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Can We Change Our Normal Retirement Age?

  Why is the Normal Retirement Age in defined benefit plans, like ours, usually age 65? Can we change our Normal Retirement Age? – Nancy C., Berkeley 400+ pages of state-specific, easy-read reference materials at your fingertips—fully updated! Check out the Guide to Employment Law for California Employers and get up to speed on everything […]

Defined Contribution Plans: Socially Responsible Investment Options on the Rise

By 2010, 60 percent of defined contribution plans will offer a socially responsible investment (SRI) option, according to a study released this past summer by Mercer Investment Consulting, a global provider of HR and related financial advice and services, in conjunction with the Social Investment Forum, a nonprofit organization that promotes responsible investing. Nineteen percent […]

Executive Compensation: Deferred Compensation Plans May No Longer Be a Given

Of course you offer an executive deferred compensation plan; it’s a given, right? Both the executives you’re trying to recruit and your own staff expect you to have one. What’s more, if you’re competing for talent with the company across town and it has a deferred comp plan, you’d better have one, too. And what […]

May I Have the Next Envelope Please?

Continuing in the spirit of the awards season, my next category is “Most Ineffective HR Moment.” And the nominees are: When human resources manager Toby told Dwight that his grievances were sent to Dundler Mifflin’s corporate office in New York while they were actually thrown into a box underneath Toby’s desk. When Toby elects to […]

Retirement Plans: Should Employers Advise Their Workers on 401(k) Investment Options?

With the enactment of the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA), plan sponsors were given a freedom they didn’t have before. The legislation, which William Arnone of Ernst & Young calls “the most far-reaching legislation impacting benefits since ERISA,” enables plan sponsors to offer employees investment advice without exposing themselves to liability for the outcome […]