Retirement Security Law Commons^™

Mandatory Occupational Retirement Savings : Towards A Program Design Agenda For Hong Kong, John Dixon

Centre for Public Policy Studies : CPPS Working Paper Series

The dual purpose of this paper is:

• to provide a context for the Patten administration's latest, and perhaps its last, aged income-support system reform prescription in terms of possible policy goals, the broad spectrum of income support strategies available, and the internationally-recognised minimum standards for social security programs; and

• to set out a specific program design agenda related to program coverage, withdrawal contingencies, program financing and program administration that the Patten administration needs to address when developing its latest proposed aged income-support program.

Pension Incentives And Job Mobility, Alan L. Gustman, Thomas L. Steinmeier

Upjohn Press

Using models developed for this study which incorporate an array of behaviors generally omitted from conventional models relating backloading to turnover, Gustman and Steinmeier find that backloading plays only a slight role in explaining mobility differences associated with pension coverage. They propose that higher wages often paid at pension-covered jobs play a greater role in reducing mobility than do pensions.

Private Pension Policies In Industrialized Countries: A Comparative Analysis, John A. Turner, Noriyasu Watanabe

Upjohn Press

In this comprehensive review of private pension systems in effect world-wide, Turner and Watanabe discuss the fundamental issues facing nations as they adopt and expand private pension systems. Specific policies in effect in several private pension systems are analyzed including those in nations dominating world pension assets (Japan, Germany, the U.K., and the U.S.), as is the country whose system is widely regarded as the model for developing nations, Chile. Turner and Watanabe also provide a compendium on the worldwide trends influencing pension systems and their implications for pension policy.

Federal Common Law And Gaps In Federal Statutes: The Case Of Erisa Plan Limitation Periods For Section 502(A)(1)(B) Actions, Jim Greiner

Michigan Law Review

This Note argues that federal courts should adopt a uniform national rule that upholds plan provisions modifying the limitation period for a section 502(a)(l)(B) action. Part I examines the reasoning of those courts that have borrowed state law to determine the validity of modifications of the limitation period applicable to actions arising under BRISA section 502(a)(l)(B) and under other federal statutes. Part I argues that those courts may have incorrectly characterized the validity of plan limitation periods as an issue of limitation law. As a consequence of this characterization, those courts have followed the Supreme Court's rule that, when borrowing …

Simas V. Quaker Fabric Corp.: Erisa Preemption Of Statutory Tin Parachutes, Kristin D. Anger

Washington Law Review

In Simas v. Quaker Fabric Corp., the First Circuit invalidated Massachusetts's innovative tin parachute statute, designed to assist workers displaced by corporate takeovers, by finding it preempted by ERISA. After examining the relationship between the tin parachute and ERISA and the analysis in Simas, this Note argues that preemption was mandated neither by ERISA itself nor by decisions interpreting its preemptive reach. In light of the state interest at stake, the Simas decision is unfortunate and suggests the need for a legislative solution.

Employment Discrimination Claims Under Erisa Section 510: Should Courts Require Exhaustion Of Arbitral And Plan Remedies?, Jared A. Goldstein

Michigan Law Review

This Note examines whether courts should require section 510 claimants to exhaust either plan-based or arbitral remedies before seeking judicial relief. It begins by comparing the basis for an exhaustion requirement with respect to benefits claims with the basis for such a requirement with respect to statutory claims - like those under section 510. Part I examines the rationale courts have offered for requiring exhaustion of plan remedies for benefits claims. Part I concludes that federal courts have correctly determined that Congress intended individuals bringing benefits claims to exhaust the remedies provided by the plan before seeking judicial relief. Part …

Right To Retirement Benefits: Board Of Education Of West Islip Union Free School District V. New York State Teachers' Retirement System

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Right To Retirement Benefits: Mcdermott V. Regan

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Economically Targeted Investments: Can Public Pension Plans Do Good And Do Well?, Patrick S. Cross

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Pension Policy For A Mobile Labor Force, John A. Turner, Tabitha A. Doescher, Phyllis A. Fernandez

Upjohn Press

Employers often create a conflict between job mobility and retirement security when they deny future pension benefits to workers who quit a job before reaching retirement age. Unfortunately, this deterrent to job-changing inhibits the labor market's ability to adjust. It also means workers may be unprepared financially upon retirement. Turner describes why pension losses are such a significant problem and presents empirical evidence as to the number of workers affected and the amount of losses they incur. He also probes pension portability policy options and looks at portability options in effect in Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.

Social Security, Taxation Law, And Redistribution: Directions For Reform, Alison Mcclelland, Rick Krever

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

While it is now generally accepted that some redistribution of economic power is a legitimate goal of government, there is no consensus as to the type of redistribution that should be pursued. In the absence of a clear redistributive goal, it is impossible to evaluate critically current law, or make recommendations. for change. In the first part of this article, we examine alternative models of redistribution and advocate a preferred model, namely, redistribution to promote equality of opportunity and to recognize periods of vulnerability. We then evaluate the operation of Australian social security law and taxation law in light of …

Pensions And Passivity, Gregory S. Alexander

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

This article discusses how modem fiduciary law has extended equity's tradition of constructing ownership as passive through the corporate pension system. It examines how the corporate pension system as a mode of owning pooled capital is a new stage of passive ownership. This stage creates a different aspect of the familiar problem of separating control from beneficial ownership. Berle and Means argued that the problem that the separation of control from ownership created was economic. The interests of managers and shareholders in the modern corporation diverge, and, they argued, this divergence diminishes the overall efficiency of the modern economy, dominated …

Defined Benefit Plan Funding: How Much Is Too Much?, Regina T. Jefferson

Scholarly Articles

Ideally, the role of policymakers is to make laws which effectuate change consistent with public interest. However, in order for policy makers to meet this demand, it is necessary for them to identify distinct issues and their respective causes and long term effects. In furtherance of this goal, as it relates to the issue of accelerated funding of qualified defined benefit plans, this Article will address the following questions: (1) whether it is practical to separate the concept of accelerated funding from impending plan termination, (2) whether the removal of excess assets from terminating plans can be deterred in ways …

Right To Retirement Benefits

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Q. Pensions Borden Inc. V. Bakery & Confectionery Union & Industry International Pension

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Machiavelli And The Politics Of Welfare, National Health, And Old Age: A Comparative Perspective Of The Policies Of The United States And Canada, Camilla Watson

Scholarly Works

This Article maintains that in order to fully comprehend the politics of welfare, retirement security, and national health coverage, it is necessary to examine Machiavellian principles in relation to the variables of economic development and inter-party competition. If the principles of Machiavelli are applied in a slightly different and more constructive manner, they may facilitate reform of the American welfare, retirement, and national health systems. Now that the political balance in the United States has shifted from the conservative to the liberal, the time is ripe to consider reforming the entire Social Security system and instituting a comprehensive national health …

The Right To Pension Benefits Under Erisa When A Nonemployee Spouse Predeceases The Employee Spouse, Stacy Lynn Anderson

Washington Law Review

Under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, retirement benefits cannot be assigned or alienated. In 1984, Congress enacted the Retirement Equity Act (REA) which allowed retirement benefits to be divided between former spouses upon divorce, under a qualified domestic relations order (QDRO). It is unclear whether the restriction on alienation of benefits extended to a transfer of the interests of a nonemployee spouse who predeceases the employee spouse, and if so, whether such a disposition is within the QDRO exception. In a two-to-one decision in Ablamis v. Roper, the Ninth Circuit held that the exception did not extend to such …

Regulating Public Pension Fund Investment: The Role Of Federal Legislation, Sharon Reece, Richard Morrissey, Mary Beth Navin

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

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.

Whose Pension Is It Anyway? Erisa And The Bankruptcy Code, Bruce Grohsgal, Marvin Krasny

Bruce Grohsgal

No abstract provided.

Employer Recapture Of Erisa Contributions Made By Mistake: A Federal Common Law Remedy To Prevent Unjust Enrichment, J. Daniel Plants

Michigan Law Review

This Note investigates more fully the policies animating ERISA in order to ascribe an appropriate construction to the mistaken contribution section. Part I analyzes the Ninth Circuit's anomalous implied cause of action theory. Searching the legislative history as well as ERISA's language and structure, this Part finds lacking the requisite expression of congressional intent to support a statutorily implied remedy. As an alternative, Part II explores the appropriateness of common law relief. Part II defends the creation of common law relief by the federal courts as consistent with the direct and indirect evidence suggesting that Congress envisioned judicial supplementation of …

Augmenting Erisa With Market Discipline: Transforming Pension Plan Interests Into Securities, Keir N. Dougall

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Part I of this Note provides general background information about pension plans and details the problems that ERISA creates because of its dependence on trust law. Part II canvasses recent problems in pension plan governance that courts and pension plan members have faced in takeover defense and social investment contexts, demonstrating that ERISA's use of trust law cannot respond adequately to these problems. Parts I and II draw on an analysis of ERISA presented by Professors Fischel and Langbein but argue that their proposals for changing ERISA inadequately address the problems they identify. Part III argues that the economic realities …

Closing The Massachusetts Mutual V. Russell Gap: Monetary Damage Awards Under Erisa Section 502(A)(3)

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Iv. Erisa

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Broken Promises Revisited: The Window Of Vulnerability For Surviving Spouses Under Erisa, Camilla E. Watson

Scholarly Works

While there are pervasive problems with the current ERISA legislation, this Article will focus only on survivor benefits and will concentrate in particular on the short-term marriage provision. This Article will maintain that facial neutrality notwithstanding, the short-term marriage provision is discriminatory in effect, grounded in dubious logic, and unsupportable from a historical perspective. In order to demonstrate this, this Article will delve thoroughly into the historical development of ERISA, with particular emphasis on the survivor benefit provisions. The depth to which this Article plumbs the general development of ERISA is intended to demonstrate the weak historical foundation on which …

Medicare's Prospective Payment System At Age Eight: Mature Success Or Midlife Crisis?, Bruce C. Vladeck

Seattle University Law Review

This Article is necessarily a rather selective (for reasons of brevity and reader tolerance) and even subjective attempt to summarize the experience under PPS to date and to suggest some lessons that might be drawn from that experience for the future reform of PPS itself and of payment systems generally. No attempt will be made here to be comprehensive, to explain all the technical details of an inherently and increasingly complex system, nor even to systematically survey the rapidly growing body of literature. But the few issues and themes that clearly stand out will be the focus of most of …

Policing Cost Containment: The Medicare Peer Review Organization Program, Timothy Stoltzfus Jost

Seattle University Law Review

This Article will first examine the problem of health care cost inflation and the payment strategies the Medicare program has adopted to address that problem. It will then discuss the perverse incentives that these payment strategies create, and the role of the PRO program in addressing harmful provider behavior encouraged by those perverse incentives. The Article examines evidence on whether the PRO program is succeeding or failing in this mission, and suggests possible means of improving the effectiveness of the PRO program in policing cost containment. Specifically, it recommends clarifying and strengthening the deterrent role of the PROs, crafting PRO …

The Pension Game: Age- And Gender-Based Inequities In The Retirement System, Camilla E. Watson

Scholarly Works

This Article begins by stressing the importance of retirement benefits in general and employer-provided benefits in particular. It then addresses specific current issues of age and gender discrimination under both the private retirement and Social Security systems. Gender-based discrimination is emphasized because of the overlap between gender-based discrimination and age discrimination. Finally, this Article suggests specific reforms for a fairer and more adequate systems in the twenty-first century.

In Defense Of Union Involvement In Worker Ownership, Toni Delmonte

In the Public Interest

No abstract provided.

Health Care Plans And Erisa, Henry H. Perritt Jr.

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.