Posted by Admin | October 23, 2009

AIG to disburse $12M in delayed exec payments

In a regulatory filing, AIG said Chief Financial Officer David Herzog was paid $1 million, and Kristian Moor, chief executive of AIG’s property/casualty division, Chartis, received $1.6 million.

Jay Wintrob, CEO of AIG’s domestic life and retirement services, was another executive to receive a payment.

AIG did not disclose the identities of any other recipients. It had voluntarily delayed making the executive payments, promised in 2008, to give Mr. Feinberg more time to comb over employee contracts.

The Obama administration appointed Mr. Feinberg in June to scrutinize the pay practices of the seven companies that received the largest federal aid.

In a letter to AIG, the U.S. Treasury said it decided the three named executives should be paid the retention awards to keep them. However, it would consider the awards when determining “an appropriate reduction in proposed 2009 cash salaries for these employees,” the letter also stated.

The payments were promised in 2008 to get key employees to stay with AIG, even as it teetered on the brink of financial ruin from losses on subprime mortgage bets.

AIG CEO Robert Benmosche, who took over the insurer’s leadership on Aug. 10, is receiving a salary of $7 million in cash and stock.

On Wednesday, Mr. Benmosche sent a memo to assure employees that Mr. Feinberg’s jurisdiction was confined to the company’s top executives, and that the majority of the company’s 116,000 worldwide employees would not be affected.

But in the filing with the U.S.

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Exec, Exec Payments
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Posted by Admin | October 19, 2009

Government to order pay cuts at AIG, other firms: Report

The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the administration’s plans, reported Wednesday that the move stems from the growing furor over executive pay at companies that have received federal bailouts.

Under the plan, which is expected to be announced in the next few days by the Treasury Department, the seven companies—including AIG—that received the most federal assistance will have to reduce the cash payouts to their 25 highest-paid executives by an average of about 90% from last year.

For many of the executives, the cash they would have received will be replaced by stock that they will be restricted from selling immediately, the paper reported. Total compensation for the executives, including bonuses, will drop on average by about 50%, according to the reports.

The reports also said executives at AIG’s financial products unit will receive no more than $200,000 in total compensation, and no other compensation such as stocks or stock options. The administration also will warn AIG that it must fulfill a commitment it made to significantly reduce the $198 million in bonuses promised to employees in the unit, according to the reports.

An AIG spokesman had no comment.

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Report
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Posted by Admin | October 07, 2009

Lack of medical records favors workers compensation claim: Court

Thursday’s decision by the 3rd Judicial Department of Appellate Division of New York Supreme Court in Deana Curtis vs. Xerox et al. stemmed from a claim filed by a data entry employee who, after 33 years at Xerox, stopped working in 2005 because of severe pain and swelling in her hands, fingers and wrists.

During hearings in 2006, Ms. Curtis testified she visited her employer’s “plant medical department” and a workers compensation judge ordered Xerox to produce medical records from the visit. Xerox did not produce the records, but the judge ruled later that she had not established that her injuries were occupation-related.

In 2007, the New York State Workers’ Compensation Board rescinded that decision and ordered Xerox to produce the records. But Xerox then alleged the records did not exist, court records state.

A series of hearings ensued and the board found that Ms. Curtis was entitled to an “inference” that the medical records exist and they show a diagnosis favorable to her.

The employer appealed and the appellate court ruled Thursday that even without the inference, substantial evidence existed to find that the claimant “sustained a work-related occupation disease.”

The court also ruled that despite repeated direction to produce the medical records, the employer failed to do so. Therefore, it was appropriate to draw an inference in favor of the employee, the court ruled.

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Claim Court, Court
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Posted by Admin | October 03, 2009

It’s automatic for 1 in 3 DC plans worldwide, Mercer says

In the survey of 1,500 employers representing $440 billion in DC plan assets, 33% said they offered automatic enrollment in their DC plans, 33% offered automatic escalation, and about 20% offered automatic rebalancing.

Among employers offering a default investment option, 67% use lifecycle funds, the survey found. Also, 90% of employers considering adding or changing a default option are looking at lifecycle funds.

Seventy-two percent of employers surveyed have 15 or fewer investment options in their DC plans.

Only one-third of employers plan to change their fund lineups over the next two years. Of those, most plan to increase their options or introduce a lifecycle fund.

Also, while 74% of employers have a targeted employee participation rate of 80% to 100%, only half of them have achieved that goal.

The survey was conducted in June.

Jeff Nash is a reporter for Pensions & Investments, sister publication of Business Insurance.

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Dc Plans, Plans
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Posted by Admin | September 30, 2009

Health risk assessments face genetic bias hurdle

The GINA modifications to the Internal Revenue Code add prohibitions against discrimination based on genetic information to Subtitle K, which covers group health plan requirements originally regulated under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

The interim final rules, which are slated to take effect in 60 days, will affect group health plans for plan years beginning on or after Dec. 7.

This could be especially problematic for employers that have started or are about to begin open enrollment for 2010, according to Andy Anderson, a partner at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius L.L.P. in Chicago.

“With 2010 designs already in place, these rules are going to make it difficult for employers to scramble to change plan designs (that incorporate financial incentives for completing HRAs) in the next month or two,” he said.

“Family medical history plays an important role in health risk assessments,” he noted. “To get people to fill out HRAs, many employers had to provide financial incentives. As feared, these regulations say the type of HRA that includes family medical history cannot have financial incentives associated with it.”

The regulations “also prohibit even the collection of genetic information prior to enrollment, so even employers that don’t have incentives could be impacted,” observed Richard Stover, a principal at Buck Consultants L.L.C. based in Secaucus, N.J.

Although the rules are slated to take effect 60 days after their Oct. 1 publication d

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Face Genetic, Genetic
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Posted by Admin | September 26, 2009

Hartford names ex-Bank of America exec McGee as CEO

“Liam’s strong track record of success in leading large, complex financial services organizations makes him the ideal person to build on The Hartford’s strong foundation,” Michael G. Morris, Hartford’s presiding director, said in the statement.

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Hartford, Hartford Names
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Posted by Admin | September 22, 2009

GAO suggests change to 401(k) hardship withdrawal rule

The GAO also recommends that the Labor Department encourage employers to post on participant Web sites information on the long-term impact preretirement withdrawals of funds can have on their 401(k) plan account balances.

For example, employers could provide participants with modeling tools to help them calculate the impact of a preretirement withdrawal of funds, the GAO said.

In addition, the Labor Department could encourage employers to provide employees who terminate employment with projections showing how their account balances would compare at retirement if left in the plan or taken as a lump-sum distribution, the GAO said.

Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., who chairs the Senate Special Committee on Aging and who requested the GAO report, said in a statement that he intends to introduce legislation to reduce preretirement “leakage” from 401(k) plans.

“Despite the financial hardships many are facing, people need to resist raiding their 401(k), because it can be a really bad deal for them over the long run,” Sen. Kohl said.

Tags:
Withdrawal, Withdrawal Rule
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Posted by Admin | September 18, 2009

W.R. Berkley forms U.S. energy unit

Berkley Oil & Gas will provide various coverages—including general liability, auto liability, workers compensation, umbrella coverage, inland marine and property—as well as risk control services, Berkley said in a statement.

Heading Berkley Oil & Gas is President Carol Randall, who previously served as chief underwriting officer for an oil and gas unit at Travelers Cos. Inc.

Greenwich, Conn.-based Berkley also has an offshore energy underwriting unit.

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Berkley, Wr Berkley
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