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The three working groups of the Advisory Committee
on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefits will hold open public meetings at the
U.S. Department of Labor on Aug. 14 and 15. All working group meetings will
take place in Conference Room N-5437 A-D at the U.S. Department of Labor’s
Frances Perkins Building at 200 Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20210.
The working group studying benefit continuity
after organizational restructuring will hear from employers regarding their
experiences in maintaining benefit programs during their companies’
mergers, acquisitions and other kinds of organizational changes. The Aug. 14
session will begin at 9:30 a.m. and run until approximately noon.
From 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Aug. 14, the
long-term care (LTC) working group members will hear testimony from a variety
of witnesses, including the LTC provider industry and the federal
government.
The working group assigned to study the issue of
phased retirement will meet on Aug. 15 to hear testimony about legal and
regulatory barriers to establishing such programs. The committee also will
gather “both sides” of the phased retirement picture by soliciting
testimony from plan participants who have entered into such programs. Contact
Sharon Morrissey, executive secretary of the Advisory Council, at 202-219-8921,
if you are willing to speak before the group about personal experiences with
phased retirement.
Persons wishing to appear before this or any of
the study groups on either Aug. 14 or 15 or wishing to submit written
statements on this year’s topics may contact Ms. Morrissey in Room N-
5656, Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration, Department of Labor, 200
Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20210. If written statements are to be
provided, 20 copies must be sent to Ms. Morrissey before Aug. 7. Persons with
disabilities wishing to attend the session and needing special accommodations
can also contact Ms. Morrissey by Aug. 7.
The ERISA Advisory Council is comprised of 15
members from statutorily-specified subject areas in employee benefits and
related fields. Members, who serve staggered three-year terms, must provide the
Labor Secretary with policy recommendations and reports relating to private
pension and other employee benefit issues. The advisory committee to the
Secretary of Labor, was established by the Employee Retirement Income Security
Act of 1974 (ERISA).
This year’s working groups expect to have
their studies and subsequent reports and/or recommendations completed by the
scheduled final meeting of the year on Nov. 14, 2000. |
