Benefits December 1, 2003

Canadian Gun-Toting Tree Pruner Wants Job Back

December 1, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Sure, maybe George Pavlovsky walked into his office drunk and looking for his bosses while toting a loaded sawed-off shotgun - but is that any reason not to rehire him?
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That’s essentially what the subsequently terminated 44-year-old former tree pruner for the town of Moncton, New Brunswick, says. Pavlovsky says he’d like his old job back once he finishes his two-year prison term on weapons offenses relating to the April 2002 incident, and he’s asked his union to intervene to get his old job back. Members have agreed the union should assist him, according to Reuters.

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But the city of Moncton will hear nothing of the suggestion. Spokesman Steven MacKinnon said he was stunned that Pavlovsky would challenge his firing and said many of his co-workers are shaken by the thought of Pavlovsky returning to work. “We’re going to contest this vigorously,” MacKinnon promised.

Reportedly angry about being passed over for a promotion, Pavlovsky was arrested about 15 minutes after the incident began. His bosses were away at the time and no one was injured.

Compliance November 26, 2003

Senate Fails to Pass Pension DRC Act

November 26, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The US Senate recessed for Thanksgiving on Tuesday after failing to pass a proposed legislation providing a break for business from the deficit reduction contribution (DRC) requirements.
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Senators were attempting to pass the legislation to provide a two-year break on DRC – accelerated payments required of employers with substantially underfunded pension plans.  The proposal would have also allowed businesses over the next two years to use a rate based on investment-grade corporate bonds when making pension calculations, according to a Reuters report.

>Passage before the Thanksgiving break was important since the Senate’s version of DRC relief differed from the US House of Representative’s earlier approved DRC bill.   While the House bill would provide relief only to airlines (See House Approves Pension Relief Bill ) , the Senate’s version contains DRC proposals that are stricter than the House’s language and would be available to all businesses.

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Republican aides speaking to Reuters said if the Senate had passed the proposal under discussion, the House could take up the bill in December, when it also is expected to return to work for a short period.   As it stands now, there is little time for Senators to hammer out a proposal when they return for an abbreviated session on December 9.  

However, even if a proposal had been passed and differences between the House and Senate version reconciled, the measure still required President Bush’s signature before it could be enacted; a prospect that looked grim.   The Bush administration had previously come out strongly against a moratorium on pension deficit-reduction contributions, saying it would only worsen the funding crunch companies eventually face and increase the risk that pension plans would collapse down the road (SeePBGC Board Cautions Senate on DRC Action).

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