Senate Democrats have unveiled a compromise pension bill that would give workers more control over their 401(k) plans, though it does not include a controversial proposal to directly cap the amount of corporate stock they can own, according to the Boston Globe.
One bill recently introduced in the Senate would make some retired law-enforcement personnel eligible for increases in their pensions, while another would award law-enforcement status to some other government workers for retirement purposes.
The Internal Revenue Service reminds employers and plan administrators to amend their employees' retirement plans by the Feb. 28, 2002, deadline. They must amend these plans to accommodate extensive changes contained in recent legislation affecting employee plans.
The Washington Times reports that employees at some of the nation's largest companies have put even more of their retirement savings in company stock than those at failed energy giant Enron Corp.
A federal appeals court has concluded that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 allows for recovering interest on late disability payments, according to the New York Law Journal.
Amid the launch of a criminal investigation into Enron's finances, President Bush has ordered the Treasury Department to review rules regulating all employers' pension and 401(k) plans.
The ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC), an association of large employers that sponsor comprehensive pension and health care plans, is warning that many of the pension and benefit reforms enacted by the federal government in 2001 may be undermined because they don't jibe with tax codes in at least 10 states.
At a time when Americans are increasingly concerned about their retirement security, most employers participating in a recent workplace survey say they have yet to inform their employees about new retirement plan benefits that take effect Jan. 1.
The Internal Revenue Service has announced the dollar limitations applicable to pension plans that become effective January 1, 2002 under the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Act of 2001.
