Compliance May 23, 2006

Supreme Court Will not Hear Case on Posthumous QDRO

May 23, 2006 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The US Supreme Court has decided not to review a ruling from the 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals regarding the validity of a Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO) issued after a participant's death.
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The appellate court had determined that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) did not prohibit alternate payees from pursuing QDROs after the death of a participant (See Alternate Payee Can Pursue QDRO After Participant Death ).

In reversing a lower court decision, the appellate court also found that a property settlement agreement between a retirement plan participant and his ex-wife was a QDRO, even though it was not qualified until after the participant’s death.

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The US District Court for the District of New Jersey had ruled in favor of ExxonMobil, finding that the property settlement agreement did not meet the requirements of a QDRO.  The lower court also agreed with ExxonMobil that a nunc pro tunc order issued by the court that oversaw the plaintiff and participant’s divorce was not a QDRO because it violated ERISA’s prohibition against requiring plans to provide increased benefits “by providing for a survivorship interest in benefits that had lapsed after the participant’s death.”

A petition for writ of certiorari, asking that the Supreme Court review the 3 rd Circuit decision, was denied, leaving the 3 rd Circuit decision standing.

The 3rd Circuit opinion in Files v. ExxonMobil Pension Plan is here .

Benefits May 22, 2006

Report: Reprimanded Boston Health Exec Admits to More Sex Harassment

May 22, 2006 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The president of a Boston-based health care provider has admitted to sexually harassing more women than in the four cases for which he was reprimanded last week.
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An attorney for the Boston Archdiocese told the Boston Globe that not only has Dr. Robert Haddad, the Caritas Christi Health Care system president, admitted to more instances of sexual harassment, but witnesses have also indicated there were more victims.

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David Mandel, an employment law specialist working for the archdiocese, told the Globe that the archdiocese has kicked off a further probe of Haddad following reports that he ”leered and winked” at one of the four victims on May 10, after the archdiocesan investigation was all but concluded.

If the inquiry finds that the reports were accurate, the Caritas board of governors that agreed to the ”stern reprimand” would have to consider possible further sanctions against Haddad, Mandel told the newspaper.

According to Mandel, the board was told Thursday that there were more than the four women involved before they endorsed Cardinal Sean O’Malley’s recommendation that Haddad be reprimanded and receive instruction in sexual harassment guidelines.

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