Products February 25, 2010

IL Pension Adminstrator Offers 403(b) Solution for School Districts

February 25, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The Illinois Public Pension Fund Association (IPPFA) has announced the creation of a solution for school districts that allows them to outsource their plan administration.
Reported by

The Wise Choice for Educators Plan is a 457(b)/403(b) single vendor solution built and directed by the IPPFA, whose members collectively manage in excess of twelve billion dollars of defined benefit retirement plan assets. According to a press release, the IPPFA is responsible for making sure the plan is compliant with Internal Revenue Service (IRS) regulations.

The announcement said the solution provides a comprehensive participant education program, full-fee transparency, and a strong asset allocation platform. It offers no surrender charges, no wrap fees, and an open architecture platform which includes fund families such as Fidelity, Vanguard and American Funds.

Get more!  Sign up for PLANSPONSOR newsletters.

The plan offers the same pricing and design to all school districts, regardless of number of employees.

“The Wise Choice for Educators Plan was built by leveraging the buying power of hundreds of public sector employers and creating a co-op that other public sector employers are able to join at no cost,” explained Joel Babbitt, IPPFA Benefits Coordinator, in the announcement. “We built this K-12 supplemental savings plan because we became concerned about the quality of plans our members were deferring money into.”  

For more information, contact Debby Karton at (847) 441.5911 or visit http://www.ippfa.org.

Compliance February 25, 2010

EBSA Recovered over $1B for Employee Benefit Plans in 2009

February 25, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The U. S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) reported monetary results of $1.36 billion in fiscal year 2009 for retirement, health, and other employee benefits plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).
Reported by

An EBSA news release said the agency closed 3,669 civil investigations in FY 2009.  In over 72% of those cases, the agency found violations and obtained correction.  Criminal offenses involving employee benefit plans led to indictment of 115 individuals.

 

Get more!  Sign up for PLANSPONSOR newsletters.

According to the announcement, the agency also recovered $124.5 million for workers and their families through informal resolution of individual complaints. In addition, results were achieved through the agency’s compliance assistance programs.

 

The Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program (VFCP) received 1,692 applications from employers, plan officials, service providers, and other fiduciaries to self-correct violations of ERISA, and the Delinquent Filer Voluntary Compliance Program, which helps plan administrators comply with ERISA’s filing requirements, received 26,603 filings.

 

EBSA also reported it handled 365,457 inquiries from the public and conducted more than 1,500 education and outreach events that reached workers, employers, plan officials, and Congressional members.  

 

“These results reflect a strong, fair and aggressive program to protect the benefits of American workers, retirees and their families.  We believe our civil enforcement program demonstrates the success of using targeted investigations,” said EBSA Assistant Secretary Phyllis C. Borzi, in the announcement.

 

A fact sheet about EBSA’s enforcement results, as well as more information about the VFCP, are available on its Web site at www.dol.gov/ebsa.

«