Veteran’s Day

Lizzie Palmer has posted an amazing video on YouTube. The video has nothing to do with plan documents or ERISA directly.

Earlier this month, I posted about reviewing the USERRA provisions in plan documents before making year-end contribution projects for next year. Paul Secunda of the Workplace Prof Blog discusses an article in the Army Times about Reservists Increasingly Not Receiving Governmental Help to Return to Jobs. If I had a crystal ball about ERISA litigation, my bet would be on seeing more USERRA-related ERISA litigation in the coming year as more law firms seek participants and beneficiares for class action lawsuits beyond lawsuits related to 401(k) fees.

Congress is also proposing some changes to USERRA which will directly affect plan documents. The National Council on Teacher Retirement, in a summary of the Heroes Earnings Assistance and Relief Tax (HEART) Act of 2007, discusses the changes to USERRA made by this bill effective for plan years beginning January 1, 2009. The bill, known as H.R. 2540, requires that participants absent from work due to military service who are killed or disabled during that military service will be treated as a deemed rehired employee. As such, plans will treat such employees as rehired the day before death or disability, and then employment will be terminated on the date of death or disability. This provision would apply in the case of death or disability occurring on or after January 1, 2007. (hat tip to BenefitsLink.com)

[tags]USERRA, HEART act, HR 2540, lizzie palmer, deemed rehired, veterans day, ERISA[/tags]