And Enforcement Of Erisa And Beyond, John W. Lee

University of Richmond Law Review

On Labor Day 1974, President Ford signed into law~the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, commonly known by its acronym ERISA. The genesis of ERISA is found in a study released in 1965 by the President's Committee on Corporate Pension Fund and Other Private Retirement and Welfare Programs, titled "Public Policy and Private Pension Programs-A Report to the President on Private Employee Retirement Plans." The Committee had been established in 1962 by President Kennedy in recognition of the growth of the pension industry and the need for reform. The report made recommendations as to vesting; funding; termination insurance and …