Benefits April 21, 2005

Man Who Cashed Dead Mother's Pension Checks Sentenced to Jail Time

April 21, 2005 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The man accused of fraudulently cashing his dead mother's pension checks has been sentenced to a prison term, which he is expected to start in July.

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Phillip Hyde, 63, who has Master’s degrees from both Harvard and New York University, cashed his dead mother’s pension checks for 18 years and then, when the Teachers’ Pension Fund of Chicago inquired about her status, claimed she was in a coma.

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Over the 18 years, Hyde cashed 220 checks from the pension fund, which amounted to $317,678, according to the Boston Globe. His scheme started to come apart four years ago, when, after checking Social Security records, the pension fund called Hyde’s home.

To avoid being caught, Hyde stated that she was in a coma. In an attempt to cover up the truth, he then took out a death notice in local newspaper, 18 years after his mother passed away.

In the ruling, he was ordered to pay the money back and spend a year plus one day in prison.

Benefits April 20, 2005

HR Outsourcing Brings Cost Savings, Satisfaction

April 20, 2005 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The latest examination of the cost savings from human resource outsourcing asserted that there is a high satisfaction rate with both quality and savings.
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PricewaterhouseCoopers has released a statement reporting that of the nation’s fastest-growing companies, 83% outsource at least some HR functions and 61% are seeing cost savings. Overall, the report states that 81% of CEOs polled say their experience with outsourcing has met or exceeded expectations, while only 15% reported a “mixed” experience. Ninety-four percent are satisfied with quality levels and 87% are satisfied with cost-savings, which average 16.7%, according to the news release.

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Seventy-four percent of those polled said that their HR outsourcing budget has held steady for the past two years, while 4% said that it has decreased. Going forward, 62% expect no change in this budget, while 3% expect it to decrease.

There are a wide array of reasons to outsource, according to the poll. At these companies, 82% cited compliance with complicated federal and state regulations as a reason to outsource, while 71% cited the need to reduce and control operating costs. Other reasons were eliminating costs of in-house systems (71%), improving process inefficiencies (70%), and eliminate difficult-to-manage functions (67%).

The most often outsourced HR functions of those in the poll were 401(k)/DC plan administration (71%) and payroll processing (64%).

The report stands in contrast to another released Tuesday that stated that many firms are repatriating outsourced function because of lack of costs savings and dissatisfaction (See Many Companies Repatriating Outsourced Functions ).

PricewaterhouseCoopers’ “Trendsetter Barometer” is compiled with the help of BSI Global Research.

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