PBGC Enhances Reporting and Disclosure Web
Application
January 27, 2006 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The Pension
Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) has updated its e-4010
Web-based application for reporting financial, actuarial and
other identifying information in compliance with section 4010
of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act
(ERISA).
The enhancements include an option to “assign an
actuary” which enables someone other than the person
filing the form to access the filing, according to the PBGC
announcement.
Also, plan administrators will be able to access
prior submitted data instead of manually re-entering it for
the current filing.
ERISA Section 4010 is required by certain underfunded
plans in addition to the form 5500 required from all
plans.
For information years ending on or after December
31, 2005 the data must be filed electronically using the
e-4010 application.
January 26, 2006 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - A Pennsylvania
property and casualty insurer has become the latest in a
growing line of companies freezing their defined benefit
program in favor of a beefed-up 401(k) plan.
Harleysville Group announced in
a Web statement
that the changes will affect alI of its 2,100 employees
including going to an auto enrollment and default deferral
amount for the salary deferral portion of the defined
contribution program. As a result of these changes, the
company expects to reduce annualized operating expenses by
approximately $5 million, officials said.
The statement said that the changes, scheduled to be put
in place by April 1, 2006, “are part of the company’s
continuing efforts to provide comprehensive and competitive
compensation and benefits programs that are closely aligned
with corporate performance, while adding greater
predictability to its cost structure.”
The company said the changes include freezing the
company’s defined benefit pension plan at current benefit
levels and enhancing its 401(k) retirement savings plan. In
the DB plan, the accrual of future benefits for eligible
employees will cease on March 31, 2006, and all retirement
benefits earned at that time will be fully preserved.
Eligible employees not currently vested in the plan will
become vested if they are employed by the company for a
total of five qualifying years.
The company also unveiled a revised defined contribution
plan, the Harleysville Retirement Savings Plus plan, which
it said will provide employees with a company contribution
ranging from 5% to 12.5% of salary each year, depending on
company results and employee contributions.
According to the company statement, the plan also
features:
a “company core contribution” equal to 5% of
salary, which automatically will be contributed to all
eligible employees’ accounts on a bi-weekly basis
regardless of the employees’ salary deferral
amounts
the option for employees to make bi-weekly,
pre-tax deferrals from 1% to 100% of salary (subject to
annual federal limits)
a “company guaranteed match” contribution equal to
50% of the first 6% of salary deferred by each
employee
a “company performance match” contribution that
provides employees making salary deferrals the
opportunity to receive an additional company match of
up to 75% of the first 6% of salary deferred. A company
performance match will be made when the company’s
operating return on equity exceeds 8%.
In order to ensure 100% participation in the plan, an
account will be established for all eligible employees,
effective April 1, 2006, to accept the automatic bi-weekly
company contribution of 5% of salary. Employees hired after
that date, also will be enrolled automatically in the
salary deferral component of the plan at the rate of 3% of
salary, unless they opt out.
“These changes reflect Harleysville Group’s ongoing
efforts to strengthen the link between the company’s
compensation programs and its performance – both at the
individual and at the corporate level – while expanding
these programs to ensure that all employees have the
opportunity to benefit financially from strong company
performance,” said Michael Browne, Harleysville Group’s
president and chief executive officer, in the Web
statement.