Benefits February 15, 2006

NY Police Agency Locked in Racial Turmoil

February 15, 2006 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Five white sheriff's deputies claim that charges from their black colleagues that the five are members of a racist skinhead group actually created a hostile work environment for the white employees.
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The white deputies, who work in the transport division of the Onondaga County (New York) jail, had shaved their heads in a move they made to show their solidarity with a colleague with cancer, according to an Associated Press report.

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The white employees complained to their department bosses and to the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), but the EEOC said their complaints were unfounded, based on the results of a sheriff’s office investigation.

However, according to the news report, the sheriff’s internal affairs division later took a second look at the original investigation by the police agency and found that the initial probe was incomplete because the deputies’ supervisor never interviewed any of the white deputies, according to the president of the union representing jail deputies.

That supervisor, Captain John Woloszyn, who is white, was suspended without pay last week for 30 days for “failing to uphold his official responsibilities,” sheriff’s office spokesman John D’Eredita told The Post-Standard of Syracuse. Internal investigators discovered Woloszyn had never interviewed the deputies, even though he told the county law department that he had, according to the news report.

The EEOC said last week it was looking into the sheriff’s office for investigating the white deputies over their complaint to the federal agency.

According to the report, the dispute arises as an eight-year-old federal lawsuit appears ready to be settled or go to trial by this summer. Ten black deputies sued Onondaga County in 1998 for $2.3 million, claiming jail administrators did not address racism at the jail.

In 2001, the EEOC determined that the sheriff’s office had violated the black deputies’ civil rights at the jail for years.

Compliance February 14, 2006

Report: DoL to Ease Rollovers from Orphaned Plans

February 14, 2006 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The US Labor Department (DoL) reportedly plans to unveil new rules this spring to allow financial institutions to release 401(k) assets contained in a defunct plan so participants can roll the money over to another savings program.
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According to a Wall Street Journal news report, the new rules would go into effect by year end and would authorize the release of 401(k) assets from a plan sponsored by a company that had gone out of business. Currently, if a company representative is unavailable, the financial institution can’t release the money until the DoL appoints an independent fiduciary – a process that can require court action, the news report said.

The scenario typically affects small company employees since larger firms are more likely to still have representatives in place to deal with corporate issues.   About 2% of all defined-contribution plans are orphaned every year – held by a financial institution without an employer representative to oversee the plan. That leaves about 33,000 workers and roughly $850 million in assets in limbo each year, according to the report

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“This is something that our people in the field have been seeing quite a bit,” Ann Combs, assistant secretary of labor for employee benefits security, told the Journal. “More small businesses are adopting financial planning, but when they fail, there is no process in place.”

By contrast, federal law is well equipped to help workers with private sector defined-benefit pension plans, which are insured by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.

Financial institutions that hold the assets for retirement plans generally require a top executive or a designated representative at each company to authorize rollovers destined for new plans, the news report said. Without this authorization, the banks, mutual funds and other financial institutions can’t release the 401(k) assets to individuals – even if they are sure that the workers are who they say they are.

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