The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974


Book Description

This study of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) explains in detail how public officials in the executive branch and Congress overcame strong opposition from business and organized labor to pass landmark legislation regulating employer-sponsored retirement and health plans. Before Congress passed ERISA, federal law gave employers and unions great discretion in the design and operation of employee benefit plans. Most importantly, firms and unions could and often did establish pension plans that placed employees at great risk for not receiving any retirement benefits. In the early 1960s, officials in the executive branch proposed a number of regulatory initiatives to protect employees, but business groups and most labor unions objected to the key proposals. Faced with opposition from powerful interest groups, legislative entrepreneurs in Congress, chiefly New York Republican senator Jacob K. Javits, took the case for pension reform directly to voters by publicizing frightening statistics and "horror stories" about pension plans. This deft and successful effort to mobilize the media and public opinion overwhelmed the business community and organized labor and persuaded Javits's colleagues in Congress to support comprehensive pension reform legislation. The enactment of ERISA in September 1974 recast federal policy for private pension plans by making worker security an overriding objective of federal law.




Understanding Employment Law


Book Description




The Law of Pension Trusts


Book Description

The most detailed treatment available of pension trusts law. This book draws together all of the relevant topics providing analysis of the case law and addressing many of the tricky problems which pensions practitioners and academics face.




Social Security, Medicare, and Pensions


Book Description

Covers retirement, disability, survivor and health care benefits.




A History of Public Sector Pensions in the United States


Book Description

From the Wharton School, offering a comprehensive assessment of the political and financial dimensions of public-sector pensions from the colonial period until the emergence of modern retirement plans in the twentieth century.




State and Local Pensions


Book Description

In the wake of the financial crisis and Great Recession, the health of state and local pension plans has emerged as a front burner policy issue. Elected officials, academic experts, and the media alike have pointed to funding shortfalls with alarm, expressing concern that pension promises are unsustainable or will squeeze out other pressing government priorities. A few local governments have even filed for bankruptcy, with pensions cited as a major cause. Alicia H. Munnell draws on both her practical experience and her research to provide a broad perspective on the challenge of state and local pensions. She shows that the story is big and complicated and cannot be viewed through a narrow prism such as accounting methods or the role of unions. By examining the diversity of the public plan universe, Munnell debunks the notion that all plans are in trouble. In fact, she finds that while a few plans are basket cases, many are functioning reasonably well. Munnell's analysis concludes that the plans in serious trouble need a major overhaul. But even the relatively healthy plans face three challenges ahead: an excessive concentration of plan assets in equities; the risk that steep benefit cuts for new hires will harm workforce quality; and the constraints plans face in adjusting future benefits for current employees. Here, Munnell proposes solutions that preserve the main strengths of state and local pensions while promoting needed reforms.




Pension Law


Book Description

The second edition brings pension law up to date with consideration of recent cases such as Re Indalex, in which the Supreme Court of Canada examined how to allocate the risks of an employer's insolvency among its creditors. This edition tracks the shift of the law of trusts within pension jurisprudence from "classic" trusts to "modern" trusts; the reform of minimum pension standards; new plan design legislation being offered to respond to decreasing pension plan coverage among the Canadian workforce; the development of target benefit plans; and innovative plan designs such as New Brunswick's new "shared risk" plan model. The book will be an invaluable resource for anyone who needs to understand this complex legal and regulatory environment including lawyers, human resources officers, plan administrators and trustees, actuaries, accountants, public servants, and union officials.




EU Pension Law


Book Description

EU pension law is a relatively new and rapidly growing field. The call for a broader practical understanding of EU pension law is growing, as pension markets are increasingly internationalized. The handbook EU Pension Law discusses the most important financial EU legislation (IORP and PEPP) and non-financial legislation (such as the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union) and its consequences for pensions. The book contains a collection of relevant articles and offers necessary basic knowledge. More importantly, it contains interesting practical cases, creating a unique bridge between theory and practice. Whether you are a student, a committed policymaker, an experienced market practitioner, or someone interested in European pension developments, EU Pension Law is designed for you.