Compliance February 14, 2011

White House Proposes Risk-Based PBGC Premiums

February 14, 2011 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – The White House’s latest budget blueprint released Monday calls for pension insurance premiums charged by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. (PBGC) to go up by $16 billion over ten years.
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The Wall Street Journal reports that in a significant policy shift, would levy higher premiums on the riskiest companies. Rather than seeking a simple increase, the administration is asking Congress to give the PBGC authority to fashion a new approach in which premiums would be linked to the financial health of the employer sponsoring the underlying pension plan, the Journal reported.

Under the Obama proposal, the changes wouldn’t take effect for two years-at the earliest-to give the agency time to devise the new system and go through a formal rule-writing process, the Journal said.

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“This proposal is both good government and better for business,” PBGC Director Joshua Gotbaum told the Journal. “It protects retirement security while encouraging and rewarding responsible business behavior.”

Compliance February 14, 2011

Court Rejects Immune Deficiency as ADA Protected

February 14, 2011 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – A federal judge in New York has turned away arguments by a former senior hedge fund analyst that the type of immune deficiency from which she suffered qualified her for protection under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
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Because of that holding, U.S. District Court Judge George Daniels threw out a breach of contract and discrimination suit filed against the now defunct Arience Capital Management L.P. by Rebecca Bar-Tur, according to a National Law Journal news account.

According to the story, Bar-Tur’s condition is characterized by a reduction in antibodies, making it more likely for someone diagnosed with it to get sick than the average person.

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While not denying that the condition represented a physical impairment, Daniels ruled that Bar Tur had not shown that it “substantially impacts” life functions such as breathing, sleeping and speaking.  

Arience Capital, a hedge fund founded in 2002, closed in December 2008 due to the volatile economy. A month earlier, it discharged Bar-Tur, who had joined the hedge fund in February 2007 from Morgan Stanley, the Law Journal article indicated.

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