Diversified Investment Advisors Launches PlanXpress

June 23, 2006 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Diversified Investment Advisors has unveiled a new service that automates participant decisions including enrollment, deferral increases, and rebalancing of investment options,

Diversified Investment Advisors recently introduced PlanXpress that it says aims to encourage sufficient participation rates and savings levels. The plan helps answer the questions, “How much should I save?” and “How should I invest?” the company said

According to the news release, PlanXpress offers plan sponsors and their participants the following services:

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  • PortfolioXpress – utilizes a series of portfolios to help participants create and maintain an appropriate investment mix by automatically rebalancing their investment allocations on a quarterly basis. When a participant signs up for the free service, the program automatically invests in funds appropriate for the participant’s investment time span. The investment combination is automatically adjusted to reflect a more conservative strategy as the participant approaches retirement.
  • EnrollXpress – automatically enrolls eligible employees in the plan after plan sponsors select the default contribution percentage and default investment fund. Participants can opt out at any time.  
  • SaveXpress –  participant’s plan contribution rate is automatically and regularly increased. Automatic deferral increases will cease when participants reach plan/IRS contribution limits.

“Industry research has shown that procrastination and inertia contribute greatly to low participation levels in company sponsored defined contribution plans,” said Diversified Investment Advisors’ chief technology officer Mark Fortier in the news release. “We know that a plan design that offers automated features that takes the burden off of the employee and streamlines an individual’s decisionmaking can be highly effective in increasing participation and contribution rates overall.”

Diversified Investment Advisors, a national investment advisory firm specializing in retirement plans, serves over $74 billion in retirement plan assets, helping more than 1.4 million participants save and invest for retirement.

Tyson Wins Back Pay Lawsuit

June 22, 2006 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Tyson Foods overcame a wage and hour lawsuit in a Philadelphia federal courtroom where a jury rebuffed allegations that the poultry company improperly denied workers compensation for time spent putting on and taking off protective clothing.

The jury in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ruled on a lawsuit filed in 2000 by attorneys representing seven workers at Tyson’s New Holland, Pennsylvania, plant, according to a Tyson news release. About 540 current or former workers eventually joined the suit, which alleged that the company failed to pay them for changing into and taking off protective clothing before and after shifts and breaks, which they considered part of work.

The jury decided that those activities did not constitute “work” under federal law, the release said. The jury verdict came after a day of deliberations following a 2 1/2-week trial, the Associated Press reports.

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“We’re grateful for this ruling because it shows we’re paying our people correctly for the time they devote to their jobs,” said Ken Kimbro, senior vice president of Human Resources for Springdale, Arkansas-based Tyson Foods, in the news release.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs vowed to appeal the case to the 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals, the AP said. Brian Kenney, one of the attorneys representing the plaintiffs, said they “vehemently” disagreed that the decision showed that workers were being properly paid.

He said the plaintiffs would take issue on appeal with the judge’s instructions to the jury about the Fair Labor Standards Act.

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