Retirement Security Law Commons^™

An Attempt To Bring Modern Workplace Realities To The Social Security Disability Adjudication System, Robert E. Rains

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

No abstract provided.

The Emerging Law Of Portable Retirement Benefits, Paul M. Secunda

Chicago-Kent Law Review

No abstract provided.

A More Secure Choice: Minnesota’S Two-Pronged Approach To State Level Retirement Savings Programs, Chad Burkitt

Mitchell Hamline Law Journal of Public Policy and Practice

No abstract provided.

A Lesson From Goodfellas: Why Current Illinois Consideration Based Pension Reform Proposals Still Fail, Lari A. Dierks

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

No abstract provided.

How Special Is The Special Timing Rule? Analyzing The Timing Of Fica Taxation In Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Plans, Alan J. Ponce

Georgia State University Law Review

Many employers offer nonqualified deferred compensation plans as a benefit to select employees, and those plans allow the employees to prepare for retirement in a tax-efficient manner. For employers,designing and administering such plans in compliance with federal law represents a paramount concern in order to achieve the tax advantages such plans entail. However, for these employers, there remains an inherent ambiguity in the tax code regarding how and when employers should withhold Federal Insurance Contribution Act (FICA) taxes—that is, Social Security and Medicare taxes—on deferred compensation in nonqualified retirement plans.

Tax regulations provide two distinct methods for withholding FICA taxes …

Promoting Retirement Security For Low-Income Workers In Illinois: An Analysis And Lessons For Other States, Philip C. Aka, Chidera V. Oku, Murna Habila

Akron Law Review

This Article makes suggestions for promoting retirement security among low-income workers in Illinois with pointed lessons for workers in other U.S. states. Adapting a framework from a previous study by the principal author, the Article portrays retirement preparedness for low-income workers in Illinois as a function of changes in Social Security, employer-sponsored pensions, and personal assets—the famed “three-legged stool” of retirement income—synchronized with reduction of disparities between socioeconomic groups in education, healthcare, and housing. Many studies on retirement security focus excessively on the national level sometimes at the expense of the subnational phenomena that complicate retirement security and increase the …

Addressing The Retirement Crisis With Shadow 401(K)S, Deepa Das Acevedo

Notre Dame Law Review Reflection

This Essay discussed the Shadow 401(k) and its feasibility as a response to the "retirement crisis."

Eliminating Arbitrary Age Descrimination In 401(K) And Pension Plan Eligibility Requirements: A Simple Fix To Encourage Younger Workers To Save For Retirement, Andrew J. Clopton

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform Caveat

Current federal law allows companies to exclude their youngest workers from participating in 401(k) and other pension plans. Public policy should encourage young workers to contribute to retirement as early as practicable, rather than impose obstacles to saving. Workers who begin saving even a few years earlier improve their retirement security and reduce the likelihood they will be dependent on the government later in life. While “age discrimination” is conventionally thought of as the mistreatment of older workers, this concept applies equally to employees who are differentiated based solely on their young age. Thus, Congress should amend the Internal Revenue …

The Best Of Times And The Worst Of Times: Lessons From Recent Reforms Of The French Retirement, Kathryn L. Moore

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Are Defined Contribution Pension Plans Fit For Purpose In Retirement?, Jeremy R. Cooper

Seattle University Law Review

This Article considers the historical basis for the shift from defined benefit plans to defined contribution plans, the structural and practical shortcomings of defined contribution plans, alternate pension models, and adjustments to existing retirement plan models that may offer a degree of protection to plan contributors. Like the United States, Australia is now realizing the limitations of a defined contribution retirement system insofar as it relates the provision of reliable retirement income for a population with increasing life expectancy. Unlike defined contribution plans, defined benefit plans provide a benefit based typically on time served and a predetermined proportion of either …

The Shifting Focus Of Federal Intervention In Retiree Health Benefits, Susan E. Cancelosi

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

How To Accomplish A Successful Tax-Free Pension Plan Rollover, Steven T. Graham

Pepperdine Law Review

Advising a client how to accomplish a tax-free rollover from one pension plan to another has been an area of confusion for the general practitioner. In order to end this confusion the author examines recent statutory amendments, Internal Revenue Service rulings and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. The author then outlines, in conjunction with the recent changes in the law, potential pension plan rollover scenarios that can aid the client. After a thorough discussion of the available rollovers and the benefits and drawbacks of each, the author concludes with a chart designed to provide quick identification of the most …

Employee Stock Ownership Plans And Corporate Takeovers: Restraints On The Use Of Esops By Corporate Officers And Directors To Avert Hostile Takeovers, Margaret E. Mclean

Pepperdine Law Review

In 1974, Congress enacted the Employee Retirement and Income Security Act (ERISA), which was designed to promote employee benefit plans and provide safeguards for the assets of the plans. An employee stock ownership plan is a device used by corporations which holds corporate stock as the primary asset of the employee benefit plan. Recently, corporate executives have seized the opportunity to use ESOPs as a defensive tactic for averting takeovers considered to be adverse to the corporation. However, provisions of ERISA, particularly relating to fiduciary duty, exclusive benefit, and prudence, seriously impede the use of an ESOP by incumbent management …

A Primer On The Need To Continue Monitoring Closely The Transfer Of Social Welfare Risk And Liability Of Employee Benefit Plans, James E. Holloway

Cleveland State Law Review

This Article examines why federal legislative policy-makers and judicial decision-makers should ascertain the impact of the transfer of risk and liability on furthering welfare and security interests and preserving organizational discretion under ERISA and public policy. Part I explains why business organizations or employers transfer risk and liability to employees and retirees. This transfer occurs where global business outcomes cause social consequences that are driven directly by business decisions responding to new global competition and less American economic standing. Part II explains the need to assess the substantive issues and public policy concerns underlying legislative acts and judicial interpretations limiting …

A Plain Meaning Interpretation Of Erisa’S Preemption And Saving Clauses: In Support Of A State Law Preemption Of Section 1132(A) Of Erisa’S Civil Enforcement Provisions

San Diego Law Review

Most of that change has involved the direction in which the Court has taken its interpretation of the phrase “relate to” as contained in ERISA’s express preemption clause. Changing course after approximately twenty-five years of expansively interpreting the preemption clause, the Court has moved from a very broad interpretation of “relate to,” as announced in Pilot Life v. Dedeaux, to a more practical, case-by-case evaluation that principally asks whether a disputed state law interferes with ERISA’s purposes and objectives, as discussed in New York State Conference of Blue Cross & Blue Shield Plans v. Travelers Insurance Co1 If the state …

Stock Market Volatility And 401 (K) Plans, Colleen E. Medill

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Many workers today depend on their 401(k) plan to provide them with an adequate income during retirement. For these workers to achieve retirement income security, their 401(k) plan investments must perform well over their working lifetime. Employers' selection of investment options for the 401(k) plan, a fiduciary duty under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), plays a critical role in determining investment performance. In this Article, Professor Medill uses a series of hypothetical litigation scenarios to illustrate how interpretation of the employer's duty of prudence and duty of loyalty under ERISA present different policy choices for the …

Hidden In Plain View: The Pension Shield Against Creditors, Patricia E. Dilley

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Right To Retirement Benefits

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Erisa And The Bankruptcy Code: Stepping Into Quicksand Or Something Else, Post Mackey, Maria A. Di Pippo, Gerald P. Wolf

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Changing The Rules Of The Game: Pension Plan Terminations And Early Retirement Benefits, Dana M. Muir

Michigan Law Review

This Note examines whether early retirement benefits are included among the liabilities that an employer must satisfy before that employer can receive a reversion of excess assets. Part I reviews the background of plan terminations and how they affect early retirement benefits. It also discusses the general structure of ERISA. Part II examines the controversy surrounding whether ERISA's definition of "accrued benefits" includes early retirement benefits. ERISA requires that employees receive all of their accrued benefits before the employers receive any reversions. However, the circuits have disagreed as to whether early retirement benefits are accrued benefits and, therefore, covered by …

Protecting Retired Workers From Inflation: Collective Bargaining For Retiree Benefits, Richard M. Bank, Thomas C. Woodruff

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The purpose of this article is to explore whether the collective bargaining process in its present form, or with certain modifications, can provide workers with meaningful protection against inflation. Part I evaluates the adequacy of the collective bargaining process by examining the internal dynamics of unions, the interests of employers and the application of the doctrine of fair representation to collective bargaining. After concluding that the current system inadequately protects retirees, Part II proposes alternative methods to strengthen the role of retirees in the collective bargaining process.

Labor Law--Collective Bargaining--The Retirement Benefits Of Retired Employees Are A Mandatory Subject Of Bargaining Because Retirees Are "Employees" Under The Nlra And Because Active Employees Have An Interest In Such Benefits--Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company, Chemical Division, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Recent Development will examine the substance and implications of the latter aspect of Pittsburgh Plate Glass, although it is only dictum in the case. The third ground of the Board's conclusion regarding retirement benefits was really only a general reiteration of the first two. It is therefore apparent that that ground is dependent upon the validity of either or both of the other two bases of the Board's conclusion.