Qualified Plans

Mutual Funds as Employee Plan Investments: Your Exposure, Due Diligence, Liability

Implementation of Best Practices - Corporate Governance Standards in Employee Plan Administration

Employee Plan Fiduciaries: Why You are One, What Your Duties Are, What Your Liability is

Trimming Your Employee Plan Administration Expense Budget - What Expenses Can You Charge to Your Plan?

Cost Effective Management of Your Plan's Service Providers: Getting the Services You Pay For and are Entitled to Receive

Implementation of an Employee Plan Compliance Calendar

Pension Protection Act
Review of the new Act which extends higher contribution limits for 401k and IRA retirementplans, forces pension plans to become fully funded, and implements strict documentation requirements for charitable donations.

Identifying Plan Errors and Developing Solutions to the Errors
Focus on both IRS and Department of Labor guidance that addresses correcting plan errors including a case study analysis of the voluntary compliance programs that both the IRS and DOL administer. An analysis of the multiple types of correction methods as well as the venue appropriate for the particular error will be analyzed.

IRS DOL Audits: How to Manage
Focus on the practical and legal aspects of managing an audit by either the DOL or the IRS. Included in this discussion will be specific areas of DOL concern following the ENRON audit.

Sarbanes-Oxley Act: Impact on Blackout Periods
Analysis of what is requiremented in situations where there is a transition of third party administrators or a change of payroll systems causes a temporary suspension of a particular plan feature. Civil liability is very prominent in this particular scenario.

Plan Administrators: Enhancing Communication and Avoiding Pitfalls
Focus on various administrative functions with respect to qualified plans including a detailed discussion of electronic plan administration guidance and other recent developments.

Executive Compensation: Recent Developments
Alternative methods of providing non-qualified benefits to executives including the use of secular trust as well as other funding techniques. This session will address 409A implications.

Washington Update: What's New? Recent Guidance and Current Employee Benefit Project
This session will deal with a discussion of recent guidance that the IRS and the DOL have issued.

Recent Court Cases
This session will focus on employee benefit cases over the past year.

Special Participant Issues
This session will address the legal and plan administration issues (including plan documents) participants raise via e-mail with the faculty prior to the session.

Enforcement the Old-Fashioned Way: What Will the Plaintiffs' Lawyers Think of Next?
Examine the cutting edge areas that are a focus for the Plaintiffs' Bar on both Qualified and Health and Welfare Plans. What are they looking for? How can you spot them? What, if anything, can you do to stay out of court? Answers to these and other questions will provide insight into the mind of the Plaintiffs' lawyers who file these cases, and what you can do to protect yourself.

Well, Prevention Didn't Work: Do I Still Get the Benefits of all Those Perks and Quirks of ERISA Litigation?
Examine the latest decisions, including the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in the "any willing provider" case, on matters such as pre-emption and whether the protections that used to be in place are eroding. ERISA still remains a potent shield to many of the more egregious exposures that other types of litigation represent, and we will review the status of these issues.

What About Enron? How Did We Get Into this Mess and How Can We Get Out?
Focus primarily on the 401k class actions that have mushroomed in the wake of Enron and what we have learned from them so far. This area is perhaps the hottest in all of ERISA litigation and we will share our experience from the front-line of this battlefield.

HIPAA Compliance: Security and Other Advanced Issues
We all know the rules (we think) but how do we implement the HIPAA requirements? This two-part session includes: an overview of the HIPAA privacy, EDI and security requirements; and a practical privacy implementation roadmap for plan sponsors.

HRAs Usher in New Age of Health Care
The IRS opened the door for defined contribution health care with its recent health reimbursement arrangement (HRA) ruling. This session includes an in-depth discussion of the new HRA guidance. In addition, participants will learn the policy issues behind the ruling (based on first hand knowledge of how the ruling evolved) as well as the intricate overlap between the tax rules, HIPAA, COBRA and ERISA.

Everything You Wanted to Know About HSAs: And Then Some
An in-depth discussion of HSAs and consumer-driven health care. HRAs vs HSAs - which arrangement is best and why.

VEBA Do's and Don'ts
What rules apply to VEBA deductions? What expenses can be paid from a plan? When does UBIT apply?

What's a Benefits Administrator to Do? How to Manage Risks Under New Federal Health and Welfare Mandates
Federal agencies have been hyper-active in promulgating new mandates and guidance, including Department of Labor electronic disclosure guidance, DOL claims requirements for health plans and new COBRA guidance. Which mandates require the most attention and when? You will learn how to best manage these new requirements, gaining a roadmap for negotiating the maze.

Disease Management: Overcoming Legal Compliance Hurdles
Many employers have overlooked the many legal compliance issues that may arise in connection with a successful disease management program. Hidden compliance costs associated with those "carrots" and "sticks" need to be considered. Attendees of this session will be able to identify and avoid potential compliance traps under:

HIPAA's non-discrimination rules

HIPAA's privacy requirements

The Americans With Disabilities Act

COBRA health care continuation requirements

Show Me the Money
An interactive discussion of benefit savings ideas. A Top Ten List of new ideas will be presented, but participants should be ready to learn (and share) the latest. What works; and what doesn't.

Please note: Because of the dynamic changes taking place in employee benefits law, IAML will make every effort to ensure that the program content presented is timely and includes all new significant developments in the area of employee benefits law. Therefore, we reserve the right to modify the curriculum when such changes are deemed beneficial.