Break from the Grind March 10, 2016

A Little Friday File Fun

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In Laojunshan, Henan Province, China, on the lead up to International Women’s Day, an event was organized to promote forgiveness between husbands and wives, empowering women. Men lined up inside of life-sized blue punching bags. Signs were written on the backs of the punching bags that said: ‘If you’re angry please hit me.’ Women took turns punching their husband’s as hard as they could while wearing boxing gloves. The event was all in fun, though; the men and women were seen laughing and joking, UK Daily Mail reports.

In Llanelli, South Wales, two men attempted to break into a car maintenance business by jumping through the roof. However, the first man jumped and hit his head on the side of the wall, knocking himself out. Video surveillance shows his partner climbing down and bringing him to, before they both left empty-handed, according to the UK’s Telegraph.

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In New York City, a woman walked in to a pizzeria and asked for a pizza with chicken as a topping. An employee told the woman they didn’t have chicken as a topping, and the woman became irate and scratched the employee’s hand. DNAinfo reports that another worker tried to step in and calm the woman, but she scratched him on the arm, and tried to bite him. According to the news report, a friend with the woman did nothing to try to help. The woman has been charged with two counts of assault, one count of attempted assault and one count of harassment.

In Tallahassee, Florida, the legislature is working to make it okay for couples to cohabitate. The House has passed a bill to repeal the state’s prohibition on cohabitation and it is on the desk of Governor Rick Scott. According to Yahoo! News, under a law that has been on the books since 1868, a man and woman living together could be fined $500 and locked up in jail for 60 days. According to 2014 census data, there are nearly 438,000 couples in Florida violating this law.

In Brooklyn, New York, a man who calls himself “the modern-day Robin Hood” has been charged with grand larceny, criminal possession of stolen property, and petit larceny—for giving away free drinks at IHOP. According to DNAinfo, the owner of the IHOP told police he grew suspicious when he noticed Powell’s beverage sales were at 6% of the total receipt compared to 17% to 20% for other employees working the same shift and schedule. After investigating, he found the employee lost $3,000 in drink sales by not charging customers for their drinks. “I am the modern-day Robin Hood, I am not stealing, I am serving the ones in need, I take from the rich and give to the poor,” the man told investigators after he was caught.

But, the train on the bride’s dress looked like a fresh pile of white leaves.

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A hazard of live reporting next to a street.

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Come on, everybody, let’s dance!

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Data and Research March 10, 2016

Multiemployer Plans Struggle with Growing Unfunded Liabilities

Increased employer contributions are still insufficient to cover growing unfunded liabilities.
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There was an aggregate increase in employer contributions across the multiemployer pension plan (MEPP) system of 31% from 2009-2013, according to research by the Society of Actuaries (SOA).

However, the unfunded liabilities of MEPPs continued to increase. By 2013, total unfunded liabilities reached a total of $115 billion to $500 billion, depending on which funding calculation method is used.

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Contributions to the system for the years analyzed (2009 through 2013 and partial year data from 2014, based on Department of Labor filings as of January 5, 2016) significantly exceeded legally defined minimum required contribution (MRC) calculations. For example, for 2009, aggregate contributions were 8.75 times the aggregate MRC, and contributions for 94% of plans exceeded their MRCs. By 2013, aggregate contributions were twice the aggregate MRC.

However, according to the SOA, while contributions significantly exceeded MRCs, in many cases, plans with significant unfunded liabilities had low or no minimum required contributions due to large credit balances from previous years.

NEXT: Factors contributing to unfunded liabilities

There are several factors that contributed to the MEPP system’s unfunded liabilities, according to the SOA.

The system’s aggregate contributions increased on average 6.9% per year, significantly outpacing the average inflation rate of 2.1% per year. However, contributions for a large percentage of plans were insufficient to prevent their unfunded liabilities from growing, let alone to close their funding gaps.

Contributions were insufficient to keep unfunded liabilities from growing for most plans—75% of plans saw unfunded liabilities grow when liabilities are measured using Treasury Department rates.

Decreasing numbers of active participants compounds the funding pressures as the number of active participants fell roughly 2% per year. Because MEPP contribution rates are typically negotiated for several years in advance as a function of active participants, decreasing numbers of active participants may mean that contributions actually received toward the end of the negotiated period may be significantly less than anticipated during negotiations.

“The good news is MEPP funding levels appear more positive for 2014, plus many plans expect increased contributions in future years,” says Lisa Schilling, a retirement research actuary at the SOA. “Early indications for 2014, based on roughly 60% of plans reporting by January 2016 are show improving trends.”

The SOA will be releasing a portion of this analysis—the MEPP Contribution Index—later this month, and will update the Index annually for release every January.

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