Compliance September 20, 2004

Survey: Endowments and Foundations Favor Hedge Fund Regulation

September 20, 2004 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The majority of endowments and foundations that invest in hedge funds support the proposed regulation by the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) that would require these alternative investment vehicles to register as Registered Investment Advisors (RIA).
Reported by

>According to the Hennessee Group’s 2004 Foundation and Endowment Survey of 46 foundations and endowments that invested in hedge funds, 59% were in favor of the proposal requiring hedge funds to register with the SEC under the Investment Advisors Act of 1940.

>However, the 31% who did not support such a move manage three times as much capital and allocate 46% more to hedge funds. They also have 50% more experience investing in hedge funds.

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>The survey also finds that those who favor registration have on average 15% of their assets allocated to hedge funds, with 8% invested directly and 7% invested through a fund of hedge funds vehicle. An average of 22% of assets are in hedge funds for those who oppose registration, with 15% being invested directly.

Benefits September 17, 2004

Swedes Abusing Sick Leave

September 17, 2004 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Swedish workers are abusing their sick leave system en masse, and the government is fed up.
Reported by

A survey released Friday by the National Social Insurance Board (NSIB) of Sweden showed that 40% of the population thinks it’s acceptable to skip work because they are feeling tired or are having trouble getting along with co-workers. Sixty-five percent felt they could take sick leave if they were feeling stressed at work. Seventy-one percent thought family problems entitled them to sometimes or always miss work.

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The government is in charge of the extensive welfare system that, among other things, covers sick leave, and the price of increasingly absent employees is taking its toll. Sick leave compensation tripled from $2 billion in 1997 to $6 billion in 2002. In response to the increasing levels of paid sick leave, the government plans to launch a large national campaign to inform people that only illness is a valid reason to miss work, according to the Associated Press.

The survey indicates “a deep lack of knowledge about what the health insurance is meant to cover,” NSIB director Anna Hedborg asserted, according to the AP.

Others looked at the situation in a more cynical light. “The insurance laws clearly state that inability to work because of illness” is the only valid reason to take sick leave, states Alf Eckerhall, a social insurance expert with the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise, according to the AP. “The key word is ‘inability to work’ – not ‘illness.'” He claims that Swedes are intentionally abusing a system. He cites the habit of leaving work early to call in sick, thus circumventing the fact that compensation for sick leave does not start until the second day of leave.

In , the employer pays for the first three weeks’ sick leave and workers can call in sick for seven days before needing a doctor’s certificate or medical proof. People who call in sick do not receive any compensation for the first day they are absent. But Eckerhall said many are abusing the current system by leaving work and calling in sick shortly before their work day is over. That then counts as one sick day, which lets them start receiving sick pay the next day.

“That means your day without compensation was 15 minutes long,” Eckerhall said, according to the report.

The poll was taken of 1,002 people from June 17-24.

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