Employer Wins Case Regarding Mistaken SPD Information
March 19, 2012 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – Former Northrop Grumman employees failed to prove that the company intended to mislead employees with a contradiction from plan terms in its summary plan description (SPD).
In addition, the plaintiffs conceded that they did not rely on any of the misleading information in the SPD when deciding whether to retire, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found.
The appellate court had previously sent the case back to a federal district court after finding the ambiguity between the SPD and the plan document being enforced by plan administrators created a triable issue. The district court again granted summary judgment for Northrop Grumman (see “Participants not Due Additional Benefits Based on Defective SPD”).
On appeal, the 9th Circuit noted that the Supreme Court’s resolution of CIGNA Corp. v. Amara in 2011 overruled, in relevant parts, its two prior decisions that had treated SPD language as if it were an enforceable part of the retirement plan. In holding that the SPDlanguagewasnotpartoftheplan,thehigh courtmadeit clearthat“summarydocuments, importantastheyare,provide communicationwithbeneficiariesabouttheplan,but that their statements do not themselves constitute the terms of the plan for purposes of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) § 502(a)(1)(B), the 9th Circuit pointed out in its opinion.
The appellate court concluded that the committee mayhaveadutytoenforcethetermsoftheplan, but the terms of an SPD are not the terms of the plan.
The survey suggests employers of NewsDash readers won’t have to worry about lost productivity during the tournament. Forty-five percent of responding readers said they won’t spend any work time at all keeping up with the tournament, and 38% reported they will only check scores here and there.
Seven percent of readers who responded said they will spend less than one hour checking up on the Madness, 4% will spend one to two hours and 3% will spend two to three hours. Another 3% indicated they are taking at least one day off for the tournament.
The verbatim comments were mixed between folks who are into March Madness and those who don’t care.My favorite comment was: “I thought March Madness was commotion leading up to the 3/15 deadline for ADP/ACP testing!”
Verbatim
I enjoy watching some portions of the games and the outcomes but don't want it to get in the way of work (well, I guess I did spend some time related to March Madness by completing this survey).
The only March Madness I see is the fact that it is 80 degrees outside in March. Could care less that three of the Universities in Kentucky are there. Would only care if I got off work as a holiday paid for March Madness.
It's a great distraction. I can pick my favoritie in every game and root for them to the end.
Chose not to participate this year in dept. contest.
"Madness" is such an appropriate description for how some of my coworkers act this time of year...
I won't have to check on the scores because someone else is sure to be doing it and I will overhear them talking about it. I will look like I am the responsible one while they are the one fooling around but I will still be in the know.
I will check scores during my lunch hour-ish time.
I don't care about March Madness or any game of basketball.
Our IT monitors improper use of system.
We don't have a pool going, so why check the scores????
These are the only basketball games that I watch. It's fun to find a team and follow it through, hopefully to the finals.
What is March Madness? Is it anything like Mad Cow disease?
Verbatim (cont.)
My alma mater is in the NIT and I didn't fill out any brackets this year for the NCAA. Between those factors and all the work I need to get done, I will not be following the tournament much. At least, not until next week when I will be on vacation!
Opening weekend is my favorite time of the year!
It would be nice if people put as much effort into their work as they do for March Madness. On a side note, we have an Executive Vice President who is obsessed with college basketball and someday I should keep a timer and see how much of my time he wastes talking about it. I wish I can make his salary and have a company car and talk about basketball as much as he does! Sign me up!
the only time I will spend on March Madness is when others in the office or media will drone on and on about it.
Go Vandy!
I'm listening to Tony Kornheiser's show via podcast and the show has all of its regular callers (and assorted friends) call in with brackets, so as I listen to that while working, that counts. Also, as a FSU alum, go Noles!
I need to know what's going on so I can keep track of where my outside sales people are and which game they are watching.
2nd best sporting event of the year, behind only the Super Bowl.
My alma mater - Vanderbilt - is in the Tourney and I'm attending a gathering with fellow Vandy alumni and Harvard alumni (this round's opponent)
It is just not that important for me to be on top of everything. I will check in on scores or human interest (upsets) so that I can talk intelligbly about things with my staff and clients should the subject come up.
I will leave early Thursday and Friday this week to catch some games. My boss is taking a day and a half too so he understands the tournament madness.
I'm so not a part of March Madness. The only time I care is if I'm in on a pool, which I'm not this year. Hence, my only knowledge of the tournament will come from clips that I happen to see on the news.
I thought March Madness was commotion leading up to the 3/15 deadline for ADP/ACP testing!
We actually have a large TV set up in our kitchen - which is also decorated for the games...
Go Bucks!
If the POTUS can waste time doing this, why shouldn't everyone.
I'm not as "crazy" about this as some are (no doubt aided by the reality that I have no real allegiance to any of the teams in the tournament). To the question of "using work time", let's just say that I'll likely use less "work time" to check on the tournament than my employer expects me to use "my time" to check on things like work-related email and the like.